Cleavers
Galium aparinePersonality:
Cleavers is a fast-growing plant with fragile, sappy stems and leaves. It is vigorous and can quickly dominate an area of cleared ground.
Sources: This
is a common herb (often a weed) in Britain and can be gathered fresh from late
spring until early autumn. It is readily available as a dried herb. When buying
dried material, check that it is not faded. It should retain its green colour
and pleasant grassy smell.
Anecdotes:
Both the herb and its burs stick to clothing because of small, hooked hairs. The herbalist, Christopher Hedley once used the image of the hooks, travelling through the body, trapping toxins and carrying them through to the bladder, to be released. Although Cleavers’ detoxifying action is nothing to do with its’ hooked hairs, the image stuck in my mind and always fixed the plant in my memory as a cleansing herb.Uses:
Cleavers is used in toxic conditions. I sometimes take is as a ‘spring cleaning’ herb. After the somewhat limited diet of winter and relative lack of exercise and fresh air, it is good to clean out the body in spring. This can be done with fruit or water fasts (white grapes or melons are very good) and cleavers tea. The herb can be used as a component of any cleansing regime, especially if there is water retention, as it works through the kidneysActions:
Cleansing, diuretic.Dosage and Preparations:
It can be used freely in quite large quantities, especially if taken as tea, brewed from the freshly gathered herb. Although available as a tincture, I recommend using Cleavers as an infusion, which can be made either from fresh material, or good quality dried herb. You can half fill a tea pot with fresh cleavers and then cover with water or use a dose of one heaped teaspoon of dried herb to each cup of boiling water. For a stronger, more concentrated extract, the plant can be gathered in quantity and juiced.