Oats (dried green plant) Tea

Botanical Name: Avena sativa.

Plant Family: Poaceae

Plant description: Oats are annual grasses, growing to 1.3 m tall with long, narrow, green leaves. The flowers are pendulous spikelets arranged in open terminal panicles. The grain is about 1 cm long enclosed in a hull when it falls.

Part used: Leaf, stem and developing seed.

Harvest: The plant should be harvested when the seed is at the milky stage, giving a milky liquid when crushed.

Active Constituents: Not well defined. It contains Saponins (avenacosides), indole alkaloids (including avenine and trigonelline), silica acids, a-sterol, flavonoids, calcium and other minerals, wheat protein gluten.

Energetics: Sweet, cooling.

Actions: Nervine tonic, anxiolytic, antidepressant, general tonic.

Uses: Oats was traditionally used for general debility, anxiety, mild depression and insomnia.

Dosage: Infusion – pour one cup of boiling water over one teaspoon of dried herb and drink after five minutes. Drink up to one cup three times per day. Fluid Extract (1:2) – 20—40 ml/week.

Cautions: None known.

Interactions: None known.

Certified Organic Australian grown, in Tasmania by Highland Herbs Tasmania.