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DOG'S GRASS ELYMUS (=
AGROPYRUM) RFPENS Watch the dogs when they are sick and they will quickly lead you to it ... and although a gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds that an acre (o.4 hectare) of them be worth five acres (1.6 hectares) of Carrots twice told over. Grasses provide food as cereals, as well as medicines. This is better known as Couchgrass, or Twitch, and formerly had the botanical name of Triticum repens. It has a creeping underground stern with small fibres at every joint and is very sweet to taste. Where to find it: It grows in fields and on waste ground and is a menace to the farmer as it prefers ploughed ground. Flowering time: Early summer to early autumn. Astrology: It is under the dominion of Jupiter. Medicinal virtues: The roots boiled and drunk openeth obstructions of the liver and gall, and the stopping of the urine. It easeth griping pains in the belly and inflammations. The seed expels the urine more powerfully, and stayeth laxes and vomiting. The distilled water alone, or with a little worrn-seed, killeth worms in children. The way to use it is to bruise the roots and, having well boiled them in wine, drink the decoction. It is opening, but not purging, very safe. Modern uses: A popular and widely used herb in modern medical practice. It increases production of urine, but it is also soothing to the urinary tract. It contains an antibiotic substance and these properties together make it an ideal remedy for cystitis or other inflammatory disease of the urinary tract. It has also been found helpful to those with gout or rheumatism. A decoction using about 1 oz (28 g) of the root to 11/2 Pt (852 ml) of water and boiling down to 1 Pt (568 ml), can be taken in doses from 1/2.-2 fl oz (1 4~56 ml), depending on the severity of the disease. The tincture or fluid extract is available from herbalists. |