Couch Grass.
Gramen caninum.
A VERY troublesome weed in fields and gardens, but very useful in medicine. Nature has made those plants which may be most useful to us the most common, and the most difficult to be removed. Couch grass grows two feet high, and is a robust kind of grass: the stalk is round and pointed; the leaves are grassy, but broad, and of a fresh green colour; the spike at the top is like an ear of wheat, only thin and flat. It consists of ten rows of grains. The root is white, slender, very long and jointed, and it takes fresh hold at every joint; so that if but a piece is left in pulling it up, it grows and increases very quickly.
The roots are used, and they are to be fresh taken up and boiled. The decoction is excellent in the gravel and stone; it promotes urine strongly, yet not forcibly or roughly. Taken for a continuance, the same decoction is good against obstructions of the liver, and will cure the jaundice.
