Knotgrass

Flatulent colic with cramping abdominal pain that eases with warmth, especially when combined with ginger

Sudden urinary suppression accompanied by a dull aching across the low back and bladder

Painful menstruation with a cramping, spasmodic quality rather than a congestive one

Overview. Knotgrass is a low, mat-forming annual of the smartweed family, common along paths, dooryards, and disturbed sandy soils across temperate regions worldwide. The flowering aerial parts are gathered in summer for use as a mild astringent and diuretic. In older Western herbal traditions, including the physiomedicalist school, it was valued as a gentle, diffusive remedy for cramping pain and minor urinary complaints, though it was often overlooked in favor of showier plants.

Clinical Notes. Knotgrass sits quietly among the astringent diuretics, useful where a gentle, non-depleting action is wanted rather than a forceful one. The physiomedicalist writers described it as a mild and diffusive relaxant and stimulant with antispasmodic qualities, reaching for it in flatulent colic and painful, cramping menstruation, usually as a warm infusion with a little ginger added to enhance its carminative effect and improve palatability.

Properties and Uses. This insignificant herb, a member of the smartweed Family, is usually overlooked by physicians, but possesses qualities deserving of attention. It is a mild and quite diffusive relaxant and stimulant, antispasmodic in action, and of decided usefulness in flatulent colic and painful menstruation. A warm infusion, of an ounce to a pint, may be used freely; and its efficacy is usually increased by the addition of a little ginger. It acts rather efficiently upon the kidneys, relieving sudden suppression, with aching through the back and bladder; and the cold infusion not unfrequently relieves tickling coughs. Medical Herbalism journal and medherb.com The Physiomedical Dispensatory by William Cook, M.D., 1869

Description. Natural Order, Polygonaceae. This is a well-known but humble plant, often growing in door-yards upon sandy soils, where its procumbent stems form soft and even masses of pale green. Stems slender, light purplish-red, with several slender branches, all procumbent and spreading. Leaves alternate, small, oblong lanceolate, sessile, sheathed at the joints. Flowers axillary, two or three together, greenish-white tinged with pale purplish-red, small, almost sessile; calyx petaloid and five-parted; stamens eight or nine; styles three. Blooming all the season.