Sandy sedge. Sand sedge (Carex arenaria)

Latin name

Folk names

reed grass

Pharmacy name

Sedge rhizome

Part used

Rhizome

Collection time

April or October

Description of the plant

A perennial herbaceous plant with a thin creeping rhizome reaching a length of 10 m. Triangular stems 15-30 cm high emerge from the buds of the rhizome. The leaves are linear, folded, often sharp at the edges. The flowers are collected in oblong spikelets.

Spreading

Distributed in coastal areas of Europe, Asia and North America. It grows on dunes, coastal heaths, and less commonly in damp, swampy places.

Collection and preparation

Rhizomes are dug up in early spring, before shoots appear on the surface, or in late autumn. They are freed from sand, cut into pieces 10 cm long and dried in the shade until the raw material becomes brittle. Shelf life - 2 years.

Growing

Grows well in dry sandy soil in the sun. Propagated by sowing seeds in spring for seedlings or in open ground. Seeds should be sown in moist soil in partial shade. Reproduction is possible by dividing the bush in the spring.

Application

The rhizome has a weak expectorant, analgesic, diaphoretic and mild laxative effects. Sedge is mainly used in folk medicine. Infusions and decoctions of the rhizome are used for chronic bronchitis, pulmonary diseases, rheumatism and gout, and bladder diseases. Sedge is also used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract accompanied by colic and diarrhea. Currently, it is used mainly as a blood purifier.

Contraindications

Description and photo of sandy sedge

In scientific literature sandy sedge known by the Latin name Carex arenaria L., belongs to the sedge family (Cyperaceae). People often call it reed grass, thistle grass, sand root, sea grass root or red wheatgrass.
The medical name is sedge rhizome - Caricis arenariae rhizoma.
- a perennial herbaceous plant, sometimes reaching a height of 1 m. The rhizome is creeping, sometimes more than 10 m in length, located parallel to the surface of the earth. The stems are smooth, triangular, rough at the top. The leaves are hard, folded, linear, pointed at the ends. Each sedge shoot is crowned with a spike-shaped inflorescence. The flowers are small spikelets, greenish at first, then with a reddish tint. The fruit is an oblong nut. Sand sedge blooms in May-June and bears fruit in August. Sandy sedge is propagated by seeds or by dividing the bush. The plant is widespread in the temperate climate of Europe (Ukraine, part of Russia), Asia, and occasionally in North America. You can find sedge in forests and steppes, in sandy and wet swampy places, and on seashores.

A medicinal raw material, mainly in folk medicine, is the rhizome of sandy sedge. Raw materials are harvested late in the fall (October) or early in the spring (April). Carefully dig up the rhizomes, shake them off the ground, cut them into 10 cm pieces. Dry the raw materials in the shade, you can also use a dryer (at a temperature of 40ºC). As soon as the sandy sedge rhizomes become brittle, the raw material is ready. Sand sedge can be stored for 2 years.

Beneficial and medicinal properties of sand sedge

Chemical properties of sandy sedge. The following active substances were found in the rhizome of the plant: saponin, resins, tannins, mucus, coumarin, silicic acid, starch, essential oil, bitter glycoside, gum, mineral salts, asparagine.
Medicinal properties of sandy sedge. The effect of the plant has not been thoroughly studied. However, it is known that preparations from sand sedge have diaphoretic, choleretic, diuretic and mild laxative effects. Sedge also has an analgesic, mild expectorant, emollient and blood purifying effect. Regulates and improves metabolism in the body, improves the digestive process.

The use of sandy sedge in folk medicine

It just so happens that sandy sedge has not found use in official medicine, which cannot be said about its use among the people, where the plant is used to treat many diseases. The main indications for the use of preparations from sand sedge are the following diseases: colds (bronchitis, pneumonia, severe cough), cardiovascular diseases, bronchial asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, gout, rheumatism,
dysfunction of the endocrine glands, bladder diseases, skin diseases (rashes, irritations, psoriasis, eczema). Sand sedge is also taken as a means of improving blood composition.
Sedge is also used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, which are accompanied by diarrhea and colic. The drugs are used in various ways, namely: in the form of a decoction, tea, infusion, tincture, extract - internally, and externally - in baths; the plants are also used to wash the hair with a decoction for severe hair loss.

