Doggrass, Quack Grass, Graminis, Twitch Grass

Couch Grass - (Elymus repens) is a common perennial grass of the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. It spreads rapidly through a creeping rhizome network that gets tangled in the root systems of other plants and shrubs, making it incredibly difficult to remove. For this reason, it has been classified as an invasive weed in many of the areas in which it’s been naturalized. Weed though it may be, Couch Grass has been considered an indispensable medicinal herb since ancient Greek and Roman times. 17th century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote of Couch Grass, “although a gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds half an acre of them to be worth five acres of carrots twice told over". If one can follow Culpeper’s charming old English words, he seemed to believe that Couch Grass was no mere weed, but twenty times more valuable than a carrot! The mucilaginous root or rhizome is the part used and valued by herbalists old and new, and has a centuries long history of use to support healthy kidney and bladder function. The dried rhizome can be tinctured, or steeped as an earthy, slightly sweet tea.