The scientific name chicory is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, the Greek philosophers who called this plant Kichorion.
The Latin name intybus is translated from Greek as “notched” (due to the shape of the leaf), and from Latin as “tube” (due to the hollow stem). The name wegewarte (German) - "plantain", "road watchman" - emphasizes that this plant can be found near roads, along the fields. At the same time, the Ukrainians call it for its woody strength "petriv batig". In this article we will learn what kind of plant it is, as well as how to use chicory flowers.
Description
This is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae gray-green with a many-headed thickened spindle-shaped root, reaching a length of 1.5 m. Moreover, all parts of this plant contain milky juice.
The stem is erect, single, up to 150 cm high, covered with sparse hairs, branched.
The leaves are alternate, collected in a rosette, basal, pinnatis cut, pubescent from the underside, narrowed to the base in the petiole, while the stem ones are sharp-toothed, alternate, sessile; the upper ones are whole, lanceolate.
The flowers of chicory are blue, sometimes white or pink, reed, are collected in a variety of single and sitting on a few pieces on small peduncles baskets.
The fruit is an achene of irregular wedge-shaped, prismatic, with a small tuft of films. One plant can produce about 25,000 seeds, retaining germination for no more than 7 years. Chicory blooms all summer, the fruits ripen in early autumn.
Breeding
Propagated vegetatively from the root and by seeds. Distributed almost throughout Russia, excluding the northern regions.
Growing areas
Chicory grows on loamy and sandy loamy fresh and dry soils along the steep coasts of rivers, as well as along roadsides and slopes of ravines. It tolerates a temporary lack of moisture and significant soil compaction.
Chicory flowers have long been considered medicinal. Avicenna, a well-known doctor of the Middle Ages, widely used plant preparations in the treatment of a number of diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and inflammation of the eyes. He recommended applying chicory externally in the form of a bandage for gout to sore joints. The plant was familiar to the ancient Romans and Greeks.
The first chicory plantations in Russia were laid in 1880 in the vicinity of Yaroslavl.
Chemical composition
The roots of the plant contain lactacin, choline, pectin, lactucopycrin, intibin, which gives the leaves and roots a bitter taste, glycosides, cichorin, inulin, tannins, silicic acid, taraxosterol, sugars, ascorbic acid, thiamine.
Chicory flowers contain crystalline glycoside, young leaves contain carotene, seeds contain fatty oil. Also found in the plant are inulin, ascorbic acid, and potassium salts.
Cultivation and cultivation
Propagate chicory seeds and from the root. After harvesting the plants that were in the selected area earlier, the main plowing and peeling is carried out to a depth of about 30 centimeters. The soil is harrowed in the spring and dug up before sowing. In the spring they sow, seedlings appear ten days later. Care for them consists in weeding weeds and cultivating row spacings.
Collection, drying and harvesting
As mentioned above, chicory is actively used for medicinal purposes. The flowers and leaves of the plant are harvested in the fall, after the rosette of root leaves begins to fade. They dig up the roots, gently shake them off the adhering earth, cut off the aboveground parts with knives, wash them very quickly in cool cool water, remove the rotten damaged parts and lay them out for drying in the shade. Thick roots need to be cut lengthwise, while long roots should be cut into several pieces across. Several developed specimens are left on thickets for renewal of stocks of this raw material. Dried in dryers or ovens at temperatures up to 60 ° C. Raw materials have no smell, the taste is bitter.
Healing properties
So, what are the benefits of chicory flowers? They have astringent, sedative, diuretic, choleretic, anthelmintic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory properties, improve digestion, regulate metabolism, improve cardiac activity, and lower blood sugar levels.
Use in medicine
The benefits of chicory flowers have long been known to healers. The broth is used orally for diseases of the liver, gall bladder, kidneys, to increase appetite, improve digestion, dyspepsia, gastritis, an enlarged spleen, constipation, diabetes, helminthic invasion, anemia, asthenia, itchy dermatoses (neurodermatitis, eczema, pruritus, pruritus, seboroid dermatitis, urticaria), hysteria, vitiligo, psoriasis, furunculosis, baldness, acne vulgaris, as well as a diuretic, sedative, choleretic drug and for the regulation of all metabolic disorders.
