The Russian land is rich in valuable medicinal plants. Among them, a special place is occupied by bog dried mussel, which is sometimes called marsh (Gnaphalium uliginosum) from the family Compositae. What is this inconspicuous grass famous for and what diseases will it help to cure? We will talk about this in this article.
Description
The herbaceous annual plant has a short stem (up to 30 cm), from the base it is open-branched and covered with a silver-white “felt”. The root is short, pivotal, rather thin. The leaves are small, regular. At the base, they are narrowed, densely pubescent.
Light yellow flowers are collected in small baskets, arranged in bunches or tight heads at the ends of branches. They are surrounded by radially diverging upper leaves. The fruit is an oblong-shaped light brown or greenish-gray achene with a crest.
Swamp marsh, whose properties (medicinal) have long been noticed by traditional healers, blooms from mid-June to August. The fruits ripen in October. The plant propagates exclusively by seeds. From one bush you can collect up to five hundred seeds, which will retain germination for five years.
Spread
Swamp grass is found in temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, from the UK, Portugal, Iceland in the west to Japan and Korea in the east. Distributed in the former republics of the Soviet Union, in Eastern and Western Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus.
It prefers fallow and flood meadows, swampy banks of rivers and lakes, and floodplain forests. It is found in gardens with waterlogged soil and potato fields.
Composition
Swamp dried mash contains many nutrients. Among them:
- carotene (up to 55%);
- flavonoids;
- tannins (4%);
- resins (up to 16%);
- essential oils (0.05%);
- phytosterols;
- traces of alkaloids (gnafalin);
- vitamins B1 and K;
- vitamin C;
- thiamine.
Healing properties
Marshmallow dried preparations have astringent and anti-inflammatory, antiseptic properties. They are able to accelerate the processes of regeneration, epithelization and repair of ulcerative and wound surfaces of the skin and mucous membranes. In the course of research, the hypotensive and vasodilating properties of the plant were revealed. The antihypertensive effect is associated with flavonoids.
Preparations based on dried milk somewhat slow down the rhythm of heart contractions and have a sedative effect. The therapeutic effect of the plant is due to the influence of vitamins (provitamin A - carotene, which increases the immunobiological properties in pathological processes) and other substances that make up its composition (flavonoids, resins, tannins).
Use in traditional medicine
To date, swamp marsh has already been well studied. The healing properties and contraindications of the plant are known to all traditional healers. It is used not only in folk, but also in traditional medicine. As a rule, preparations based on this plant are prescribed to patients as a hypotensive agent, which not only slows down the rhythm of the heart, but also favorably affects the circulatory system.
Oil extracts from dried mashrooms stimulate granulation. They are prescribed for the regeneration of damage to skin areas caused by burns. Swamp dried moth found application in the manufacture of medicines for the treatment of peptic ulcer of the stomach and intestines, gastritis.
Drying preparations are part of complex therapy for serious diseases of the nervous system. Today, medicines made from dried cough are well established for the treatment of the initial stage of hypertension.
Use in traditional medicine
Traditional healers have been using the beneficial properties of this plant for a very long time, and I must say, very successfully. They recommend decoctions and infusions for gastrointestinal ulcers, migraines, angina pectoris, blood vessel spasms, hemorrhoidal, uterine, and renal bleeding.
Decoctions and oil-alcohol extracts are applied externally in the form of lotions, compresses, in the treatment of long-healing wounds, burns, ulcers. Swamp dried mussel is part of various collections that are effective in treating cervical erosion, Trichomonas colpitis.
Infusion (baths) gives good results with increased sweating of the palms and legs. We suggest you get acquainted with some ways of preparing medicines.
Infusion
Ten grams of dried pineapple in an enameled bowl with a glass of boiled hot water. Close the saucepan with a lid and place in a water bath for a quarter of an hour. Then cool the composition to room temperature, strain, squeeze the raw materials. The resulting volume of liquid is brought to the original boiled water.
The infusion is stored in a dark, cool place for no more than two days. Take as a hypotensive and anti-inflammatory drug half a cup twice a day.
Decoction
Twenty grams of dry grass pour 300 ml of boiling water and put on low heat for five minutes, let it brew for about two hours. After this, the composition can be filtered and taken in the same way as the infusion.
Oil extract
You will need six grams of raw materials (a tablespoon with a slide). It is poured with 200 ml of any vegetable oil (preferably olive oil), insisted for ten days, shaking daily, then filtered.
Use of the plant in other areas
Swamp dried mash is used for the manufacture of alcohol-oil extract. It is successfully used in veterinary medicine.
Collection and Harvesting
Harvesting of raw materials is carried out during the flowering period of the plant. When harvesting, 2-3 plants per one square meter of thickets should be left for seeding. The plants are dug up with the root, shake the ground from it and, without cutting the root, dried in the shade, in the open air, turning over several times a day.
In bad weather, you can dry the raw materials under a canopy, in special drying chambers (temperature +40 ° C), in the attics. The plant retains its healing properties in dry form for three years.
Swamp green: contraindications
This medicinal plant and all drugs based on it are contraindicated for people with hypersensitivity and intolerance to the individual components that make up its composition.
It is strictly forbidden to take these drugs for patients suffering from low blood pressure. Usually the plant does not cause side effects, but allergic reactions can occur. In this case, the drug is immediately stopped.
Use a swamp cod only after consulting a doctor. Too often self-medication leads to very disastrous results.