OATS
Avena sativa
COMMON NAME: Groats.
FEATURES: Widely distributed in most parts of the world, in field cultivation. The oats of commercial and
general use are the seeds of Avena sativa with the husk removed. The crushed or coarsely flaked grain is
known as oatmeal. The tincture and powder are used in herbal combinations of tonics and capsules.
MEDICINAL PART: Seeds.
SOLVENT: Water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Nervine, tonic, stimulant, antispasmodic.
USES: Cheerfulness is health; its opposite, melancholy, is disease. The cliché “He’s feeling his oats”
usually refers to a spirited horse who has been fed on oats. It is a recognized natural food, appealing in
taste and nourishment, and has long been used as a family remedy in an infusion, usually accepted by
patients of weak digestion when other foods fail. The properties of Avena sativa in tincture of oats beards
has been recognized by people of all lands as a naturalizer to the sexual gland system. An important
restorative in nervous prostration and exhaustion after all febrile diseases, it seems to support the heart
muscles and urinary organs. Instead of coffee, a drink made from equal parts of oat beards, roasted
acorns, and chicory, in equal proportions, is a welcome and beneficial change.
DOSE: The tea is made by steeping 1 teaspoonful of the beards in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes or
more, then straining and adding honey if desired. Taken a mouthful at a time throughout the day.
EXTERNALLY: Culpeper recommends oatmeal boiled in vinegar as an application for the removal of
freckles and spots on the face and body.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture of fresh plant in flower for alcoholism, cholera, debility, influenza,
neurasthenia, opium habit, palpitation, sexual excess, sleeplessness, tuberculosis.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: In Russia oves (oats) are highly regarded for both human and domestic animal
consumption, having a great value as both food and medicine. Folk medicine: Employs its virtues in
decoctions and tea (grain and oat straw) as diuretic, diaphoretic, carminative, and febricide (to reduce