Popular names: field scabiosa, satanic root, devil’s root.
Parts used: herb and root.
Pharmacy name: calico grass – Succisae herba (formerly: Heiba Succisae), calico root – Succisae radix (formerly: Radix Succisae).
Botanical description. Perennial plant with a short and thick rhizome and numerous roots. From the middle of the rosette of elliptical, more often entire leaves, slightly pubescent stems rise, which reach 50 cm in height and sometimes branch in the upper part. Sparse stem leaves are arranged oppositely. The tops of the stems end in spherical inflorescences. Small flowers are most often blue, rarely painted pink or white. Blooms from July to September. It is found mainly in wet meadows and forest clearings.
Collection and preparation. The grass must be collected before flowering and dried in bunches in a shady place. The rhizomes are dug up in late autumn, dried slowly in the shade or – but carefully – in the sun.
Active ingredients: saponins, tannins and bitterness. Healing action and application. Quite a few medicinal plants are known with a close combination of active substances that have a mild laxative and diuretic effect. They are traditionally added to tea mixtures that serve for the so-called blood purification. Meadow calico belongs to this category of plants. Due to the presence of saponins, it is also a mild expectorant. But its composition, as well as its action, are poorly understood, so this medicinal plant is more used in folk medicine.
Application in folk medicine. It is interesting to quote what the authors of medieval herbalists said about meadow calf, since it has been used in folk medicine to this day for the same diseases. P.A. Mattiolus, for example, writes: “Sivets should protect against the plague – it must be boiled in wine and then drunk, green leaves are also placed on the glands. The root has the same power, drinking from it disperses stagnant blood, which is collected with bruises and bruises The roots have a special property to alleviate the birth pangs of mothers and kill worms.A hot tincture of calico is used when drinking against all chest defects – cough, hoarseness, shortness of breath, as well as from a cold … “In folk medicine, calico is considered a particularly good cough medicine . To do this, prepare tea from grass or from the root.
- Sivet tea: 2 heaping teaspoons of raw materials are poured into 1/4 liter of cold water, heated, boiled for 1 minute, then filtered. Add as much burnt sugar to the tea as it can dissolve, and 2 more teaspoons of honey. Take 2 teaspoons of this syrup 3-5 times daily.
From worms they drink tea without additives, for blood purification – mixed with 1 tablespoon of fruit (wine or apple. – Ed.) Vinegar. Side effects should not be feared, if not overdose.