Many plants have long been considered healing. These include peppermint. The healing properties of this herb became the reason for its cultivation. Several centuries ago, in traditional medicine, it was customary to use all varieties of this plant, but today wild plants are not used.
Peppermint: general characteristics of the plant
Today peppermint is grown in summer cottages and in special farms. This is a natural hybrid of two crossed varieties of mint: water and spikelet. A bush perennial plant about a meter high has an upright stem and a powerful root system. The leaves are oval, pointed at the ends, darker closer to the apex. The flowers are light purple, collected in spike-shaped inflorescences in the axils of the apical leaves.
The people really appreciate the healing properties of peppermint. There are white and black varieties, their main difference in color. Unlike white mint, the leaves and stem of black have a dark purple hue. Both species smell almost the same, only the smell of black mint is more harsh.
Ease of care and the healing properties of peppermint contribute to its widespread distribution. For the safe growth of this plant, any soil is suitable. It grows quite quickly, vegetatively propagates with the help of layering and division of rhizomes.
Peppermint: Composition and Useful Properties
They collect grass in the summer, at the very beginning of its flowering, dry it in the open air, in places inaccessible to direct sunlight. For medicinal purposes use leaves, flowers and a stalk. The mint contains essential oils, menthol, tannins, trace elements, carotene, organic acids, flavonoids, tannins, betaine, terpenoids.
The main component due to which the healing properties of peppermint are of particular value is menthol. This substance has bactericidal and anesthetic properties, and also affects the superficial blood vessels.
The healing properties of peppermint have become the reason for the manufacture of various preparations based on it, which are used to treat angina pectoris and neurosis. Among them, funds can be allocated "Corvalol", "Validol" and
"Drops of Zelenin ." A
tincture of peppermint has anti-inflammatory, choleretic and analgesic properties, improves digestion, and relieves nausea. Decoctions are prescribed for colitis, gastritis, diseases of the liver or gall bladder. Another plant extract is included in the composition of rinses, toothpastes and oral fresheners.
Contraindications
In addition to useful properties, there are some contraindications for the use of preparations and infusions based on peppermint: low blood pressure, weak pulse, varicose veins, increased acidity of gastric juice, children under 3 years of age, pregnancy. Also, excessive use of mint and preparations based on it is not recommended for men, since there is a theory about the harmful effects of herbs on male libido.