Devil’s elder, holy elder
In the Lublin region of Poland the elder is called the “devil’s elder”, and demonic beings are believed to live in the bush. Digging it up or cutting it down brings illness, paralysis, a withered hand or even death. Yet in healing charms the same bush is addressed as “holy elder”: for toothache, “holy elder, take my ailment under your healthy roots”. Its twigs were placed at windows and thresholds against witches.
Source: Olga Kielak, “Divine thus good, devilish thus bad? Folk linguistic perceptions about plants and their characteristics in Polish folklore”, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 21, 2025 (Kielak, J Ethnobiol Ethnomed, 2025). This is a folk record, not a treatment recommendation.
Flour sprinkled on wounds: yarrow