Folk recipes from sand sedge

1. Infusion prepare like this: 2 tsp. raw materials (crushed sandy sedge rhizomes) pour 2 tbsp. boiled water, infuse, then filter. Drink 100 ml 2-3 times a day for severe cough and runny nose; also take for flatulence, constipation and skin rashes.
2. Decoction prepare like this: 2 tbsp. raw materials, pour 300 ml of boiling water, keep for 20 minutes on low heat, leave for 6-7 hours, filter. The decoction is taken 2-3 times a day, 50 ml glass 20 minutes before meals for pneumonia, bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis. This decoction is used externally for conjunctivitis, rheumatism, runny nose, and will also help get rid of dandruff.
3. Tea taken for sore throat and bronchitis. Prepare this way: a full 2 tsp. raw materials are poured with 250 ml of water, boiled, infused for 10 minutes, filtered, cooled. Take a cup 2-3 times a day throughout the entire period of illness.
4. For rheumatism- take 1 tbsp. raw materials, pour 500 ml of boiling water, leave for 2 hours, filter. Take 4 times a day, 1/2 cup.
5. To prepare a bath- take 3 tbsp. raw materials, pour 1 liter of boiled water, keep on fire for half an hour. The finished broth, after filtering, is poured into the bathroom.

Contraindications to the use of sandy sedge

Taking preparations from sandy sedge is prohibited in case of acute inflammation of the kidneys, ulcers, diarrhea and acute gastritis.

Side effects and effects of sand sedge

Not identified. Some people may have individual hypersensitivity to sand sedge preparations.

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I have always been attracted by the mystery and unexplored terrain in the wild, where I dreamed of finding an original and rare plant that could solve the problem of diseases that are difficult to treat, and sometimes incurable in official medicine. This was about thirty years ago. One day in the summer, sitting next to the train window, I drove a decent distance from the city and decided to get off at some small station, where there were fewer people, large settlements and more nature. After an hour and a half drive, such a place appeared to me. From the railway platform, on one side there was a village, and on the other, a path stretched across a field towards the forest, along which I headed with several passengers who had gotten off. They went with baskets to pick blueberries, but I was most interested in medicinal plants.

First, I entered the forest and, after walking another couple of kilometers, I came out of it and saw, right under the trees, a dozen modest huts with vegetable gardens and one street. Beyond was a meadow, sandy clearings and a river. Near the huts, garden crops were growing green in the plots, and on the outskirts of one hut, behind a personal plot on sandy soil, I saw a fence where modest stems, like small reeds, were lined up in rows. The plant looks like it grows wild, but why is it well-groomed and surrounded by a fence? After all, it’s all for a reason! There is something valuable in it. I had already seen it somewhere, but didn’t pay much attention. I decided to go into the yard. I was warmly greeted by an old man and an old woman (in the remote wilderness, even a stranger is always welcome). We talked and got to know each other. I asked about the plant in the hedge. Grandma Dosya - that was the name of the owner - told me that in her family, even from her great-grandmother and great-grandfather, a medicine was prepared from such a plant, which, in her words, “helps with aching joints, pain in the lower back, legs, swelling of the knees and feet, also if the child has PEP.” In order not to have to walk far to get it, she explained, they planted it and surrounded it with a fence.

People do not always distinguish between diseases such as arthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism, gout, polyarthritis, and osteochondrosis. I realized that the plant that they told me about is directed primarily against these diseases, so without hesitation, I included it in my home pharmacopoeia. This is what we will talk about.

