Common Verbeyne
.Lysimachia vulgaris. Family Primulaceae.
In June-early July, the common verbein blooms. Numerous bright yellow, rather large flowers of common verbena with glossy petals are gathered at the top in a panicle inflorescence. Stems of common verbena are tall (up to 50-90 cm) with tapering oblong leaves. Common verbein often forms small thickets along the banks of rivers and lakes. It grows on damp forest edges and in lowland bogs, especially riverine and lakeside bogs. Common verbeyne is a fairly common plant. It can be found in the taiga zone of the European part of the USSR, in Western Siberia, in the Caucasus, and in Central Asia.
The range of application of common verbein in folk medicine is quite wide. Medicinal raw materials are stem, leaves and flowers. Studies of the chemical composition of common verbeyne have revealed flavonoids, phenolcarboxylic acids, anthocyanin, carbohydrates, vitamin C, and in rhizomes - saponins. Water and wine tinctures of common verbeynik recommended for gastrointestinal disorders, constipation, dysentery, hemoptysis and rheumatism. Fresh juice of the plant verbeynik ordinary used for scurvy and as an external remedy (for bruises, tumors, conjunctivitis and as a wound healer). Other uses of common verbeinik are also known: for jaundice, liver diseases, convulsions. Verbeyanik ordinary is included in the collections used for cystitis.
Common verbena is a good forage plant for spotted deer. From it (depending on the mordants) different colors are obtained: yellow from leaves, black and brown from flowers. Verbeyanik is very ornamental and is an excellent mellifer.
Equally widespread is the mint verbein, also called meadow tea. It differs from common verbena by its stalked stem and solitary flowers located in the axils of leaves. Its roots contain catechins and flavonoids, and its stems and leaves contain glucose, saponins, flavonoids, phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins, vitamin C (0.126 %). Medicinal raw materials - the entire plant. It is used as a wound-healing, diarrhea, dysentery, externally - in stomatitis, rheumatism (in the form of fusions), bleeding (powder). Verbeyne is used in dermatology and cosmetics. The ashes of the plant are an insecticide against flies. This verbena got its second name, meadow tea, long ago when it was used as a tea surrogate.
In the Far East, on damp meadows and lowland bogs, Verbeinum dauricum is found (Fig. 32). Tibetan medicine considers its above-ground parts useful for treating gastrointestinal diseases. The stems are eaten both raw (in salads) and cooked (in soups). Spotted deer eat it quite well.
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Common heather
.Heather - Calluna vulgaris , family Ericaceae.
It's fresh and green all year round,
And in the grasses it's invisible in the summer.
Till the fall blooms
with a lovely lilac color.
When the river stands long ago,
When there's no escape from the cold,
It's still green
And it's still warm.
В. Kulagin
Heather's usual home is not only cliffs, dry pine forests and seaside heaths, but also some raised bogs. Common heather is a lover of humid oceanic climate and forms thickets on some upper bogs of the Pribelomorie region, outwardly resembling Baltic heaths. Common heather also dominates on the upland bogs of the Baltic States and sometimes on the aapa ridges of bogs in Karelia. Outside of bogs, common heather is particularly abundant in the British Isles and along the shores of seas in northern Europe. And the common heather appeared there due to the fault of man, who destroyed forests since ancient times, and the increased grazing of cattle did not contribute to its restoration.
Common heather is a very ancient plant (maybe even Mesozoic). Common heather is native to the Atlantic coast of America. But the most interesting thing is that in the places of its cradle the common heather does not grow now. But in the mountains of East Africa there is its closest congener - tree heather, which reaches a height of 20 meters and a thickness of 1 meter. The range of common heather is vast: north and west of the European part of the USSR, some parts of Western Siberia.
Common heather is a perennial evergreen shrub 30-70 cm high, its woody twigs are covered with small scaly three-edged leaflets arranged on the stem in four rows. Common heather blooms late: in August and sometimes in September. Flowering thickets of common heather are enveloped by a honey aroma, strong and unusually pleasant. Heather flowers are small, pinkish purple with four sepals, four petals and eight stamens. They are located in the unilateral brush. "The power of their amethyst glow seems mysterious to me. It's as if light is refracted multiple times in the facets of the calyx and corolla. That's why it will sometimes seem: it's crystal brushes that have grown on the branches. It's nothing but real amethysts... And then the white nights went out. But on the cliffs their zoras remain. They are in the flowering heather" (Yu. Linnick). Common heather is a good mellifer. Bees take a big bribe from it: in some areas they get up to 200 kg of honey from 1 hectare. Heather honey is flavorful but dark and gives off bitterness.
