Couch Grass
Couch grass - if you can't get rid of it you might as well
learn all about it :
- Triticum repens (L)
- Synonyms: Agropyron repens (Beauvais),
Rhizoma tritici, Radix graminis, dogs grass, twitchgrass,
twitch, triticum, scutch, witchgrass, quick grass, quack
grass, cutch, Scotch quelch, durfa grass
- Order: Graminaceae
- Description: Triticum is a pervasive
perennial grass growing up to 1.5m in height and found in
Europe, Northern Asia, Australia and America.
- Parts used: Rhizome
- Collection: The rhizome should be
unearthed in spring or early autumn.
- Constituents: 8% triticin (carbohydrate),
mannitol, mucilage (triticin), silicic acid, potassium,
inositol, mannitol, glycosides (including glucovanilline),
gum, vanillin, saponin, an antimicrobial substance (agropyrene),
iron and other minerals.
- Actions: soothing mild diuretic,
demulcent, antimicrobial, aperient, anticholesterolaemic
- Indications: cystitis, urethritis,
prostatitis, benign prostatic hypertrophy, renal
calculus, lithuria.
- Therapeutics and Pharmacology: Triticum
is a useful remedy in the treatment of urinary infections
such as cystitis, urethritis and prostatitis. Its
demulcent properties soothe irritation and inflammation.
It is also of value in the treatment of prostatitis, and
may be used in kidney stones and gravel. Its has a
healing action on the urinary mucosa, and is particularly
effective for children's conditions and for helping to
manage examples of tension in the urinary system such as
enuresis and nervous incontinence. As a tonic diuretic,
Triticum has been used with other herbs in the treatment
of rheumatism.The sugar mannitol present in large
quantities in this herb, and is known as a standard
'osmotic diuretic', that is, it is absorbed whole from
the gut and excreted largely by the kidney tubules. Its
presence in the tubules means that extra water has to be
retained in order to maintain osmotic pressure. The
saponins and vanillin, also have diuretic properties.
Silica, present as 30% of the inorganic residue,
justifies this herb's use in the treatment of slow-healing
wounds and to strengthen the lungs and other tissues. The
antibiotic substance help to limit infections in the
urinary tubules and elsewhere.
- Combinations: For cystitis, urethritis
and prostatitis Triticum may be combined with Barosma,
Arctostaphylos or Achillea. It can be combined with
Hydrangea for prostate problems.
- Caution: No side-effects have so far
been reported.
- Preparation and Dosage: (thrice daily)
- Regulatory status GSL
- Dried rhizome: 4-8g or in decoction
- Liquid extract: 1:1 in 25% alcohol, 4-8ml
- Tincture: 1:5 in 40% alcohol, 5-15ml
- Additional Comments: Couchgrass roots
have been used as a medicine since the time of
Dioscorides in the first century, and even sick dogs eat
the leaves to produce a healing vomit. In Europe, it is
still used as a tisane. Gerard wrote of Couchgrass '...it
openeth the stoppings of the liver and reins without any
manifest heat...', and Culpeper also praises its virtues
for diseases of the kidneys.
- From the Purple Sage website