The use of this plant for medical purposes has its roots far in history. In Bulgarian traditional medicine, it was an excellent tool that improves metabolism, as well as beneficial for diseases of the gall bladder, stomach and liver. Tea was brewed from Austria in order to use it for diseases of the respiratory tract, and baths from this plant were considered an excellent remedy for “thinness”. During the war, the Crimean doctors healed people from malaria.
This amazing plant has a very suitable name for it - tenacity. Outwardly, it is familiar to many who love forays into nature.
This article is about one of the plant varieties - Geneva survivor.
Plant features
A tenacious (or ayuga) is a genus of perennial and annual plants. It belongs to the family Iasnatkovye (Labretaceous), with approximately 50 species of plants. In the wild, they grow in meadows, forests and marshes, on almost all continents, but to a greater extent in Eurasia.
The essence of the plant fully reflects its name. The tenacity is so unpretentious that it easily adapts to almost any conditions: it withstands drought and suffers severe frosts.
Representatives of this genus, depending on the species, grow to a height of 5-50 centimeters, and many of them have creeping stems, with semi-evergreen, winter-green or falling leaves with denticles along the edges. Their flowers are small (two-lipped), collected in spike-like inflorescences and false whorls. Their shades range from yellow and white to cyan, blue, purple or pink. Flowering begins in May and usually lasts until the very end of summer. Most of the survivors are blue, the least common are white specimens.
The brown fruits of the plant are small nuts. In the article you can find photos of the survivors of Geneva.
About the name of the plant
The scientific name of the plant Ajuga comes from 2 Greek words: a, meaning “without”, jugum - “yoke”.
There are a lot of popular names among the survivors: heart or feverish grass, dubbing, joiner's grass, one-sponge, bugle, bitter, hernial grass, gourd, tenacious grass, hairy, blue neck, woodland grass, field mint, blue color , bruise, etc.
Varieties
Varieties and species of tenacity differ in the most diverse color of not only flowers, but also leaves: violet, silver-green, bronze-lilac, dark brown. They also come with spots and borders with a wide variety of colors.
The following species are mainly grown today as garden ornamental plants.
- Creeping tenacious is the most common species among the representatives of the described genus, mainly growing in Europe. It is characterized by stems of 20-centimeter height, creeping shoots and spike-like inflorescences of pink, white, blue-blue and purple color.
- The spruce-shaped tenacity is a stunted annual plant with bluish-green leaves and yellow flowers exuding a fresh pine aroma.
- Geneva survivor is evergreen, up to 35 cm high. It differs in the absence of creeping shoots, has leaves with large teeth and white or pink flowers.
- Pyramidal survivor - a perennial plant with a height of about 20 cm, characterized by hairy stems, rigid leaves in the shape of a pyramid and pink, white or lilac flowers. Among them, there are quite attractive varieties with metal-colored leaves. The plant grows very slowly and does not form a cover.
- The pseudo-ioj tenacious has straight pubescent stems 15 cm high, separated leaves and yellow-purple flowers.
- Laxmann is tall, perennial, characterized by silvery leaves of an unusual shape and yellow or pink flowers.
- Oriental survivor is a rare species, with flowers of white and violet-purple color.
Geneva survivor
This perennial plant is also called shaggy tenacity. It belongs to the genus Zhivuchka (in Latin Ajuga). About 15 different representatives of this genus grow on the territory of Russia.
The length of straight hairy stems reaches 30 centimeters, they are covered with medium-sized hairs. She has horizontal roots forming root offspring. The pubescent leaves are oblong in shape, oval, and the basal ones are larger, long-arched and with teeth.
Leaves at the base of the flowers are whole, bluish hues.
The fruit of the Geneva survivor is 4 dark brown, slightly pubescent and wrinkled nuts with a round ovoid shape up to three millimeters in length.
Spread
Geneva survivors grow almost throughout Europe, in Central and Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, China, as well as in Iran, Afghanistan and Kurdistan.
It is found as an alien plant in North America. It can be found in Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine and the Caucasus. Shaggy tenacity in Russia has chosen all of its European part, except for the territories of the Far North.
It grows in meadows, among shrubs, at the edges and forest glades.
The cultivation of Geneva survivor seeds is widely used by amateur gardeners.
Flowers of tenacity
Delightfully plentifully blossoming tenacity by its unusual elegant leaves. But its small flowers, collected in original inflorescences, give the plant a rather spectacular appearance. The hairy little thingy has mainly blue or bluish flowers, collected 6-12 pieces each in false whorls, while the upper ones are twisted into spike-shaped inflorescences, and the lower ones are separated from each other. At the very base, the calyx is bare; in the upper part, it is hairy.
The plant blooms almost the entire warm season to the very first frosts (mostly from May to August). Depending on the variety, the flowers of the survivor are white, blue, blue and pink. They begin to bloom in the very first days of May.
About the application of survivability in landscape design and in everyday life
In the landscape gardening culture, Geneva survivors are widely used. Landing and caring for it will not be difficult. The plant is used as a groundcover, amazingly looking in lawns, borders, rockeries and large rock gardens, as well as in water bodies. Often it is planted under bushes and trees, as well as in containers.
