Manna polska od XVI do XIX w. pod względem botanicznym i leczniczym

Abstrakt

Floating sweet-grass Glyceria fluitans (L.) R. Br. is the first edible wild grass confirmed to be in use in Poland as early as the 1380s. In the second half of the 18 th century, it was reported as a food species from Hungary and eastern Germany. Apart from G. fluitans, two species of finger-grass were known in Poland: hairy finger-grass Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. (= Panicum sanguinale L.) was extensively cultivated, and smooth finger-grass D. ischaemum (Schreb.) Muhl., a weed, was harvested from wild populations; they were both used already in the first half of the 17 th century. Moreover, another still unidentified grass closely resembling any species of hybrid fescue (×Festulolium Asch. et Graebn.) was described in Prussia in 1703 (together with the method of threshing), and it is very likely that knowledge of this species was brought from Poland. Botanists of the 18 th –19 th centuries misidentified this grass as Glyceria fluitans many a time. Manna-grasses spread from Poland toward the west and south, in the 18 th century, initially in the form of imported food grain. By degrees they were introduced to cultivation at least in Czech lands, Brandenburg, and Lusatia. The grain of the abovementioned four grass species, called manna-grain (Polish manna, and probably also the Prussian manna) is first known as an ingredient of poor though nutritious meals (porridge, poultices), whilst manna grain flour was used to make sweet pies (Latin: fercula), and it might also be an additive to bread flour. This food was noted in late-18 th century pharmaceutical books as a kind of an alimentary material. Pharmacopoeias of that time mentioned (almost solely) the grain of G. fluitans. Dishes prepared from manna were recommended principally as meals for patients suffering from debilitating diseases, for convalescents, and in some “humoral disorders”. These preparations of manna grains have been retained in European pharmacopoeias, formularies and dispensatories by the first half of the 19 th century.