Chicory flowers in folk medicine are used in the form of a decoction applied externally in the form of lotions, baths, dressings, used for gout, itchy dermatoses. In Bulgarian medicine - in the form of gruel for the treatment of furunculosis.
Also, the infusion is used as improving digestion, stimulating appetite, choleretic, diuretic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and astringent, with gastroenteritis, gastritis, cholelithiasis, hepatitis, nephritis, diabetes, hysteria, and neurasthenia. In the form of washes with ulcers, wounds - decoction, infusion; with eczema, boils - in the form of lotions; with inflammation of the glands, abdominal pain - in the form of compresses.
In case of anemia - juice as a tonic heart function and a calming nervous system; for the treatment of skin rashes, boils, acne, eczema and pustular skin diseases, purulent wounds, as well as diathesis used externally.
Chicory flowers in the form of a decoction and infusion can also be used for hysteria, neurasthenia. As a choleretic agent, the juice of the plant is relevant.
Medicines
Chicory is not used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. A drink from this plant is popular - it is sold along with ordinary food products.
Herb decoction
To do this, you need to brew one tablespoon of crushed fresh or dry herbs with a glass of boiling water, warm over low heat for 10 minutes, 15 minutes. insist, then strain. The broth is used externally for washing, lotions, baths for the treatment of acne, to eliminate skin rashes, purulent wounds, boils, eczema, pustular diseases, diathesis.
Tincture
In order to get the tincture, you need to brew 40 grams of the plant with 1 liter of boiling water, insist in a warm place for three hours, strain. Use half a glass three times a day to remove bile with cirrhosis, jaundice, to cleanse the spleen and liver, with obstruction of the stomach, spleen tumors, pain in the gastrointestinal tract. So, how many drops to drink tinctures of chicory flowers? Every day for several days in the evening and before breakfast, one glass each.
Root broth
Brew a glass of boiled water in a spoonful of root, heat over low heat for 20 minutes, then strain. Drink a tablespoon several times a day or as tea without dosage.
Poultices
With severe inflammation or pain in the stomach, chicory leaves are made of poultice. First, they are poured with hot water, then wrapped in a clean cloth and applied to sore spots every day twice.
Use of the plant in other areas
Roasted plant roots are a substitute for coffee. So, in Latvia they are added to the usual coffee for us, they also make a drink from it with apple juice, honey and lemon.
Tea made from chicory flowers is also very popular. They are often flavored with fruit and berry drinks. The roots can serve as a source of fructose, inulin, used for the manufacture of alcohol (from chicory alcohol output is greater than from potatoes, while its quality is better).
The plant is appreciated especially in dietary nutrition. It is actively used in the manufacture of cakes and sweets in the food industry. Fresh leaves can be eaten, derived salad varieties contain a large amount of ascorbic acid. At the same time, salads are prepared from young stems, leaves and shoots. Young shoots are fried, boiled, baked. In Belgium, a plant is baked in wine with apples and cheese.
In Europe, vitlouf (chicory leaf) is grown. It is added to garnishes for steam, fried, baked and stewed fish, in salads, in raw form - in soup.
During rains and in wet weather, flowers secrete a huge amount of blue nectar. From 1 hectare, plants receive up to 100 kilograms of honey.
Side effects of chicory and toxicology
The roots of chicory are not toxic and do not show obvious side effects. But with prolonged use, they can increase the secretion of bile and gastric juice. Therefore, people with high acidity of gastric juice chicory-based products should be used as carefully as possible.
Fried plant roots exhibit a pronounced choleretic effect. They can significantly increase diuresis. Therefore, prolonged use of chicory coffee is undesirable for people with diseases of the gallbladder and liver.