KNOTGRASS.

Description:

Polygonon. A very common wild plant growing in fields, pathways, and hedges. The stalks of Knot- grass are ten inches long, round, jointed, and of a dusky green. The leaves are oval, of a bluish green, not indented. The stalks lie upon the ground, and only one of these grows at each joint. The flowers are small and white, with a slight red tinge.

Herbal Remedies and Medicinal Uses of Knotgrass:

It is an excellent astringent. The juice is effectual to stay bleeding of the mouth, drunk in steeled or red wine; and bleeding at the nose, to be applied to the fore­head or temples, or to be squirted up into the nostrils. It cools the blood, and the stomach. It restrains bloody flux, profuse menstruation, and running of the reins. It is useful in that distressing complaint strangury, provoking urine, and easing pains in the bladder, and it is an expellant of stone, etcetera. Take a drachm of the herb powdered in wine, twice a day. The decoction destroys worms. A decoction of the roots, stalks, and leaves, is a first-rate astringent, applicable to all bleedings, and especially to the bleeding piles; and the juice made into an ointment, it is a sovereign remedy for inflammations, breakings out, hot swellings and imposthumes, gangrene, canker, and green wounds. The juice is good for sores in the ears.