On lake, river and sea coastal sands, dunes, in sandy clearings of pine forests and slopes throughout the European continent you can see a modest plant 15-30 cm high. The stem is straight, triangular, rough at the top; the leaves are hard, long-pointed, grooved, the same length as the stem, or slightly longer than it. In the upper part, small crowded flowers form a spike-shaped inflorescence, reminiscent of a reed inflorescence. Blooms in May - June. The fruit is a nut hidden in a bag. The cord-like rhizome, red-brown in color, 2-5 mm thick at a depth of 3-5 cm, seems to creep parallel to the surface of the earth and reaches 10-12 meters in a few years. This plant is popularly called “reed grass”, “red wheatgrass”, and its botanical name is sand sedge (Carex arenaria).

From the rhizome, shoots break through 30-50 cm from each other to the soil surface, by which its directional advancement can be determined. When harvesting (in early spring or autumn), the end or beginning of the cord-like rhizome is undermined and easily removed along the entire length, freed from the stems, cut into pieces of 10-15 cm and dried in the shade or in a dryer at a temperature of +40 degrees. Shelf life - 3 years. Fresh roots smell like turpentine. Traditional medicine has long paid attention to this inconspicuous-looking plant and empirically revealed its healing properties, which are reflected in books of ancient publications. For example, “Russian medicinal herbalist and flower garden”, authors - Gornitsky K.S., Vilk, 2nd ed., Moscow, 1892-1893.

In Russia, zemstvo doctors prescribed sandy sedge to treat gout, rheumatism and syphilis. As for the latter disease, in the history of world medicine, the only anti-syphilitic remedy for a long time was the roots of the sarsaparilla vine, which grows in Central America, Mexico, Brazil, and Jamaica. Perhaps this circumstance forced scientists to pay attention to sandy sedge, study it and identify a worthy analogue to the overseas plant.

Beginning in the 50s of the last century, publications of prominent herbalists on the practical use of sandy sedge appeared: S.A. Tomilin (Kyiv), N.G. Kovaleva (Moscow), N.I. Solomchenko (Donetsk), etc.

First of all, biologically active substances were identified in the rhizomes - saponins, similar in chemical structure to the saponins of the roots of the above-mentioned sarsaparilla, essential oil, silicic acid, resins, tannins, mucous substances. Sedge preparations exhibit antiseptic, diuretic, carminative, choleretic, diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, enveloping (emollient), analgesic, expectorant, and blood purifying effects. (“Antimicrobial substances of higher plants”, V.G. Drobotko et al., Kyiv, 1958).

Here are several recipes for sandy sedge:

1. Leave 30 g of crushed dry rhizomes in 0.5 liters of 40-56% alcohol for 14 days in a dark place at room temperature. Take 3 teaspoons three times a day before meals for 1-2 months and longer for joint disease and radiculitis.

This tincture is also used for rubbing and compresses to relieve pain. Rubbing is done 2-3 times a day, a compress is applied to sore spots at night.

Arthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism, gout, polyarthritis, osteochondrosis are characterized by inflammation of the connective tissue of the musculoskeletal system and its destructive sclerotic changes, acute pain, and sometimes swelling of the joints of the hands, knees, and feet. The folk method of treating these diseases combines the efforts of sedge rhizomes, burdock roots, and elecampane in the form of a tincture: take 40 g of each, leave for 14 days in 1 liter of 40% alcohol, take 1 tbsp orally. spoon three times a day before meals for two months.

The tincture is also used for rubbing sore spots and applying compresses.

But to completely get rid of pain, this is not enough. Whole oat grains can help out. Place a handful of natural grains in a small amount of water in the oven for 2 hours until they turn into a dough-like mass. Coat swelling and sore areas with this dough, hot enough to withstand, apply gauze, then plastic wrap and wrap with a woolen scarf. After about an hour, when the body stops feeling the warmth, remove everything, wipe dry, grease with linden or flower honey, apply a film, wrap with a woolen scarf and leave overnight. As a rule, the pain subsides the next day, and after 3-5 such daily procedures it will completely disappear. But we shouldn’t calm down. After a few days the pain may return. The procedures must be continued daily for a month.

