Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

FAMILY HERBAL, 187
bottle. The flowers themselves are of a bright red,
and large.
The young plant is used fresh : a decoction of it
is good against the bleeding of the piles, against
loosenesses with bloody stools, and all other bleed-
ings. A slight infusion is recommended against
sore throats, to be used by way of gargle. There
are so many of these gentle astringent plants, common
in our fields, as yarrow and the like, that less
respect is to be paid to one of less power
in the
same way. Knapweed may be very properly added
to decoctions of the others, but it would not be so
well to trust to its effects singly.
Knot-grass. Polygonum.
A most common wild plant in our fields, path-
ways, and hedges
: there are two or three kinds of
it, but they pretty much resemble one another in
form, and in virtues : the largest is the best. The
stalks of this are ten inches long, round, jointed,
and of a dusky green. The leaves are of an oval
form, of a bluish green colour, and not indented
at the edges. The stalks lie upon the ground, and
one of these only grows at each joint.
The Mowers
are small and white, but with a tinge of reddish.
The seed is single, black, and three-cornered.
It has been observed before, that Providence has
in general made the most common plants the most
useful. A decoction of knot-grass roots, stalks,
and leaves, is an excellent It
astringent. stops
bloody stools, and is good against all bleedings,
but, in it is particular, a remedy against the
bleeding piles, and against the overflowing of the
menses