Lice (in the head, to kill)

A note on the heading

Plain sense

Head lice, and killing them.

What the entries treat

2 claims: 0 with a sentence, 2 from the index alone. Both are index names (p. 250) the book has no herbal entry for: Stavesacre and Olibanum. No sentence of Culpeper’s is on record under the heading; under Itch, the Black Alder-Tree’s bark is said “to kill lice”.

Today’s words

head lice (pediculosis capitis); nits; lice treatment (pediculicide, said of the remedy) — the modern term names the same thing.

How it reads today

Reads as it did. The two names: stavesacre is “a highly toxic, perennial plant with purple flowers”, a larkspur (Delphinium staphisagria), whose dictionary synonym is “lice-bane”; olibanum is frankincense, “a gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense”. Neither has a Culpeper sentence here.

References

Wiktionary, s.v. “stavesacre” (accessed 2026-10-28): Late Middle English, from Latin staphisagria, Ancient Greek σταφίς “grape” + ἀγρία “wild”; “A highly toxic, perennial plant with purple flowers” (Staphisagria macrosperma, syn. Delphinium staphisagria), synonym “lice-bane”. Wiktionary, s.v. “olibanum” (accessed 2026-10-28): Medieval Latin, from Latin oleum libani, Ancient Greek líbanos “frankincense”; “A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense”, “from 14th c.”.

ThinkDeep333, 2026-10-28 · draft, not yet checked. Offered beside Culpeper’s heading, never in its place; nothing here says whether a plant works.