The herb common heather has long been popular in folk medicine. For medicinal raw material, the upper parts of the twigs of common heather with flowers are collected. Catechins, tannins, saponins, starch, gum, resin, flavonoids, organic acids, carotene, anthocyanin, and steroids are found in the raw material of common heather. Due to the content of glycosides in the herb, preparations of common heather stimulate cardiac activity. Decoctions and infusions of common heather treat rheumatism, gout, some diseases of the kidneys, liver, stomach. Infusion of the herb common heather - a good diuretic, diaphoretic and even sedative. It is recommended and with increased nervous excitability, headache, insomnia. In folk medicine in Poland, Hungary, Scandinavian countries, it is believed that heather helps with diathesis, atherosclerosis, some skin diseases. It is also used as a styptic. Externally, common heather (in the form of powder) treat non-healing wounds, and poultices and baths - fractures, bruises, rheumatism, sciatica.
Heather is extremely decorative in both fresh and dried bouquets. It is also used in the design of stone slides in parks and botanical gardens. Heather is popular as a tanning agent and dye. From the decoction of young shoots of common heather, treated with alum, prepare yellow dye for wool. Flowering shoots of heather serve as a raw material in the food industry: for flavoring tinctures, nalewkas, wines. In the old days in Scotland, heather was used to make a healing and delicious drink, the recipe for which was kept secret.
A drink of heather
Forgotten long ago.
And he was sweeter than honey,
Drunker than wine.
They boiled it in cauldrons
And the whole family drank it
The little cooks
In caves underground.
Р. Stevenson
The Latin name Calluna heath comes from the Greek kalluno, "to clean". And to this day, heather branches are still used to make brooms for the floor and for cleaning Russian stoves.
The poisonous heath
.Poison heather - Cicuta virosa. Family Celeryaceae.
Veh is a poisonous plant, but, as we shall see, not unhelpful if we get to know it better. The generic name of the milestone Cicuta (Greek for "empty") characterizes the
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Milestone rhizome: pink on the inside and with voids separated by septa. Poison veh can be easily distinguished from other plants with similar external data: by the smell of carrots, the taste of radishes and hollows in the rhizome.
Poison veh is a perennial plant with a thick rhizome and large leaves divided into narrow lobes (Fig. 33). Poisonous vetch is found in lowland bogs, waterlogged meadows, along the banks of rivers and lakes, along waterlogged riverbeds, and in horsetail thickets. The range of the poisonous milestone is very wide: it is known throughout the European part of the USSR, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far East and Central Asia.
Since ancient times, the veh poisonous has been shrouded in a fog of mystery. The people believed that Vekh grew from the bones of Cossacks killed by the Tatars and appeared from the ground with the cry "Vekh!", supposedly warning of danger.
Milestone rhizome is especially poisonous. Already 100-200 grams of raw rhizome of poisonous vech kills a cow, and 50-100 grams - a sheep. Children and pets are often poisoned by poisonous milestone, attracted by the succulent and appetizing looking rhizome. Pets when poisoned become restless, their stomachs bloat, tremors and convulsions appear, and the outcome is often fatal. The venom of the poisonous milestone affects the nervous system, decreases motor activity and blood pressure. Avoid progressive poisoning by giving milk, eggs, anticonvulsants. However, some animals, such as beavers, eat the grass and rhizomes of poisonous milfoil with pleasure and without any harm.
There is a legend that the juice of poisonous milfoil together with the juice of hemlock spotted was part of the poison, punishment with which was widespread in ancient Rome and ancient Greece. With this mixture in 399. B.C. э. Socrates was poisoned by an Athenian court order.
In the above-ground part and in rhizomes of the poisonous fan a cicutotoxin-bezazotic resinous substance was found. Cicutotoxin is believed to be the one that causes severe convulsions, central nervous system agitation, respiratory distress and paralysis. In the above-ground part of the poison fan plant there are also alkaloid cicutine, essential oil, trace elements (strontium, barium, copper, nickel). All parts of the plant contain coumarins, and the roots and rhizomes contain poisonous essential oils, the alkaloid coniine, aliphatic alcohols, steroids, and phenolcarboxylic acids; the leaves contain vitamin C and flavonoids.
And yet the poisonous veh found use in folk medicine, and in France, Denmark and Sweden was even included in the official pharmacopoeia. The range of its application is quite wide. Its alcohol tinctures and ointment are recommended for external use: as an analgesic for rheumatism, gout, sciatica, tumors, as well as diathesis and chronic rashes. Infusion of the plant veh poisonous used as diaphoretic, sedative, expectorant. There are reports on the use of poison veh for stuttering, migraines, dizziness, arrhythmias. In homeopathy, preparations from rhizomes of poisonous vech are used to treat epilepsy, tetanus, postpartum convulsions, neuroses. Experiments have shown that, while possessing antibacterial properties determined by coumarins, drugs from poisonous milfoil can exhibit antitumor activity.
Poisonous vetch is also used in horticulture. Infusion of poisonous milfoil is a good remedy against leaf-eating caterpillars and sawfly larvae..
