Woodlouse is a one- or two-year-old plant from the Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). Other names: heart grass, chickweed, field star, chicken star, treadmill, bird star
Description:
An annual or biennial with a weak and thin, recumbent or ascending branched stem, leafy evenly and sparsely. Leaves ovate, shortly pointed, thin, 1.5-2 cm long; upper sessile, lower petiole. The flowers are small, terminal or axillary, with white bifid petals, on long pedicels. Woodlice blooms in May-September. Woodlice grows in weedy places, within housing, in vegetable gardens, in fields and near roads, along rivers and streams, along forest edges.
Contains active substances:
Woodlice grass contains saponins, vitamin E, vitamin C, carotene.
Medicinal use:
The steamed grass of woodlice is applied to sore spots with rheumatism, sciatica, sprains; decoction is rubbed against aching joints, with rheumatism, used for whiter, applied to wounds. Woodlice are used in homeopathy for gout, rheumatism.