Linseed

Linseed: what was it used for?

A poultice, a cough medicine, and a laxative. Grieve calls crushed linseed or linseed meal “a very useful poultice, either alone or with mustard,” that “allays irritation and pain and promotes suppuration” in ulcers and inflammation and boils; linseed tea, with honey and lemon, “most valuable” for colds, coughs, and irritation of the urinary organs; and the oil, as a laxative, for gravel and stone. Mixed with lime water as Carron oil, it was laid on burns and scalds.

Linseed: what does modern science say?

The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts linseed on clinical evidence, as ‘well-established use,’ for habitual constipation and where an easy passage of soft stool is wanted, and as a traditional demulcent for mild stomach and gut discomfort (monograph of 2015). Its assessment report finds the seed about a quarter bulk material, mucilage and fibre, with 30 to 45 per cent fatty oil, 20 to 27 per cent protein, lignan precursors, and 0.1 to 1.5 per cent cyanogenic glycosides. A 2024 meta-analysis of 54 trials found flaxseed supplements lowered the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein and interleukin-6.

Linseed: what did the older authorities say?

Dioscorides

The seed boiled with honey, oil, and a little water, he says, has the same strength as fenugreek, “dispersing and softening all inflammation inwardly and outwardly,” and applied raw with saltpetre and figs it takes away sunburn.

Pliny, as Grieve quotes him

“What department is there to be found of active life in which flax is not employed?” He marvelled that a plant brought Egypt close to Italy under sail, and called it audacity “to sow a thing in the ground for the purpose of catching the winds and tempests.” He also held, Grieve says, that flax scorched the ground.