Description.
This plant belongs to the species of perennial herbaceous plants belonging to the family of Compositae. It can reach several tens of centimeters in height, with the covering of the trunk portion and leaves being a thick, fluffy gray shade similar to felt. The shape of the leaves located at the roots is oblong-obovate. The plant is entirely covered with a small scalp, the main purpose of which is to help survive in the absence of moisture.
The flowers of the immortelle are like a basket and have a size of the order of half a centimeter in diameter, while they are painted yellow, and in the upper part are combined into inflorescences. The flowering period of the plant is June-August, until the beginning of September. For medicinal use, the collection of the desert immortelle is carried out with blossoming inflorescences, which in this case have a slight pleasant smell.
The main place of growth is dry sandy soil, while drought for immortelle is not terrible. The plant can also be found in thinned coniferous forests, in fields, meadow thickets. The immortelle is widely spread in the middle zone of Russia, in the Caucasian and Siberian regions.
Useful properties of the plant.
For medicinal purposes inflorescences of immortelle sand are used. The flower baskets of the plant contain traces of essential oil, which gives them a certain smell. Also in the composition include dyeing, tannins, flavonoids, steroid compounds, various resins and bitterness. In the chemical analysis of the immortelle sand found ascorbic acid and carotene (provitamin A), vitamin K, as well as various mineral salts and trace elements.
It is necessary to collect the medicinal raw material in dry weather during the early flowering period, when the flower baskets are fully developed, but the flowers did not quite bloom. Flowers with a part of the stem, up to a centimeter, are carefully cut off (it is advisable not to damage the plant itself), and carefully put it in a container (it is important not to crush them), after which drying is carried out with a small layer of raw material in a low-fire, well-ventilated room.
Application in medicine.
Medical preparations made on the basis of the immortelle sandy are used as soothing agents and possess antispasmodic properties - properties that allow to remove spasms of the muscles of the internal organs of the human body. In most cases, this applies to the gastrointestinal tract and bile ducts. The removal of muscle spasm in this area of the body relieves the pains facilitating the unobstructed movement of food and bile. Medicinal properties immortelle contribute to the production of gastric juice, pancreatic juice and bile (while modifying its components - reduces the concentration of bile acids, increases the concentration of bilirubin). Antimicrobial and diuretic properties of this plant are known, the use of immortelle improves the metabolic processes of the body.
Decoction, consisting of inflorescences of immortelle sand, is used in the treatment of diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts (as an antispasmodic and cholagogue). With the use of these broths the secretion of bile increases, its chemical composition changes, as a result of which the spasm of the bile ducts is removed and the sand and small stones are washed out in cholecystitis.
As a diuretic and antibacterial drug sandwich immortelle is used in cases of renal failure or diseases of the urinary tract, as an antispasmodic and stimulant for the separation of digestive juices in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. This helps to reduce nausea, flatulence, pain. Restores peristalsis of the intestinal tract, promotes fecal masses. As a result, the sand dune is advised to take with constipation.
In cases of atherosclerosis in medical practice, preparations from the immortelle sand are used to reduce the amount of "bad" (delayed on the walls of blood vessels) cholesterol in the blood and, accordingly, increase "good" cholesterol, which activates all the biochemical processes of the human body. In this case, patients are prescribed a course of treatment with the drug.
Medicine also knows the anthelmintic properties of this plant, and the presence in the chemical composition of the immortelle vitamin K makes it possible to use it as a means to stop bleeding.
At the same time, the immortelle sandy has the ability to accumulate in the human body and, having little toxic properties, can harm the body. Therefore, the course of taking a plant for the duration should not be longer than 3 months.
The recipe for preparing a medicinal preparation from the immortelle sandy.
In folk medicine, the infusion is prepared from the plant: a glass of boiling water is poured into a tablespoon of pre-prepared, dry, finely chopped raw materials, insisted for a quarter of an hour, then cooled and filtered. Infusion is taken daily three times a day for thirty minutes before meals.
Pharmaceutical kiosks sells a medicinal preparation "Flamin" , which is a group of flavonoid substances of sandstone immortelle purified from ballast substances, which is used for diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts.
Immortelle sand is considered to be one of the most famous and time-tested medicines.