Couchgrass

Couchgrass, like dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), is another valuable herb cast into the annoying worthless weed category by virtue of its extensive system of rhizomes which help the plant spread remorsefully through cultivated land. Experienced UK herbal practitioner Simon Mills describes it as “the archetypal weed of cultivation” making it a pest for farmers and gardeners. 17th Century English herbalist Culpeper concurs saying: ”...for it is a constant customer to the place it get footing in.”

However, this medicinal rhizome has been used in herbal medicine since classical Greek times where it was recommended by Dioscorides (author of De materia medica) for “stone in the bladder”. One of couchgrass's other common names is dog grass which comes from the fact that sick dogs will chew its rough leaves as an emetic to make them vomit. Culpeper said “…If you know it not by this description, watch the dogs when they are sick and they will quickly lead you to it.” Culpeper concludes his account of its medicinal virtues with: ”…and although a gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds half an acre of them to be worth five acres of carrots twice told over.”

In her 2023 book A Working Herbal Dispensary: Respecting Herbs as Individuals, self-sufficient UK medical herbalist Lucy Jones describes the physiological virtues of couchgrass: “Couchgrass is a valuable urinary system antiseptic and demulcent diuretic, providing a soothing action on hot, irritated urinary passages while encouraging increased production of urine. It is also anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial – a helpful herb in many conditions, including cystitis, dysuria [painful urination], haematuria [blood in the urine], irritable bladder, prostatitis, urethritis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, oedema, and incontinence. It soothes the urinary passages and eases discomfort, as well as assisting with the passage of urinary gravel. It is an old remedy for hypercholesterolaemia, arthritis, and gout. Couch[grass] also brings its antimicrobial and demulcent qualities to the respiratory system, being expectorant and decongestant. It is sometimes prescribed for irritating coughs and bronchitis.”

References

Mills S. The Essential Book of Herbal Medicine. Penguin:London. 1991. p.465
Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Middlesex:Penguin Books. 1978. p. 370
Jones L. A Working Herbal Dispensary: Respecting Herbs as Individuals. Aeon Books:Glasgow. 2023 p110.