Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Nutrient Content | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Cochlearia officinalis L.
- Crucifer family
Common Names
- Scrubby grass
- Scurry-grass
- Spoonwort
Parts Usually Used
Leaves
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Scurvy grass is a biennial or perennial plant; the main root has many fibrous branch-roots and produces angular, furrowed stems as well as fleshy basal leaves. The basal leaves are oblong, reniform, or cordate; the scattered stem leaves are obovate to oblong and sessile or nearly so. Small which flowers grow in racemes from April to August. The fruit is a small, almost globose pod containing small, reddish-brown seeds.
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Where Found
Found wild in moist places in northern Europe and the northern parts of North America and Asia; also found cultivated.
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Medicinal Properties
Diuretic, stomachic, tonic
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Uses
As a source of vitamin C, scurvy grass has been used in the past to prevent and treat scurvy. Considered a good blood purifier and has been recommended for rheumatism, dropsy, and venereal diseases. The juice can be added to orange juice to make a healthful spring tonic.
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Formulas or Dosages
Scurvy grass must be used fresh.
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Nutrient Content
Vitamin C
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Bibliography
American Folk Medicine
, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs
, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)
The Herb Book
, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.
Indian Herbalogy of North America
, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973
Webster’s New World Dictionary
, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023