Avens

AVENS GEUM URBANUM (= G. HERBANUM)
It is very safe; you need have no dose prescribed; and is very fit to be kept in everybody's house.
A common wayside plant also called Colewort and Herb Bennet. It hath long, rough, dark green winged leaves. On the tops of the branches stand small, pale yellow flowers, consisting of five leaves like the flowers of Cinquefoil.
Where to find it: Under hedges and by pathways in fields. They rather delight to grow in shadowy than in sunny places. Flowering time: Late spring, early summer. The seed is ripe by midsummer at the latest.
Astrology: It is governed by Jupiter.
Medicinal virtues: It is good for the diseases of the chest or breast, for pains and stitches in the side, and to expel crude and raw humours from the belly and stomach, by the sweet savour and warming quality. It dissolves inward congealed blood happening by falls or bruises, and the spitting of blood, if the roots, either green or dry, be boiled in wine and drunk: as also all manner of inward wounds or outward, if washed or bathed therewith. The decoction also being drunk, comforts the heart, and strengthens the stomach and a cold brain, and therefore is good in the springtime to open obstructions of the liver, and helpeth the wind colic. It also helps those that have fluxes, or are bursten, or have a rupture. It takes away spots or marks in the face being washed therewith. The juice of the fresh root, or powder of the dried root, have the same effect as the decoction. The root in the springtime, steeped in wine, doth give it a delicate flavour and taste, and being drunk fasting every morning, comforts the heart, and is a good preservative against the plague or any other poison. It helpeth digestion, warmeth a cold stomach and openeth obstructions of the liver and spleen.
Modern uses: Widely used because of its excellent properties as an antiseptic, aromatic, astringent, stomach tonic, febrifuge and styptic. A restorative in debilitating diseases, especially of the intestinal tract. An infusion is made from 1 oz (28 g) of the dried herb or root to 1 Pt (568 m1) of boiling water. The dose is 2 fl oz (56 ml). Herbal practitioners find it a useful remedy for colitis.