 Maud Grieve, in her famous Herbal, written in 1931, refers to "stavesacre" as being a "vermifuge" and "vermin-destroying", as well as to its parasiticidal properties.She also mentions that it is "violently emetic and cathartic".Not surprisingly, in view of the long and well-known uses of stavesacre against insect and animal pests, "D. staphisagria" was investigated by chemists as early as the beginning of the 19th Century.