You can use all parts of Bedstraw. You collect it for food before fruiting but let grow until seeds are produced if used as a coffee substitute. Cooking improves the medicinal effects of this plant. You can find this plant everywhere, but it likes disturbed soils.
Bedstraw is also known as cleavers. It is a very valuable plant and a tonic made from cleavers is great for the lymph system. As a lymphatic tonic, it can be safely used as a lymphatic tonic, and it works on a wide range of problems where the lymph system is involved, works especially well on tonsillitis and adenoid trouble.
It is helpful in skin conditions and works well on psoriasis and other skin problems. It is helpful in the treatment of urinary conditions where pain is involved. It also works well in the effective treatment of ulcers and tumours. For lymph issues, combine this herb with herb robert. For psoriasis, combine bedstraw with burdock.
The seeds are a great alternative for coffee, just pick off the seeds, dry them and then place them on a cookie sheet, roast them in the oven until light brown, grind them, and then you can use them as you would any other coffee.
To make a tonic, use scissors to cut up enough to fill a cup container. Use only leaves and stems, no roots or seeds. Place in a suitable container that has fine holes or a piece of cheesecloth tied together and suspends in a litre of water. Place in your fridge and let infuse for 8 to 12 hours. Remove the cleavers, sweeten and drink. This is an awesome spring immune system booster.
Stem, leaves, and flowers of the plant can be eaten raw. The plant is best when collected before fruiting. It is best when cooked and is a good source of vitamin C. Look for the Bedstraw Plant alongside low-growing vegetation and disturbed soil sites.
The stems and leaves are covered with little hooked bristles, which attach to objects, in this way it fastens itself to adjacent shrubs, to climb its way upwards through dense undergrowth into daylight, often forming matted masses. Leaves are narrow, lance-shaped along the delicate stem which may grow to 2 or more meters in length.
The flowers are white, tiny, and star-like growing in a stemmed bud rising from the leaf axils and arranged in clusters of 6 or 8 together. They bloom separately, 2 or 3 at a time, so flowers and seeds are always present together in each cluster. The seeds are little round vessels, covered with hooked bristles and readily clinging, to whatever they touch, ensuring the dispersal of the seeds. Flowers bloom April thru September.
This Plant is also known as cleavers, goose grass, grip grass, catch weed and it is a very valuable plant, being perhaps the best tonic to the lymphatic system available. As a lymphatic tonic with alternative and diuretic action, bedstraw may be used safely in a wide range of problems where the lymphatic system is involved. These include swollen glands anywhere in the body, especially in tonsillitis and adenoid trouble.
It is helpful in skin conditions, especially the dry kind such as psoriasis. It is helpful in the treatment of cystitis and other urinary conditions where there is pain and may be combined with urinary demulcents for this purpose. There is also a long tradition for the use of Bedstraw in the effective treatment of ulcers and tumours. This may have its basis in lymphatic drainage, which helps detoxify tissue.
Bedstraw has a long history of use as an alternative medicine and is still used widely by modern herbalists. It is used both internally and externally in the treatment of a wide range of ailments. The dried or fresh herb is alliterative, anti-inflammatory, and astringent. It is often taken to treat skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis, it is used as a detoxifying agent in serious illnesses such as cancer.
The plant contains organic acids, falconoid, tannins, fatty acids, glycoside asperuloside, Gallo tannic acid, and citric acid. It has a mild laxative effect stimulates the lymphatic system and has shown benefits for skin-related problems. The fresh plant or juice is used as a medicinal poultice for wounds, ulcers and many other skin problems. An infusion of the herb has shown benefits in the treatment of glandular fever, tonsillitis, hepatitis, and cystitis. The infusion is also used to treat liver, bladder and urinary problems. Bedstraw acts directly on the kidneys. Its specific action on acute inflammation or irritation of the urinary tract is stronger than most other treatments.
Used as a hair tonic, said to be good for the hair, making it grow long. A thick mat of the stems, when used as a sieve for filtering milk, is said to give healing properties to the milk and is still used in Sweden for that purpose.
This is a plant that most would think of as a weed that needs to be pulled but when you learn how this plant can heal, you will think differently about it.
when does this usually bloom on vancouver island?
bloom in the late spring summer