Economic Botany Collection

Catalogue no.:

29824

Botanical classification:

IRIDACEAE Iris florentina

Common name:

Orris

Geographical description:

Bex, Switzerland

Item description:

‘Issue peas’ from orris root

Length:

42cm (small), 60cm (medium), 78cm (large)

No. of beads:

95, 47, 98

Bead size:

0.8-1.8cm long

Additional information:

These beads have a medicinal purpose and were not made for decoration. They were placed inside wounds in order to encourage pus formation and discharge.

Plant information:

Perennial flowering plant with sword shaped leaves from southern Europe. The flowers are sweet smelling and the roots smell earthy and then violet-like.

Donor date:

29/11/1892

Donor:

Walter Gardiner (1859-1941) - Walter Gardiner was a Fellow of Clare College and Lecturer in Botany at the University of Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1890. He published on plant anatomy and physiology, and was active in re-establishing the Cambridge University Botanical Museum.