The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep: The Friday Quiz: Botanica Mysteriosa

In lieu of a warm-up rant, please see the post below for non-Quizly nattering.

Let's begin:

This substance is produced by a plants from the family Lamiaceae; its scientific name is Marrubium vulgare, although some other plants within the Lamiacaea are referred to by the same common name (also applied to the substance derived from it). Egyptian priests called it 'The Eye of Horus,' some believed it has a historic link to the celebration of Passover. It has been used to treat a variety of ailments in humans and animals; the botanist and astrologer Nicholas Culpeper said, of it, 'It helpeth to expectorate tough phlegm from the chest, being taken with the roots of Irris or Orris.... There is a syrup made of this plant which I would recommend as an excellent help to evacuate tough phlegm and cold rheum from the lungs of aged persons, especially those who are asthmatic and short winded.' You, however, probably encountered this substance in a different form.

What substance is derived from the Marrubium vulgare plant?

First correct answer posted to comments wins an interjection, set off by an exclamation point. No Googling or picking up words and phrases and clauses. Put those down. One guess per comment but oh the comments you'll comment!

Comments

You spelled "its" wrong.

chili pepper oil.

Posted by: boxjam | April 25, 2008 07:31 AM

No.

And your "gotcha" games won't fool the American people, boxjam. They deserve a real debate on the issues.

Posted by: BT | April 25, 2008 07:58 AM

menthol

Posted by: art | April 25, 2008 08:43 AM

chewing gum?

Posted by: art | April 25, 2008 09:10 AM

Nope.

Posted by: BT | April 25, 2008 09:54 AM

Nougat.

Posted by: boxjam | April 25, 2008 10:23 AM

Za'atar/thyme? (delicious!)

Posted by: bootsy3000 | April 25, 2008 11:07 AM

Cool guesses, but no.

Posted by: BT | April 25, 2008 11:16 AM

Yeast?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | April 25, 2008 11:53 AM

Posted by: bootsy3000 | April 25, 2008 11:54 AM

No! No!

Posted by: BT | April 25, 2008 12:06 PM

Gum Arabic?

Posted by: boxjam | April 25, 2008 01:57 PM

bloodroot?

Posted by: boxjam | April 25, 2008 01:58 PM

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...o

Posted by: BT | April 25, 2008 03:29 PM

magickcal mushroomes?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | April 26, 2008 10:17 AM

aspirin

Posted by: Jonathan | April 27, 2008 12:03 PM

Any hope of finding out about that granite boulder from a few weeks ago?

Peppermint

Posted by: herbivorous | April 27, 2008 09:46 PM

Aha, peppermint... toothpaste?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | April 29, 2008 12:04 PM

I like the peppermint guess.

So...cinnamon.

hey wombat - I will be in wombatsburg on May 19 - any chance of seeing you (and perhaps family)?

Posted by: boxjam | April 30, 2008 02:28 PM

I'll call it, a week later. Probably should have put up more clues. Horehound. As in sticks of "horehound candy" that one used to find with some frequency at certain types of olde-tyme themed gift shops in the sort of American tourist attractions of a historical bent you really wished at the time your parents hadn't bothered to take you to (and to which you, in turn, will probably take your children).

Sorry -- didn't I post an answer on the boulder? It was Catherine the Great's commission of "The Bronze Horseman" -- an equestrian statue of Peter the Great, that occasioned this strange project. The boulder which was used for the base was discovered 4 miles inland from the Gulf of Finland, and was dragged using a railed sledge by teams of men, to the gulf, where it was placed upon a barge and finished the voyage by water. It took two years to move it to St. Petersburg.

Posted by: BT | May 1, 2008 11:36 PM

The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

The Wombat File is a Delaying Tactic that May Save Your Life

The Friday Quiz: Botanica Mysteriosa

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