Rose Family - a little like a buttercup
Tormentil is a member of the rose family. The tormentil has tiny yellow flowers - 1 cm to 1.5 cm across. The flowers are similar to the buttercup flowers except that the Tormentil flower has just four petals - whereas buttercups have five petals and are slightly larger. Tormentil has a preference for acid soils, and is rarely found on chalky land and likes acid soil. This plant is actually related to the wild strawberry. The gaelic name for tormentil is cairt làir
Flowers May to September
Tormentil lowers May-September in The Western Isles. These yellow wildflowers - appearing throughout the Western Isles really are pretty. The plant is 10 - 40cm in height - and is upright or creeping
Leaves
Tormentil has 5 lobed and toothed Leaves. The leaves are shiny, dark green and deeply-toothed and are are silky underneath.The stem leaves don't have stalks.
Medicinal - Herbal Uses
The name Tormentilla comes from the Latin tormina which means colic - this plant is used herbally to treat the condition of colic.. The tormentil root has also been used in the past to treat ulcers and gum disease - when an astringent powder is made. There are many other conditions that the plant or part of the plant has been used to treat including sunburn, frostbite, upset stomachs. In the past the roots were boiled in milk for the treatment of diarrhoea
Names
Tormentil is sometimes called biscuits, shepherd's knapperty, English sarsaparilla, red root or bloodroot because of the dye the root produces, septfoil, shepherd's knot, or thormantle.
Tannin Process for leather 1700,s
In the early 1700's when there was a shortage of trees in Ireland the government awarded £200 to William Maple for discovering that leather could be tanned using Tormentil roots
