This plant has been known since ancient times under the names stupid grass, crazy grass, div tree, sorcerers grass, smelly dope, prickly apples, dope potion, etc. Although the most popular name in medicine is dope. Photos and descriptions of this plant we will consider in this article.
Appearance
This is an incredibly beautiful annual plant. It reaches a height of 1 meter, but sometimes melts even higher. The datura plant has an ordinary root root, wide, spindle-shaped, has a large number of branches. Its stem is branched, erect, hollow inside. Sprigs are covered with a small fluff. The leaves are serrated, large, notched, pointed, petiolate, ovate. Flowers of five white petals reach a length of 10 centimeters and always grow one at a time. They resemble the appearance of a bell and have an unpleasant and strong aroma that intoxicates. The fruits of Datura grass are a small oval box densely covered with thorns. It contains up to eight hundred round, black, flattened seeds.
Place of growth
Datura vulgaris, the photo of which is given in this article, despite its beauty, is distributed in vivo as a weed. It usually grows along roadsides, on wastelands, river banks, dumps, in gardens and kitchen gardens, near houses. Habitat - Central Asia, the European part of Russia, Georgia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Crimea, the Far East and Western Siberia. Datura prefers loose soil enriched with nitrogen, as well as a warm climate, although it also tolerates drought well.
Plant composition
A full description of the dope ordinary plant is impossible without mentioning what useful elements it contains. It includes:
- potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium;
- vitamin C;
- oleic, linoleic, stearic, palmitic and other acids;
- copper, fluorine, zinc;
- essential oil;
- tannins;
- carotene;
- fatty oil;
- protein, etc .;
- alkaloids (hyoscyamine, atropine, daurin, scopolamine, etc.).
Pharmacological properties
Since the plant contains hyoscyamine, it:
- has a bronchodilator effect;
- promotes the blocking of activity in the human body of cholinergic systems;
- reduces the secretion of salivary, gastric and sweat glands;
- tones up the respiratory system;
- reduces the overall muscle tone.
Datura ordinary grass in a pharmacy can be found in almost any. It is actively used as various extracts and tinctures.
Agricultural use
Grass is actively used in the form of an insecticidal preparation, which is necessary in agriculture to control various pests. It can relieve cabbage moths, caterpillars of hawthorn, herbivorous bugs and ticks. Fresh leaves of the plant are added to feed the piglets to increase fat in meat, while tincture of datura is used for seizures of animals.
Healing properties
Despite the danger when using a high dose, the properties of Datura ordinary for health are very useful. The plant has calming, antispasmodic, analgesic properties.
It reduces the secretion of the intestine, and also slows down the digestive processes, cures diseases of the biliary tract and gastrointestinal tract. Gastric colic is very fast. Helps with diseases of the colon and prolapse of the uterus.
Datura vulgaris (see photo in the article) expands bronchial muscles, relaxes, cures lymph node diseases, convulsive cough and asthma, diseases of the upper respiratory tract. To eliminate asthma symptoms, grass leaves are used in the form of smoking. It is used for epilepsy, shortness of breath, hiccups, and cramps. With inflammation of the mouth and throat, toothache, rinse with a decoction.
Tinctures are created for stress, sleep disturbance, nervous system, mental illness, neurasthenia, with motion sickness. Datura easily treats speech disorders and convulsions. With bruises, rheumatism and eczema, compresses and baths with the use of a plant are recommended. With all kinds of inflammation of the eyes, light lotions are made from a decoction of the grass.
Datura vulgaris in the intimate area helps with painful tension of the penis and increased sexual excitability. In addition, it must be used for inflammation of the genitals and ovaries, mastitis and mastopathy. It is also used as a traditional medicine for whooping cough.
In microscopic amounts, it can be given to children at least 6 years old. In this case, the symptoms for its use are the same as in adults.
Using
Alcohol tinctures and powder are made from Datura vulgaris.
Powder is made from dried leaves. It is used in the treatment of convulsive cough and severe shortness of breath. For this, the powder is taken orally in small doses three times a day. If a patient with bronchial asthma is in a state of neglect, sometimes they are allowed to breathe with smoke from tan leaves.
Decoctions and tincture of Datura vulgaris can be used externally. Boil a glass of boiling water and a spoonful of dry leaves for this for a minute. Then insist for half an hour and can be applied. Half a glass of water should add a spoon of the resulting infusion and use in the form of lotions.
With epileptic seizures, convulsions and mental disorders, an infusion of grass is used. It is made from a glass of hot water and a teaspoon of seeds of this plant, then they insist for half an hour. This infusion is used inside a teaspoon. In addition, it is prescribed for stomach cancer to relieve pain.
Incredibly useful is his tincture for hemorrhoids. In this case, prepare a sedentary warm bath. It is necessary to pour 20 grams of dry datura with a glass of hot water and insist for one hour. Next, you need to dilute in ten liters of warm boiled water.
