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Knotted Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa), common throughout England, is similar in general habit to the Water Figwort, but differs both in the form of its root and in having more acutely heart-shaped leaves. The stem, too, is without the projections or wings at its angles, and the lobes of the calyx have only a very narrow membranous margin. The plant, also, though found in rather moist, bushy places, either in cultivated or waste ground, and in damp woods, is not distinctly an aquatic, like the Water Figwort.
Knotted Figwort has been called the Scrofula Plant, on account of its value in all cutaneous eruptions, abscesses, wounds, etc., the name of the genus being derived from that of the disease for which it was formerly considered a specific. It also has diuretic and anodyne properties. The whole herb is used, collected in June and July and dried. A decoction is made of it for external use and the fresh leaves are also made into an ointment.
Of the different kinds of Figwort used, this species is most employed, principally as a fomentation for sprains, swellings, inflammations, wounds and diseased parts, especially in scrofulous sores and gangrene. The leaves simply bruised are employed by the peasantry in some districts as an application to burns and swellings.
A decoction of the herb has been successfully used as a cure for the scab in swine. Cattle, as a rule, will refuse to eat the leaves, as they are bitter, acrid and nauseating, producing purging and vomiting if chewed.
