CRANESBILL. Geranium pratense. N.O. Geraniaceae.
Synonym : Meadow Cranesbill.
Habitat : Moist pasture land.
Features : Stern up to three feet high, swollen at the joints, freely branched. Dark green leaves, almost circular in form, with five to seven much-divided leaflets, coarsely notched at edges. Seed-pod is distinctive—long, sharp-pointed, pendulous—and might be said by the imaginative to resemble a "crane's bill." Part used : Herb.
Action : Astringent, tonic, diuretic.
Arrests internal and external bleeding, and exerts tonic and astringent effect on the kidneys. Decoction of equal quantities of Cranesbill and Bistort makes a good twice-daily injection against leucorrhcea. An infusion of 1 ounce Cranesbill herb to 1 pint of water may be given frequently in wineglass doses. Proportionate doses give good results in infantile diarrlicea.
Geranium maculatum, or American Cranesbill, possesses similar properties to the above. The root of the former is used to some extent medicinally.
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