Stellaria media or chickweed is a common garden weed. Chickweed is an herb that is considered a nuisance by gardeners but used by herbalists for its soothing internal and external applications. Capsules may be opened and added to hot water and consumed as a tea or applied to the skin as a salve in any ointment base, such as olive oil.

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Chickweed benefit
Very little research is available on chickweed. Chickweed has been used in folk medicine for skin conditions, indigestion, and a variety of other conditions. Chickweed is used primarily as a topical cream applied to the affected area. It can also be taken as a tea or tincture.

Availability
Chickweed is sold in capsule, liquid extract, tinctures, tea, ointments, oils, and dried herb.

Chickweed Research Update
Ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal uses of plants in the district of Acquapendente (Latium, Central Italy).
J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Jan 15;96(3):429-44. Museo Nazionale Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, Piazza Marconi 8-10, Roma, Italy.
In the years 2002-2003 research was carried out concerning ethnomedicine in the Acquapendente district (Viterbo, Latium, central Italy), an area so far less frequently studied from the perspective of plant folk traditions. The district, from the ethnobotanical point of view, shows traces of the influences of the neighbouring regions. In this study 96 plant entities are described, belonging to 45 families, of which 64 are employed in human medicine, 15 in veterinary medicine, 22 in the feeding of domestic animals, 5 as antiparasitics and 5 for other uses. Some medicinal uses are linked to beliefs or residual forms of magic prescriptions (11 plants). Amongst the more notable uses the most interesting are those of: Verbena officinalis (rheumatic pains, wounds), Juglans regia (antiparasitic use for cheeses), Santolina etrusca (antimoth use), Stellaria media - chickweed - and Lupinus albus (birdseed for poultry and fodder for lambs), and Thymus longicaulis subsp. longicaulis (used to curdle milk).

Additional links
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