Description.
As a medicinal plant, dandelion is used. This is a representative of the family of Compositae, a herbaceous perennial plant with a rosette of dentate crenate-dissected leaves, with a long, unbranched root, reaching a height of 20-30 cm. The flowering period starts from the end of May to the very August, the fruiting is from June to September. Flowers of bright yellow color in the form of baskets are on a long hollow floral arrow. The fruits of dandelion are a seed with a feather on a long stalk. In all parts of the plant contains a thick, bitter taste, milky juice.
You can meet a dandelion in a variety of places - near housing and roads, in fields and meadows, in gardens. In the USA, France, Germany, Austria, India and Japan it is cultivated as a garden culture.
As a medicinal raw material, the roots and the aerial part of the plant are harvested. Roots need to be excavated in autumn, when the leaves wither, or in the spring, before the flowering begins. The aerial part of the plant is cut at the beginning of the flowering period.
Composition.
In the dandelion roots, simple carbohydrates (sugars), polysaccharide inulin (up to 40%), bitter substance lactukopicrin, vitamins B, E, choline, ascorbic acid, carotenoids (of which vitamin A is produced in the body), sterols, terpenes, asparagine, tanning agents, mucus, rubber (up to 3%), wax, resins, minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, etc.), fatty oil (consisting of glycerides of ceratin, linoleic, palmitic , melissa and oleic acids), and vegetable protein (up to 5%).
Milk juice of dandelion includes rubber, bitter glycosides taraxacerin and taraxacin, resins, saponins, choline, vitamins A, C, B 2, PP, E, carotenoids (lutein), calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese salts, as well as vegetable protein , which makes it a nutritious product.
Application of dandelion.
The dandelion has many different medicinal properties, which explains its use in medicine.
Medicinal preparations based on this plant improve appetite, stimulate the production of milk in nursing women, they have a restorative effect, have a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract and metabolism (including lowering the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood).
In addition, dandelion is also used as a diuretic, choleretic, laxative, antispasmodic; it has a hypnotic, soothing effect, is used as an expectorant, anthelmintic, antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal agent; Its antipyretic, antitumor and anti-anemic properties are known.
Vegetable raw materials harvested at the edge of roads are not recommended for medicinal purposes, since dandelion has the property of actively absorbing various harmful impurities (including lead) contained in the exhaust gases.
Dandelion medicinal in folk medicine.
Dandelion juice, its grass and root are used for oral administration in the form of broths, infusions and juice. Dandelion is used in the treatment of various diseases:
- with catarrhal diseases - as an expectorant, antibacterial, antiviral, antipyretic;
- at anemia - as one of the means of complex therapy;
- during lactation - as a means to increase the production of milk from a nursing mother;
- with diseases of the stomach and intestines - as a means to increase appetite and improve digestion;
- with hemorrhoids or constipation - as a laxative;
- as anthelmintic;
- in cases of sleep disorders or increased excitability - as a means of having a hypnotic and soothing effect;
- with liver diseases, bile ducts - as a choleretic and spasmolytic (to relieve spasm of smooth muscles) remedy;
- atherosclerosis - a means to normalize the metabolism;
- and is also used in the treatment of tumors as one of the means of complex therapy.
Dandelion juice has a whitening effect, so it is also used externally to get rid of freckles. Antiviral action of the juice helps in the destruction of warts.
Recipes for preparation of medicines based on dandelion.
For the preparation of medicinal herbs, juice and roots of dandelion medicinal.
- Here's a recipe for infusion from the root of a dandelion :
take enamelware, put there 1 tbsp. l. dry crushed root, add 1 cup boiled hot water, cover and heat for fifteen minutes in a water bath. Allow the broth to cool for 45 minutes at room temperature, strain, wring out, and then bring the quantity to the source with boiled water. Take warm, 3 times a day for ¾ cup for half an hour before meals to increase appetite and as a cholagogue.
- Recipe for decoction of flowers and dandelion grass:
take 1 tbsp each. l. each kind of crushed dry raw material, add 2 cups of cold water and boil for ten minutes. Let the broth steep for 30 minutes, then strain and add to the original volume. To stimulate the production of milk during lactation, you must take a decoction after eating ¼ cup three to four times a day.
- To remove warts, lighten the pigment spots and freckles, the oil from the root and grass of the dandelion is applied externally. Prepare it this way:
take 50 ml of vegetable oil, add one to two - two teaspoons of dry ground grass and the root of the plant, and allow the mixture to infuse for ten hours.
Dandelion medicinal has a number of universal medicinal properties, which makes it possible to use it in the treatment of a variety of diseases.