The study of medicinal plants is a popular subject that, at least in the archaeological sciences, has met a lot of criticism due to the lack of physical data. It is problematic to distinguish the medicinal plants from local flora since many herbs that were used often could be found in the nearby vegetation.  The purpose of this essay is to archaebotanically analyze samples from the medieval town Nya Lödöse and compare the data with a previous analysis from the site and a literature study. The herbs meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), lady’s mantle (Alchemilla sp.), sweet gale (Myrica gale), hop (Humulus lupulus), common tormentil (Potentilla erecta), St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), catnip (Nepeta cataria) and motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) have been selected for closer analysis since they occur with frequency in the historical medicinal texts and in previous analysis made on the site. The aim is to investigate the similarity between the samples and what is written about the plants in the different medieval medicinal documentations. The paper will also discuss the different contemporary views on medicine and the people who practiced it, and thus extend the subject for future studies. The Nya Lödöse locale is interesting since it was active in a period of increased trade, turbulent times of political power games, witch trials and ecclesiastical power. The harbor town of Nya Lödöse has had an intense history with numerous fires and invasions. In a time of reformation, when the plague had hit Gothenburg, the witch pyres were burning and the Dane was at hand, the need for medicine must have been great. Keywords: Archeobotany, middle ages, medicinal plants, Nya Lödöse, monastery medicine, indigenous medicine and witch craft.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Bävergäll har använts som läkemedel i över 2500 år, både inom folkmedicin samt skolmedicin.  Inom läkekonsten kallas bävergället ofta castoreum och det är baserat på det torkade innehållet i s.k. bävergällpungar, vars starkt luktande sekret är avsett för bäverns revirmarkering. I denna kvalitativa studie undersöks bävergället utifrån ett medicinhistoriskt perspektiv och fokus ligger på Sverige fr.o.m. 1600-talet t.o.m. 1900-talets början. Denna uppsats berör bävergällets behandlings- och beredningsformer, samt varifrån man fick tag på det och vad det kostade. Uppsatsen ger en bred bild av bävergället genom historien och bävergällets mångahanda användningsområden som innefattar allt ifrån tandvärk till epilepsi. Dock var det särskilt vanligt i behandling mot olika kvinnosjukdomar såsom hysteri.  Bävergäll var ända in på 1900-talet ett officiellt läkemedel på svenska apotek och det var ett så eftersökt läkemedel att den stora efterfrågan kom att leda till bäverns utrotning i Sverige på 1870-talet. / Castoreum have been used as a drug for over 2500 years in both folk medicine and school medicine. It is based on the pungent smelling content of specific pouches of the beaver. In this study the medical use of castoreum is examined, with a focus on Sweden from the 1600s to the early 1900s. The essay describes in which ways castoreum was used as a treatment and in which forms. It tells from where you got the castoreum as well as how much you had to pay for it. This essay also presents castoreum throughout history and its wide application that includes a broad spectrum from toothache to hysteria. Castoreum was well into the 1900s an official drug at Swedish pharmacies, and it was such a sought-after drug that the high demand led to the extinction of the beaver in Sweden in the 1870s.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2004. / [Ny tr.], 2005. Pp. 270-285: Bibliography.