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A piton is a metal spike used in mountaineering as a support for a belaying pin.
 Research Piton
The sachentege was an instrument of torture used during Stephen's reign. The device appears to have consisted of a sharply spike iron collar which was suspended from a beam so that the wearer could not sit, lie nor sleep but at all times bear the weight of the iron.
Research Sachentege
Spike or oil of spike is an essential oil distilled from the Spike Lavender, which is used in paints and veterinary medicine and formerly also used in the manufacture of varnish.
Research Spike
Adder's-tongue is a species of British fern whose spores are produced on a spike which resembles a snake's tongue. The American adder's-tongue is a very different plant, see dog's tooth violet.
Research Adder's-tongue
Baneberry, (Actoea spicata) is a European plant, of the order Ranunculaceae, local in England, with a spike of white flowers and black, poisonous berries. Two American species are considered remedies for rattlesnake bite.
Research Baneberry
Common bistort (Polygonum Bistorta), adder's-wort or snakeroot, is a perennial herb of the buckwheat family, family Polygonaceae, found in Britain. It has a stout, snake-like twisted rhizome and an erect, unbranched stem. The basal ovate to lanceolate leaves with undulate margins and winged petioles are arranged in a rosette. The smaller stem leaves are triangular, sessile and clasp the stem. The flowers are pink in colour, and arranged in a dense terminal spike. The fruit is a three-sided achene surrounded by a persistent perianth.
Common bistort contains a lot of tannin, which gives it astringent properties and led to its use in medicine. The young leaves can be eaten in salads or cooked like spinach and the root is edible after it has been soaked and roasted. In northern England it is commonly called Easter Giant and around Manchester it is called Patience Dock.
Research Bistort
The Cajeput Tree, also known as White Tea Tree, Swamp Tea Tree and White wood (Melaleuca leucandendron) is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to the East Indies and Tropical Australia. It has a long flexible trunk with irregular ascending branches, covered with a pale, thick, lamellated bark. It is soft and spongy and from time to time sheds its outer layer in flakes. The leaves are entire, linear, lanceolate, ash colour and alternate on short foot-stalks. The flowers are sessile and white on a long spike. An oil (tea tree oil) is distilled from the fresh leaves and twigs.
Research Cajeput Tree
Calamus or Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) is a perennial herb of the order Araceae native to Europe, Asia and North America. It has narrow sword-shaped leaves and a thick branched rhizome. The flowering stem is also sword-shaped, and ends in a flattened envelope (apathe) from which emerges the flower-spike with hundreds of yellow-green coloured simple flowers. When crushed the leaves emit an odour of tangerine.
Research Calamus
In botany, a catkin is a dense spike of small male or female flowers, usually long and tassel-like.
Research Catkin
Clary (Salvia sclarea) is a biennial herb of the Sage genus, family Labiatae, with a square, erect, little-branched stem, large almost sessile, opposite leaves which are broadly ovate, wrinkled and irregularly shallow lobed or toothed. The flowers are white, violet or pink in colour, two-lipped, and arranged in whorls in a terminal spike, interspersed with bracts of the same colour. The fruit consists of four nutlets.
Research Clary
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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