Datura vulgaris is widely used in cosmetology. With it, you can get rid of unwanted hair in various parts of the body. To do this, take 150 g of dry raw materials, pour them with one liter of boiling water, then boil until a homogeneous mass appears. As soon as the broth cools down, it is smeared on the desired areas of the skin. Such a product has a very long shelf life, while it does not lose its healing properties.
The broth is also used for douching and enemas. To create it, take half a liter of water and a spoonful of dry chopped leaves, cook for 5 minutes on low heat. The finished product is left to stand for about twenty minutes, then filtered and consumed once a day for three weeks.
The plant is poisonous, therefore, you need to carefully study any changes in the body. If you feel unwell, you should immediately stop using and consult a doctor.
A day for a person, a single dose is 0.2 g, daily - 0.6 g.
Datura Oil
Oil is obtained from datura seeds. The main application is the elimination of unwanted body hair. Oil, falling into the hair bulb, destroys it from the inside. Therefore, in this place treated with the product, the hair will not grow anymore. Apply the drug in this way: first you need to do epilation, after which it is necessary to take a little oil on the palm of your hand and apply it with a thin layer on the exposed bare bulbs and pores.
Plant oil is also used to remove fecal stones from the intestines and gall bladder stones. It normalizes the digestive tract, and also improves intestinal motility. In addition, the oil has a calming substance, due to which it effectively helps with stress.
It is used externally for burns, radiculitis, eczema and arthritis.
Growing Datura
At the present moment, many gardeners grow this plant, as it is unpretentious, while its flowering lasts a long time. The soil for its cultivation should be prepared in advance. It needs to make humus, earth and sand from the garden. It should be cooked in the fall. Spring is the time for planting seedlings and sowing seeds. Sowing is preferably carried out in small plastic containers, where fresh autumn soil and peat were poured in advance. After 10 days, the first shoots appear.
Next, in a pan in which grass seedlings will be located, a solution of manganese should be poured. This tool will protect seedlings from fungal infections. Seedlings should be regularly watered, while avoiding stagnation. In summer, you can plant dope seedlings in the ground, while observing a distance of one meter between plants. Datura, after growing, takes up a lot of space. It has sprawling branches and is very tall. In order for the plant to develop and grow well, it should be transplanted into loose soil every spring.
Datura Care
For datura, the place should not be very sunny and bright, while protected from the wind. The flowering of this plant depends on the quality of the water used for irrigation. It is advisable to pour dope with hard water, however, if it is not, then you can use simple soft water. Although in this case, it is necessary to pour dope with lime milk once a season.
In summer and spring, the grass grows very actively, therefore, it needs at this time in pruning flowers that have already faded and watering 2 times a day. In this case, it is necessary to stock up on seeds that need to be collected from fruits that remain at the place of occurrence of the first flowers. To avoid shedding of seeds, special bags should be put on the fruit box.
Pests of grass do not like moisture, therefore, the plant must be sprayed with ordinary water. Sometimes it is sprayed with a pyrethrum solution.
Billet
In the form of a medicine, not the whole plant is harvested, but only its seeds and leaves. Leaves of grass are collected in dry weather, because when moisture gets on them, they quickly darken in a torn condition. Then they are dried in ovens at 40 ° C. In addition, the leaves can be collected when the seeds ripen, in which case they are dried in dark places in drafts.
The drying process is completed when the cooked raw materials break easily. Remember, wash your hands well when handling this herb, as it is very toxic. Prepared raw materials can be used for two years for medicinal purposes.
Poisoning
Datura vulgaris is a poisonous plant, it should be handled carefully, otherwise the risk of poisoning is likely. The possibility of this appears when applying seeds to food.
Signs of poisoning:
- incoherence of speech;
- dry mouth
- diarrhea with blood;
- vomiting and nausea;
- difficulty swallowing;
- headache;
- dilated pupils;
- photophobia;
- reddened and dry skin;
- the inability to normally see a closely located object, short-term loss of vision;
- deterioration of short-term memory;
- hallucinations and delusions;
- uncontrollable laughter;
- tachycardia.
In a severe case, there is a complete loss of orientation, fever and sharp excitement, cramps and shortness of breath, lowering blood pressure and blue mucous membrane. A coma and a loss of consciousness are likely. Sometimes death due to vascular insufficiency and respiratory paralysis is possible.
In case of symptoms of poisoning, call an ambulance immediately. For first aid, it is necessary to induce vomiting artificially, as well as to wash the intestines. You can drink charcoal later.
This effect from poisoning can last up to two weeks. The consequences can be swelling of the legs, forearms and face.
Contraindications
The use of Datura is contraindicated in glaucoma. In the absence of this disease, you should first consult a doctor, since the plant is poisonous and can harm the body. You can not use more than expected, as this threatens with serious poisoning.