V through Y

[VegetableOil] [Verbena] [Vines, @Ista] [Vines, @Nerat] [Walnut] [Water lilies] [Watermellon] [Wedgenuts] [Wheat] [White bulb] [White roots] [White thorn] [Willow] [Wintergreen] [Witch hazel] [Withies] [Woodruff] [Yarrow] [Yellow fruit] [Yellow-veined grass]

Key:
H=this plant is listed only in a historic manner, and may or may not currently exist on Pern. It can probably be safely assumed it still exists somewhere.
I=This plant is a known import to Pern from Earth
N=This plant is a known native to Pern
?=I was uncertain of the information, and made an educated guess.

 

[<<] Vegetableoil
Outside Info Outside Info: Many vegetable oils are used for cooking. Some are also used for massage oils, lotions, oils to rub down dragons with, and for soapmaking. By the beginning of the second Pass, soap as we know it probably still exists, as it was a 'luxury' one had to pay for at Bitra Hold under Chalkin's Holdership, but was generously supplied at other Holds and Weyrs. Most of the 'current Pass' books (Dragonrider trilogy, Harper Hall Trilogy, etc) make reference to sandsoap or soapsand. The Dragonlovers guide mentiones that soap as we know it may indeed be a luxury durring the current pass because burnt wood is needed to make lye. However, the Masterharper of Pern makes reference to a bar of soap on one of Robinton's journeys. Lye can be created chemically, and it's my personal belief if the smith hall can create 'agenothree', it can probably make lye. Sandsoap may be soap flakes, an exfoliant mixture of fine sand and soap flakes, or a ground dried plant root that contains a saponin, sort of a natural soap. Animal fats are widely used to make soaps, but vegetable oils can also be added, or used exclusevly, to obtain different properties in the soap.  
[<<] Verbena
Known location: Benden Weyr Bowl
Outside Info: Lemon Verbena grows to 3m. Tiny, pale summer flowers. Leavs used to flavor drinks, fruit, sweet dishes, and to make herb tea. The tea is refreshing and mildly sedative- it soothes bronchial and nasal congestion and eases indigestion nausea, flatulance, stomach cramps, and palpitations. Leavs yield a green coloring. Leaf infusion sooths puffy eyes. Long term use of large amounts may irritate the stomach.

 

[<<] Vines, @Ista
Growth form: broad-leaf, climbing
Known locations: Ista
Uses: When its leavs are bruised, it releases a sap that will neutralize insect stings.

 

[<<] Vines, @Nerat
Growth form: Vine
Flowers: many-petaled ivory flowers that bloom late winter/early spring.
Known location: Nerat

 

[<<] Walnut
Growth form: tree
Known location: Benden Hold
Uses: edible nut
Outside Info: Grows up to 30m. In China, nuts were used to treat wheezing, back and leg pains, and constipation. Walnut oil is used in soapmaking, and as a cooking oil. The bark, leavs, and husks yield a brown dye. Crushed leavs treat skin eruptions.

 

[<<] Water lilies (N)
Growth form: float on surface of water, triangular shaped leavs, the flowers have white petals. Edible roots have a triangular cross-section.
Known locations: bowl lake of bended Weyr
Uses: roots are edible

 

[<<] Watermellon(?)
Known location: Southern Hold
Fruit: pink-fleshed interior, with a green rind.
Uses: edible fruit

 

[<<] Wedgenuts (Brazil nuts)
Known location: Nerat, Boll
Uses: edible nut

 

[<<] Wheat (I)
Growth form: Earth wheat
Known locations: Ruatha
Outsie Info: Wheat is used used instead of barley in some beers. These tend to be heavier in alchol content than your average ale. Wheat brews are considered summer brews, and is drunk mainly in the warmer weather. In the warmer parts of Pern, this might be made nearly year-round.

 

[<<] White bulb
Uses: medicinal, febrifuge

 

[<<] White roots
Known location: Landing
Uses: edible

 

[<<] White thorn
Uses: medicinal herb, anodyne, used to relieve heart palpitations.

 

[<<] Willow (I,H)
Growth form: tree
Known location: Nabol
General habitat: wet riverbanks
Uses: willow herb (same plant?) as a tea to keep arthritis under control. Used in combination with sage and wintergreen as a tea for headaches. Willowsalic used for headache, taken in crystal-like form.
Outside Info: Grows to 25m. Stem bark is a painkiller, fever reducer, and as a source of salicylic acid for asprin. Various bark extracts used as a sore throat gargle, to treat heartburn, stomach problems, food poisoning, relieve arthritic pain, and to remove corns. Infused leavs make a tea for nervous insomnia, and added to baths to ease rheumatism. Willows provide the best quality artist's charcoal, branches are used for weaving.

 

[<<] Wintergreen
Uses: used in combination with sage and willow as a headache tea.
Outside Info: Grows to 15cm, flowers in summer. Wintergreen oil is used to flavor candy and toothpaste. The oil contains menthyl salicylate, related to asprin. Oil is easily absorbed through skin, is astrigent, diuretic, and a stimulant. Used externially for muscle aches, especially in foot balms and treatments for rheumatism. In the Inuit of Labrador, the leavs are brewed for a tes to treat paralysis, headaches, aching muscles, and sore throats. The oil can irritate the skin, and must be used only under close medical supervision if it is to be taken internially. Wintergreen should be avoided or used with caution when pregnant.

 

[<<] Witch hazel
Uses: medicinal herb, used for burns.
Outside Info: A shrub with fragrant winter flowers that grows to 5m. A distillation from leavs and flower-bearing twigs is included in skin products for its disenfectant and astrigent properties, Used on chapped skin, bruisesm swelling, rashes, to help stop bleeding, reduce hemmoroids, and vericose veins. Seeds are edible, and the leavs can be brewed for a warming tea.

 

[<<] Withies
Growth form: water plant resembling Earth-like reeds
Known locations: Ruatha (Plateau Hold)
General habitat: near rivers
Uses: made into baskets

 

[<<] Woodruff
Uses: herb used to spice wine
Outside Info: Sweet woodruff grows to 45cm. Small clusters of brilliant white flowers in late spring. The leaf tea is a diuretic liver tonic and gentile sedative for children and the elderly. Bruised fresh leavs are an anti-congestant for wounds. Dry leavs scent linnen. The rhyzomes yild a red dye.

 

[<<] Yarrow
Uses: medicinal, for acne
Outside Info: Grows to 1m, dense flat white or pink flower heads from summer to fall. The peppery leaf is finely chopped into salads. Flowering tops are a digestive and cleaning tonic a diuretic, and used to reduce high blood pressure. Fresh leavs arrest bleeding and are applied as a poultice to wounds or are placed on shaving cuts. Flowers threat eczema, catarrh from allergies. The flower essential oil treats colds, flu, and inflammed joints. Native Americans used root decoction to strengthen muscles. Avoid during pregnancy. Overdose can make skin sensitive to sunlight. Add 1 finely chopped fresh leaf to each wheelbarrowfull to speed composting. Chew fresh leavs to aid toothache. The tea aids digestive problems, regulates menstrual flow, induces perspiration, cleanses the system, and as a cure for colds. Use as a mouthwash for inflammed gums.

 

[<<] Yellow fruit
(lemon, pear, or apple? one 'yellow fruit' is mentioned as citrus, Dragonlovers)
Known locations: Southern, Ista(citrus fruit)
Uses: fruit

 

[<<] Yellow-veined grass
Growth form: grassoid
Known locations: near Half-Circle seahold
Uses: 'salad' greens
Misc.: available in early spring