Scabious

The scabious (knautia arvensis), also known as “wild widow” or “scab grass”, is a plant present throughout Europe and quite common in meadows, grasslands, rocks and roadsides and fields.

It presents a rosette of basal leaves and other upper ones, these divided into equal lobes or segments, except for the terminal one, which is larger. Its floral chapters, arranged on long peduncles, display tiny pink flowers, the external ones with the most apparent petals.

According to Font i Quer in his now classic work on medicinal plants, Dioscorides, the first-century Greek physician, was already well acquainted with the scabiosa. He said of the juice of this plant that it was “a healthy remedy against all the passions of the chest, against opilations of the liver and spleen, and against all kinds of leprosy or scabies if drunk with honey.” In fact, the name “scabiosa” derives from the Latin scabieswhich means “scab.”

The scabious is found in the form of a dry plant for infusion, local baths or compresses, or in the form of alcoholic tincture, although much less so. It is also marketed as a homeopathic tincture.

Scabiose medicinal properties

For medicinal purposes, in spring and summer, the flowers and leaves are harvested, and to a lesser extent the rhizome. It contains sugars, tannins, bitter principles and sesquiterpene lactones, as well as saponins in the rhizome.

It has traditionally been used as diuretic, purifying, expectorant, sudorific and healing.

the scabious not found in all herbalists but can be collected in the fieldpreferably in points far from roads, quarries, landfills and other spaces likely to be contaminated.

Herbalists recommend it as antipruritic, to relieve itching, pruritus, insect bites and eczema and dermatitis. It has also been used to relieve chickenpoxboth in children and adults.

How to use scabious

The scabious infusion is very cleansing and can be drunk or applied to the skin. It can also be used for bronchitis or applied externally to relieve skin problems.

Infusion for itching. This cleansing herbal tea is ideal to soothe itching: Add two tablespoons of the dried plant –alone or associated with mallow– per half liter of water. Boil for 2 minutes, let stand for 10 and strain. It is drunk during the day, with a pinch of honey.Applied on the skin: It can be used in a bath or massage, soaking a gauze or compress with it, to heal wounds, reduce pimples or relieve dermatitis and skin ulcers.stop bronchitis: As an expectorant and sudorific plant, scabious can be combined with hyssop, Scots pine buds, mallow and elderberry, as well as star anise, in an effective formula that helps fight bronchitis and flu episodes. How to prepare it: It is enough to combine the plants in equal parts and separate a level tablespoon of the mixture per cup of water. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes, let it rest for another 10 and drink up to three cups a day, moderately hot.as a laxative: For this purpose, it is mixed with marshmallow, frangula and mallow in equal parts, and two glasses are taken daily, on an empty stomach, while constipation persists.

Jordi Cebrian. Advisor: J Mª Teixé, herbalist at “Manantial de Salud”