Horse sorrel (horse sorrel, frog sorrel, horse farmer) is a plant distributed throughout Russia. Finding it is not difficult. It grows everywhere: in fields, forest edges and even along roadsides. This plant has been used in folk medicine since ancient times and almost everywhere.
Description
Horse sorrel, the medicinal properties and contraindications of which are well studied, are from the buckwheat detachment. This is a perennial with a strong, many-headed and very branched rhizome, with a long and quite powerful root. It is the root that allows the plant to live and bear fruit for more than one year. Once planting this plant in the garden, it is almost impossible to bring it out.
The upper part of horse sorrel is grassy, with rather large alternate leaves, in the lower part - coarse-grained, heart-shaped. In the upper part, the leaves are short-leaved, with an egg-lanceolate form.
Bloom
The plant blooms with nondescript whitish-greenish bisexual flowers, which are collected in tall and rather dense panicles. Seeds of horse sorrel are small, having three faces, 4-8 mm in size, chestnut, mostly light in color.
Sorrel begins flowering in the second half of May and lasts until mid-July, at which time the fruit ripens. But sometimes repeated flowering can take place. In this case, seed ripening occurs in August-September.
Breeding
For the most part, horse sorrel breeding occurs with the help of seeds, but it can also be vegetative, that is, by dividing the rhizomes. This is what led to the fact that it can be found everywhere. Sorrel is a weed that grows everywhere. But there is one condition under which the sorrel feels good - moderate humidity. With increased water content in the soil, it disappears.
Beneficial features
This unpretentious plant is not in vain popular. Nature endowed him with many useful substances. First of all, this:
- A number of vitamins, including ascorbic acid, vitamins B and K.
- Carotene.
- Essential oils.
- Organic acids, for example, oxalic and pyrogallic.
- Organic matter: calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus.
- Tannins and anthraquinone (derivatives).
Not knowing the chemical composition of this plant, since ancient times, people have used the healing properties of horse sorrel, using it in the form of decoctions, tinctures for various diseases. Later it began to be used in food. This was facilitated by a pleasant sour taste. Sorrel gradually became a cultivated plant, which filled the body's need for nutrients.
What parts of sorrel are used in medicine
For the preparation of medicines, both the aboveground and underground parts of the plant, as well as branches and seeds, are used. But the most useful is the root of horse sorrel, it contains the largest amount of nutrients. Seeds are harvested after full ripening.
The aerial part, seeds and leaves, are harvested from April to May. The underground part, the root, is dug up in the fall, when the leaves and stems are dry or when they have not yet formed, that is, in early spring. Raw materials are dried in a draft, avoiding direct sunlight, it is best done with a canopy. After complete drying, they are crushed and packaged in dry glassware or clean canvas bags.
When is horse sorrel used?
The healing properties of horse sorrel have been well known since ancient times. Moreover, they are recognized by both folk and official medicine. The action of the aboveground part of the sorrel is slightly different than the underground. Let's talk first about the use of this plant, it is used:
- With chronic constipation. With significant doses of sorrel consumption, a laxative effect is pronounced. To do this, use the root. The effect of the application occurs 8 hours after administration.
- Perhaps the use of horse sorrel for diarrhea. This is achieved by taking small doses of a decoction of seeds, in rare cases, small doses of a decoction of leaves.
- To achieve a small cholagogue effect, a decoction of the root is used.
- With skin diseases. A decoction of sorrel in wine helps against lichen.
- Anthelmintic, anthelmintic.
- In the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases.
- As a hemostatic and wound healing. These properties have an extract from horse sorrel, or as it is customary to call it a galenic preparation.
- Horse sorrel liquid extract has a calming effect and lowers blood pressure.
- With toothache, inflammation of the pharynx, throat, with catarrh of the VDP, a decoction of the leaves is rinsed in the mouth.
- When coughing, runny nose, sinus inflammation, headache is used in the form of grinding with freshly squeezed sorrel juice or its extract.
- In gynecological diseases, juice or plant extract is used for douching.
- How bactericidal.
- How anti-inflammatory.
Medicinal use
Horse sorrel has the healing properties and contraindications in the same way as any plant. Tinctures, decoctions, powder from crushed roots, extract, extracts, ointments are made from it. At home, fresh sorrel juice, decoctions, tinctures, and dry powder are most often prepared. Leaves are used fresh for cooking. They serve as a supplier of vitamins and minerals. It should be borne in mind the contraindications of horse sorrel.
Preparation of a decoction of sorrel parts
This is the most common therapeutic drug based on horse sorrel. It is taken inside, lotions are made from it for skin diseases and enemas for hemorrhoidal bleeding. Here are some cooking recipes:
Recipe 1. For it, you need to take 1 tablespoon of dry crushed roots, pour them into a container, pour 250 ml of boiling water there, close the container with a lid and let it brew for 30 minutes. Squeeze and strain. Ready broth to use 4 times a day for 1 table. spoon. Recommended for rectal fissures, hemorrhoids, colitis.
Recipe 2. Put in a saucepan 1.5 tablespoons of crushed sorrel roots, pour 350 ml of boiling water, then boil for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, close the lid and leave for 20 minutes. Press and filter. We use a decoction of 100 ml 3 times a day. Its use normalizes the blood circulation of the brain.
Recipe 3. Take 1 tablespoon of sorrel seeds, put in a metal cup, pour a glass of boiling water and put on fire. Boil for 10 minutes, remove from heat and leave for 1 hour to insist. Filter broth. We use 50-70 mg 3 times a day. It is used for bloody diarrhea.
Powder preparation
When taking horse sorrel, you can often hear that it is much more beneficial to take dry powder inside, since when heated, some of the nutrients are simply lost. The powder is recommended for anemia, with constipation in the form of prevention, to normalize the digestive tract. An ointment is prepared from it for external use in certain skin diseases, for example, scabies, lichen and for wound healing. An ordinary coffee grinder is suitable for preparing sorrel powder.
Cooking tincture
In order to prepare a product from sorrel for the future and facilitate taking the drug, since it will not be necessary to specially prepare it before each use, a tincture of sorrel root is suitable. To do this, you need 2 table. tablespoons of raw materials and 8 tablespoons of vodka, which we mix in a small, tightly closed container. Leave for 2 weeks in a dark place for insisting. After that, filter, and the tincture is ready for use. Consume 3 times a day before meals, 20 drops each.
Food use
Since time immemorial, in many countries after a long winter, people have been collecting horse sorrel in the fields. Later it began to be cultivated and grown. For example, in France more than 50 sorrel species are planted annually. In the old days, in Russian villages it was impossible to find a garden where this plant would not grow. It was used in spring to replenish the body with useful substances.
In Russian cuisine there are many recipes for pies and pies with sorrel, sour cabbage soup with sorrel, sour cream and eggs. In France, warm salads and sauces are prepared from it. In the UK, it is stewed and fried like cabbage for a side dish. In Central Asia, it is used for baking cakes.
In many other countries they are used as an ingredient in salads. Dry horse sorrel leaves are especially widely used in Armenia and Azerbaijan for preparing various dishes. The fact is that when dried, the sorrel practically loses a small bitterness, acquiring an unusual taste.
Contraindications
Like any other plant, sorrel has its contraindications and healing properties. The fact is that it promotes the formation of kidney stones. If there is a predisposition to this, then this plant is not for you. It has been found that acid promotes the creation of salts. They increase the formation of deposits in the kidneys. Under the ban, the use of drugs based on sorrel during pregnancy, inflammatory processes in the body.