There are varieties used in cooking and medicine. Young leaves are used in salads and as a seasoning for various dishes. The stems have tonic, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic properties, as well as prevent baldness.
The cultivation of survivors of Geneva
Many varieties of survivors are considered unpretentious, they adapt to growth on a variety of soils and under various conditions. There is one caveat - it prefers rich humus and well-moistened soils. With all this, it can do without watering in a hot period for 4 weeks. A plant can grow in one place for up to several years. Not afraid of him and frost (in the presence of snow), and bright sunlight.
The main care for survivability is the application of mineral and organic fertilizers in spring, watering during a drought, and the removal of already faded inflorescences. In variegated varieties, it is necessary to remove rosettes with monophonic leaves and transplant every 3-4 years, due to the freezing of old leaves in winter.
Breeding
The cultivation of Geneva survivors from seeds is possible (in autumn or spring), but such propagation by gardeners is usually rarely practiced. In nature, they spread thanks to ants.
It is possible to plant a plant in a vegetative way. Strongly overgrown bushes in April-September should be divided into sockets for subsequent rooting. It should be noted that even small sockets with very small roots quite easily take root in the ground.
They land at a distance of about 20 centimeters between the seedlings. The apical kidney should be above the surface of the soil. Every day, the plant needs to be watered only in the first week after planting in the ground.
Possible growing difficulties
Due to its unpretentiousness, the tenacity is rarely sick, but too much moisture can lead to rot, and during the spring floods, its leaves can completely die out.
What is the peculiarity of this plant? It consists of unique phytoecdysteroids that inhibit the development of pests, especially for their larvae. Sometimes the survivor is attacked by snails and slugs, mercilessly eating their leaves.
To avoid such situations, it is necessary to remove fallen leaves from the site and other garbage, use specialized preparations (Metu or Thunderstorm) and drain the soil.
Below in the article are presented the most common varieties of Geneva survivors (Helena and the Blue Sea) used by amateur gardeners.
Application
Greens are usually collected during the flowering period, dried under a canopy in the shade, laying out with a not very thick layer (up to 3-5 centimeters).
Tenderness is widely used in folk medicine as a hemostatic, astringent, wound healing and anti-inflammatory agent. It is used both as an emollient and as an expectorant for diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract. Infusions of herbs are also used for diarrhea, colds and female diseases, stomach ulcers, as well as rheumatism. Used infusions for lotions and washes for eye diseases. Decoctions of this herb gargle and strengthen the hair. Lotions of crushed leaves heal wounds. Means with this plant help with tuberculosis, rheumatism, gastrointestinal diseases, and it is also indispensable for cholelithiasis.
The survivor has excellent abilities that improve metabolism.
Typically, the plant uses the aboveground part. Contains grass flavonoids, essential oils, tannins, iridoids (harpagid, 8-O-acetylgarpagid, etc.).
When using drugs using this plant, it is necessary to take into account individual intolerance and the dosages must be observed. Tenacity is contraindicated in people with a tendency to constipation.
Curative infusions
To prepare a healthy decoction, it is necessary to add chopped herbs (8 g) with boiling water (1 glass), cool and strain thoroughly. Take the prepared solution per day for 1 tbsp. spoon for stomatitis, tonsillitis, gingivitis. Freshly squeezed juice can be used to lubricate bee stings, corns and burns in order to alleviate the condition.
2 teaspoons of flowers and leaves of the plant are insisted in 250 grams of hot water for about 1.5-2 hours, then filtered. An infusion is taken before each meal, 1 tablespoon for diseases of the duodenum and gastric ulcer.
Infusion of 5 tbsp. tablespoons of grass (poured with one liter of boiled water), filtered after three hours. Purulent wounds are washed with this agent, burns are moistened and scalp is rinsed.
Household Flowers
Many modern cultivated varieties of this plant, presented in gardening shops, are an excellent decoration for the adjoining plots. For example, flowers with surprisingly beautiful names are the tenacious Geneva Helena, whose photo can be found in the article, and the Blue Sea.
Helena's tenacity is able to grow even in the most adverse conditions - not only in the sun, but also in very shaded places, and on the heaviest waterlogged and light dry lands. In addition, it is distinguished by high frost resistance (it withstands frosts down to -10 ° C).
Growing Geneva Helena survivors from seeds is the easiest and easiest way.
The variety reproduces well and feels good, growing rapidly on mountain slopes, among stones, along paths in border plantings, under bushes and trees. It is good because it quickly forms a dense dense cover.
The tenacious Geneva Blue Sea is also able to grow in any conditions. She has furry creeping stems up to 20 centimeters high. The dark green leaves are shiny, elliptical in shape, with notches along the edges. Suitable for both container design and as an ampel plant.
Conclusion
These flowers have found their application in the design of many adjoining areas (especially the tenacity Geneva Helena), but its use is widespread in medicine. As for shaggy tenacity, it has not yet been used in official medicine.
In the state. the register of medicines of the Russian Federation as a good antitumor agent listed survivor Laxman (representative of the genus). And yet, scientists have recognized that hairy tenacity has some medicinal properties presented above in the article.