In parallel with ingestion of the above-mentioned tincture, take a decoction of oats: pour 2 cups of grains with a liter of water, evaporate in a water bath or in the oven to half the volume of the liquid, strain. Drink the decoction semi-hot, 2/3 cup with a spoon of honey three times a day, an hour and a half before meals for one to two months.

Yes, such treatment is troublesome. Yes, it requires a lot of effort, willpower, perseverance and patience. But it will be more effective, more reliable and cheaper than medication, which requires large expenditures on expensive pills and injections, which often lead to disability and complete loss of ability to work.

Note. Practical application of the above method has shown that without the participation of one of the components - elecampane, burdock or the same sandy sedge - the treatment effect, even if lower, will still be there. In addition, sandy sedge can be replaced with other types of sedge.

Herbalist Ignatiev A.D., Novosibirsk

Sedge family - Cyperaceae Juss.

Sandy sedge (folk names: carus, sotnitsa, sandy root, sandy sedge, pestle) is a perennial herbaceous plant with a long (up to 10 m) cord-like rhizome. The stems are triangular, rough at the top. The leaves are narrow-linear, grooved, rough, hard. The flowers are collected in numerous (6-16) spikelets, brought together into a linear-oblong spike, the lower spikelets with pistillate flowers, the upper ones with male, i.e. staminate; the middle ones at the apex also have stamens.

Stamens 3. The ovary is unilocular, enveloped in a membrane - an oblong-ovoid sac, pointed, brown, with strongly prominent veins, bearing a thread-like style with a bipartite stigma. The fruit is a nut enclosed in a pouch.

Blooms in early summer.

Sandy sedge is widespread throughout Europe, in the European part of Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea.

Grows in sandy areas and on seashores.

Rhizomes harvested after the plant has withered are used for medicinal purposes.

After cleaning them from stems and roots, they are dried in the shade, in dryers at a temperature of 40 ° C.

The roots can be stored in well-ventilated areas for 3 years.

Coumarins, saponins, silicic acid, starch, resins, tannins, bitterness and traces of essential oil were found in the roots.

The rhizome has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diaphoretic, emollient, expectorant, choleretic, diuretic and metabolism-improving effects.

In folk medicine, infusion and decoction of rhizomes are used for severe cough, bronchitis, pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic colitis accompanied by constipation and flatulence, flatulence, runny nose, bronchial asthma, gout, rheumatism, as well as for a variety of skin diseases: vasculitis, neurodermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus, furunculosis.

In Austria, rhizomes are used in the form of a decoction and cold extract for gout, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and anemia.

In Bulgarian folk medicine, sandy sedge rhizomes are used in the form of decoctions and infusions for anemia, rheumatism, gout, bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, constipation, flatulence, and also as a diaphoretic.

In the past, sandy sedge rhizomes were harvested in Russia in large quantities to replace the valuable root of the South American sarsaparilla plant, which was used for rheumatism, gout, syphilis and skin diseases.

1. 2 teaspoons of crushed sandy sedge rhizomes in 2 cups of boiling water, leave for 8-10 hours, strain. Take 1/3 cup 3-4 times a day before meals for constipation and flatulence.

2. 30 g of crushed rhizomes with roots in 3 1/2 cups of water, cook until about 2 cups of liquid remains, leave for 2 hours, strain. Take 1/4 cup 3 times a day before meals for bronchial asthma, bronchitis, gout,rheumatism.

Sand sedge is a perennial herbaceous plant of the sedge family with a long (up to 10 m) cord-like rhizome. The stems are triangular, rough at the top. The leaves are narrow-linear, grooved, rough, hard. The flowers are collected in numerous (6-16) spikelets, brought together into a linear-oblong spike, the lower spikelets with pistillate flowers, the upper ones with male, i.e. staminate; the middle ones at the apex also have stamens.

Common names: carus, thistle, sandy root, sandy sedge, pestle.