A delicate climbing plant with feathery leaves and small purple or pink flowers; historically used in medicine and for fumigation.
From Latin 'fumus terrae' (smoke of the earth) because the plant's wispy leaves resemble smoke, and also because it was burned for purification; the name reflects medieval belief in its smoke-like form.
Fumitory was so important to medieval herbalism that it appears in texts describing treatments for everything from skin conditions to melancholy—the smoke-like plant for treating the invisible ailments of the soul.
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