''Ctenium aromaticum'' is a species of
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
known by the common name toothache grass. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it grows on the
coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...
.
[''Ctenium aromaticum''.]
Grass Manual Treatment.
This is a perennial grass that forms clumps of stems reaching 1 to 1.5 meters in maximum height. The leaves are up to 46 centimeters long. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a
panicle
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
with one branch that is up to 15 centimeters long and lined on one side with two rows of spikelets. Each spikelet is roughly a centimeter long.
[
It is not known whether or not the grass was ever used as a remedy for ]toothache
Toothache, also known as dental pain,Segen JC. (2002). ''McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine''. The McGraw-Hill Companies. is pain in the teeth or their supporting structures, caused by dental diseases or pain referred to the te ...
. It has, however, been used as a sialagogue, an agent that increases saliva
Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can be ...
. The crushed roots have a strong scent.[Austin, D. F. and P. N. Ionychurch. ]
Florida Ethnobotany.
' CRC Press 2004. The lower part of the stem produces a numbing sensation when it is chewed.[''Ctenium aromaticum''.]
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. The agents responsible for this action are isobutylamides.[Gamboa-Leon, R. and W. S. Chilton. (2000)]
Isobutylamide numbing agents of toothache grass, ''Ctenium aromaticum''.
''Biochemical Systematics and Ecology'' 28 1019-1021.
References
External links
USDA Plants ProfileNatureServe
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5191629
Chloridoideae