SCURVYGRASS. Cochlearia officinalis. N.O. Cruciferae Synonym : Known in some parts as Spoonwort.
Habitat : Grows freely along the sea shore.
Features : The smooth, shiny stem is angular and much branched, with ovate leaves which become sessile upwards ; further roundish, kidney-shaped, stalked leaves grow front the roots. Clusters of white, cruciform flowers bloom in May. The taste is pungent and cress-like.
Scurvygrass is a powerful antiscorbutic, but, as scurvy, like other "deficiency" diseases, is now prevented and cured by purely dietetic methods, the herb is but rarely used. It is, however, given a place here both for its historic interest and for the striking way in which it exemplifies the curative potency of non-poisonous herbs.
The Medical Research Council, in its publication Vitamins : A Survey of Present Knowledge, says : "Scurvygrass (Cochlearia officinalis) .. . figures largely in old records of scurvy cures among mariners. Thus Bachstron in 1734 tells the following story : 'A sailor in the Greenland ships was so over-run and disabled with scurvy that his companions put him into a boat and sent him on shore, leaving him there to perish without the least expectation of recovery. The poor wretch had quite lost the use of his limbs ; lie could only crawl about the ground. This he found covered with a plant which he, continually grazing like a beast of the field, plucked up with his teeth. In a short time he was by this means perfectly recovered, and upon his returning home it was found to be the herb scurvy grass.' (Rendering given by Lind [1757, p. 395].)." When a well-authenticated case such as this is quoted by such a body as the Medical Research Council it should not be difficult to believe that other agents used in the herbal practice may be equally effective in illnesses not at present included in the official list of "deficiency diseases." SEA LAVENDER. Statice Timonium. N.O. Plumbaginaceae.
Synonym Marsh Rosemary.
Habitat : Marshes near the sea.
Features : Angular stem, nine or ten inches in height. Leaves broadly oblong, tapering to a peculiar tip, grow from the root round the flower stalk. Flowers blue, five delicate petals, clustering on branched stalks. No scent, in spite of name. Root purplish-brown, rough, spindle-shaped.
Part used : Root.
Action : Astringent.
Decoction of the powdered root (1 ounce to 14 pints of water simmered to 1 pint) administered in wineglass doses wherever an astringent tonic is indicated. Makes an excellent gargle and mouth-wash for inflammatory conditions, and is used in certain urinary, uterine and vaginal discharges.
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