Corn

Overview. Corn silk is the soft, thread-like stigmas collected from the female flowers of maize, Zea mays, a grass cultivated worldwide as a staple food crop. The fresh or dried silk, gathered while still green, has long been used in eclectic and folk medicine as a gentle urinary remedy. It found a settled place in nineteenth and early twentieth century American eclectic practice as a soothing diuretic for irritable bladder conditions.

Clinical Notes. Corn silk is one of the mildest and safest diuretics available, making it a useful base for urinary formulas in children, the elderly, or anyone with a sensitive bladder. It is reached for when there is burning or scalding on urination together with a feeling of irritation or fullness in the bladder, particularly where mucus is present in the urine.

Action and Therapy. Zea ( Stigmata Maydis) is diuretic, slightly anodyne, and is said to exert a stimulant effect upon the heart and blood vessels. The infusion, the best preparation, is an efficient stimulating diuretic in urinary irritation and inflammation, pyelitis, and catarrh of the bladder.

Action and Medical Uses. Rice is nutritious, and boiled in water until perfectly soft, is very useful in cases of debilitated stomach or bowels, and diarrhoea; it is likewise reputed a valuable article of food to overcome the diarrhoea so common to those who, for the first time, use the river waters of the western states. It is, by some, considered injurious to the eyes when used in any quantity, but this is an erroneous opinion, as many nations employ it almost exclusively as a diet, without any such effects. A decoction of rice (rice-water) is an excellent soothing and nutritive drink in febrile diseases, and likewise in inflammations of the internal organs.