HIGHLAND'S MAGIC POTION REVEALED

Humble heath pea could be Scotland's equivalent of cocaine, botanist claims

IN THE books of Goscinny and Uderzo, Asterix and Obelix thwarted the might
of.the Roman empire thanks to a magic potion that gave them super-human
strength.

But while the pharmaceutically-enhanced struggles of that Gaulish village
were fictitious, an ethnobotanist from the Borders believes that the
Highlanders of the 17th century had a tonic that gave them superhuman powers.

Its secret ingredient? A pea.

Dr Brian Moffat. director of the Soutra medieval hospital study, reckons an
indigenous plant with properties similar to the coca plant - the source of
cocaine - put the fire in Scottish bellies.

"The claims made for this plant quite simply mean that it falls into the
superhuman category," said Dr Moffat. "Its properties are unmatched in any
plant I have heard of and it has parallels with coca."

The plant in question could barely look more humble. Variously called the
heath pea, karemyle, carrameille, and, technically, Lathyras macrorhizas or
inifolius, it is a type of pea that tastes and smells much like liquorice,
and its roots used to he eaten raw, boiled or roasted, or used to make a
kind of drink.

Dr Moffat said it appeared that when dried the tubers enabled people to
carry out enormous acts of endurance, such as working hard for days on end
without the need for food and drink. The ethnohotanist, who will deliver a
paper on the properties of the plant at the Orkney Science Festival next
week, believes that travellers' tales describing a plant with
super-energising powers might reveal an a centuries-old culture of Highland
drug-taking.

He quotes from a variety of 17th and 18th century texts - including
writings by Sir Robert Sibbald, who was a co-founder of the Royal Botanic
Garden and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, - suggesting that
it could be the source of tales of exceptional derring do and energy.
Though the accounts post-date William Wallace and Robert the Bruce by some
centuries, they could also throw light on their incredible heroism - and
could explain why strength sports like tossing the caber became a
peculiarly Highland custom.

"The accounts are mostly second-hand, but they are quite detailed and
authoritative. According to travellers' tales, the tubers would be hung up
to dry in much the same way as onions. Whenever some particularly
superhuman effort was recquired, they popped two or three in their mouths."

According to Dr Moffat, the claims made for this plant are so lavish that a
detalled study should be carried out. His own preliminary findings - he
denies having sampled it - show that the plant is incredibly sweet, with an
anise-like aroma. This suggests, he says, that it contains transethanol, a
substance 300 times sweeter than sugar, which could account for its
energising properties.

Dr Moffat believes the word of such an eminent scholar as Sir Robert means
that the plant should be taken seriously. But more recent accounts do not
back his claims that it could be the Scottish equivalent of the coca plant.

The most recent scholarly work on the subject, Tess Darwin's The Scots
Herbal, The Plant Lore of Scotland, lists much more modest properties for
what she calls bitter vetch - although it had its benefits. "Islanders on
Mull were inclined to drink a great deal of whisky in wet weather - a
pleasant enough way to pass a dreich day when no outdoorwork could be done
- - and used to chew the root of this plant afterwards, to sweeten their
breath and to prevent drunkenness."

If it is, however, the answer to coca, then Dr Moffat is confident that it
won't send drug dealers and thrill-seekers to the north of Scotland and
Hebridean islands to dig up the roots. "With so many synthetic substances
available, I don't really think ravers will be rushing to take up field
botany."

Checked-by: Pat Dolan