Note to King Lear, 4.4.3: "fumiter and furrow-weeds"


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King Lear,
Act 4, Scene 4, line 3
Fumiter was thought to cure brain sickness, but it and all of the rest of the plants mentioned are "furrow-weeds," noxious weeds that grow in the furrows between rows of "sustaining corn," which are the staple crops [wheat, oats, barley, etc.] on which humans and their livestock depend.

Fumiter   Burdock   Hemlock   
Nettles   Cuckoo-flowers   Darnel