In antiquity, powerful plants were used as both medicines, weapons, and the means of delivering powerful magics. Laws were enacted in Rome and other parts of Europe specifically because of the prevalence of these plants, and the individuals that had knowledge of their secrets. These plants were known for their use in powerful love potions known as pocula amatoria, which when employed properly would spark desire in the one they were given to, used improperly they often resulted in madness or death. Many superstitions arose around these mysterious plants, especially in the Middle Ages during the witch trials. There are some instances in which the witch panic in specific areas was the result of mass hallucinations due to eating these plants. Stories of strange plants being tended by the Devil himself, contained the power to summon spirits, find treasure and make one invisible circulated during this time. It was then that the concept of the “witches’ flying ointment” took hold. Ointments, salves and unguents were a popular means of applying botanical methods and preserving them for longer periods of time, so the idea of an herbal salve was rather common during this time. Stories of seductive women covering themselves with ointments containing noxious ingredients in their sexual rites titillated the puritanical societies in which they were told. https://thehouseoftwigs.com/2019/03/18/insights-from-the-poison-path/