Valeriana officinalis - Valeriana officinalis. Valerian family - Valerianaceae.
The valerian plant is a very demanding plant, so it is not often found. The habitat of the valerian plant is rich grassy swamps, marshy meadows, banks of water bodies, forest glades with sufficiently moist soil. Valerian grass also grows in the mountains. But the valerian plant is becoming increasingly rare in natural habitats.
In the woods between the fields
There grows a magician's root,
It's medicinal, it's fragrant
It's good for everyone's heart
Don't dig it too hard,
It's valerian root.
В. Г. Rubtsov
Valeriana medicinalis is distributed almost throughout the entire European part of the USSR, except in the northeast and southern steppe zone. In the mountains, the valerian plant rises to the subalpine belt.
Valerian herb is a perennial herbaceous plant up to 1 m tall. On the single stems of the valerian plant sit large, complexly dissected leaves, and at the top is a shield-shaped inflorescence that is fluffy and fragrant. The inflorescence of the valerian plant contains many small pinkish-lilac flowers (Fig. 3). Valerian blooms from late May to mid-July. There are times when the valerian plant spreads as a bush, reaching 1.5-2 meters high. The rhizome of the valerian plant is 2-3 cm long and thick, biennial, with many cord-like roots, with a strong peculiar odor.
At the height of the stalks of hubris,
Between green grasses and bushes,
umbrellas of beautiful
Purple-pink flowers
They contain a healing juice
that can renew our spirits,
With magic power
To quench pain and agony.
Н. А. Cholodkovsky
The healing powers of the herb valerian were known as far back as ancient Rome. The medicinal valerian plant gets its name from the Latin valere, which means "to be healthy". In Russia, valerian herb was called cat's root or meun, because its odor has an excitatory effect on cats. The ancient Greeks believed that the medicinal valerian brought complacency, harmony and tranquility to people.
The medicinal raw material of a useful plant is the roots and rhizomes of valerian medicinal. Collect valerian roots in early spring, when the above-ground part of the valerian plant has not yet developed, or in the fall, after insemination. Excavated rhizomes of valerian plants are thoroughly cleaned from the ground, washed in cold water and dried. The rhizome of the valerian plant contains up to 2% of a useful essential oil of complex composition. In the rhizome of the valerian plant are found alkaloids, saponins, organic acids (including valerian acid), glycoside, sugars, tannins and resinous substances. The most favorable effect on the human body is not the individual components of valerian herb, but its active substances as a whole. In addition, high treatment efficacy is achieved with systematic and prolonged use of valerian medicinal preparations.
Extracts and alcohol tinctures of valerian medicinal plant help cure some thyroid diseases, angina pectoris, migraine, epilepsy. They act soothingly in insomnia, nervous excitement, neuroses with spasms and palpitations. Used valerian medicinal and for the treatment of general neuroses. It is included in many complex drugs: in Zelenin drops, valocardine, cardiovalen. Used valerian medicinal and in dentistry (in the treatment of periodontal disease). In folk medicine, other uses of valerian are indicated: as an antiemetic, antihelminthic, stimulating digestion, and in menopause period
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in women - for arrhythmias, headaches and hot flashes.
At home, it is easy to prepare aqueous or alcohol tincture of valerian medicinal plant (the latter is the most effective). Some manuals recommend taking tincture of Valerian medicinal tincture by teaspoon rather than 30-35 drops. But at the same time, we should not forget about another property of the plant valerian medicinal: to increase blood clotting, and with prolonged use of it to cause headaches and anxiety.
As the medicinal valerian plant becomes scarce in the wild, it is increasingly being introduced into culture. The demand for raw material is now so great that, of course, natural thickets do not meet its demand. Agrotechnics of cultivation of valerian medicinal plant in culture is quite well worked out, since it began to grow in Russia in the "apothecary gardens" from very long ago.
In Russia, many more species of the valerian plant are known, but their medicinal properties are weaker. Thus, in meadows and bogs of the subalpine belt of the Caucasus, the plants Valeriana prialpine and Valeriana kolhida are found. The study of some species of the valerian plant of the Far East has shown that they may well replace valerian medicinal. For example, the Amur valerian plant, typical of marshy forests and meadows, has an essential oil content of up to 3.5 %..
