Common Corn
.Common corn is a well-known annual cultivated herbaceous plant in the cereal family, up to 3 m or more tall, native to South America. Common corn blooms in July - August, fruits ripen in September - October. Common corn in the wild state is unknown. It is cultivated as a food and fodder plant in the southern strip and other areas of the former USSR.
Used for medicinal purposes corn stigmas - fully developed columns with stigmas, collected during the period of milk-wax ripeness in the cob (late August - September). Their color is yellow or reddish, odor is weak.
Chemical composition
.In stigmas are found: vitamin K, which is considered the main active substance, carotenoids, ascorbic and pantothenic acids, inositol, fatty and essential oils, gum, bitter glycosides, sugary and resinous substances, saponins, sitosterol, stigmasterol, unstudied alkaloids and others.
Action and application
.It is established that the liquid extract and infusion of corn stigmas increase the secretion of bile, reduce its viscosity, specific gravity and bilirubin content, accelerate the process of blood coagulation, effective in hypothrombinemia (A. Д. Turova, 1967) and increase the platelet count and increase diuresis. Used corn stigmas as a choleretic for cholecystitis, cholangitis, hepatitis, as well as a styptic and diuretic for kidney stone disease and dropsy.
Corn oil is recommended for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis because it lowers blood cholesterol levels.
In Poland, common corn is also widely used for liver diseases.
In Bulgarian medicine, corn stigmas are used for liver disease, kidney disease, diabetes, as a diuretic. In Bulgarian folk medicine - as an appetite reducer and recommended for weight loss. Also used in attacks of kidney stone disease, dropsy and tapeworms.
Corn stigmas have long been used in folk medicine in the Caucasus. In folk medicine in Ukraine, their decoction is used for liver diseases, jaundice, with various kinds of bleeding, edema stagnant character, with women's diseases and as a sedative.
We use corn stigmas for liver disease, gallbladder disease and as a sedative.
Lavender spike
.Lavender spikenard is a perennial evergreen, grayish pubescent semi-shrub of the spongy family, up to 60 cm or more tall, with numerous shoots. The lower unwoody branches are strongly branched, bearing numerous young shoots. Flower-bearing shoots are tetrahedral, densely deciduous below, ending in erect inflorescence. Leaves are sessile supratrophic, oblong-lobed or lanceolate, entire-edged. Flowers are blue or bluish-purple, collected 6-10 in false whorls forming an interrupted spike-like inflorescence.
Lavender spike blooms June, July, August. Good nectar bearer. Lavender honey is considered medicinal (Fig. 39).
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The homeland of lavender is the mountainous regions of the Mediterranean Sea. In its wild state lavender spike is found on the southern slopes of the mountains of Spain and Southern France, in Italy - on the southern slopes of the Alps, on the islands of Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, in Algeria and Greece. It is not found in the former USSR in wild form. It is cultivated in the Crimea, the Caucasus, Kuban, Moldova and Central Asia as a medicinal, essential oil and ornamental plant.
Inflorescences cut 1-P/2 weeks after flowering begins are used. The smell of fresh and dried plant is specific sharp, pleasant, the taste is somewhat acrid, spicy bitter.
Chemical composition and properties of lavender
The properties of lavender are used for medicinal purposes. Fresh inflorescences contain essential oil (up to 1.5%), the main component of which is linalool and its esters with various acids; coumarins, triterpene compound - ursolic acid, tannins, etc. Essential oil is also found in the leaves and stems, but in smaller amounts.
The properties of lavender have been studied in special laboratories by experienced scientists. A study of the composition of lavender spike essential oil of Spanish origin in the research laboratory of the company "Naarden" in Holland (G. И. Wobben, R. Geide, R. Timmer, N. Provatorov) showed that it contained 23 new, previously undescribed components.
Effects and uses of lavender
Lavender essential oil has antiseptic properties. The use of lavender is recommended for the treatment of shallow wounds and abrasions.
In the former USSR, lavender essential oil was an official raw material. The properties of lavender are used to treat festering wounds and gangrene, to improve the odor of other medicinal forms used externally, and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Lavender flowers and inflorescences, from which the essential oil is extracted, are included in the pharmacopoeias of 16 countries.
In Bulgaria, lavender essential oil is also considered a bactericidal agent, which is attributed a weak sedative effect. From 1950-1951. at the G.M.D. Academy of Medicine. Dimitrova conducted a study showing that lavender oil kills streptococcus albus and pyogenus bacteria and others. The use of lavender (flowers) is recommended as a sedative, for migraines, neurasthenia, palpitations, pain in the gastrointestinal tract and externally as a bath, as a sedative. Inside is used in the form of infusion (6 g of flowers in 500 ml of boiling water, insist 20 minutes, strain and take during the day).
Essential oil, infused with alcohol, is used for rubbing sore spots in neuralgia, joint rheumatism (D. Yordanov et al., 1963).
In the GDR, lavender was used as an aromatic for baths, scalp washing and for making ointments. In Bulgaria, the use of lavender was recommended as a mild sedative and antispasmodic for migraine, neurasthenia, nervous palpitations, etc.
In Austria, lavender leaves, harvested before flowering, are used as a soothing, anti-spastic, bile-dissolving remedy. The aromatic properties of lavender are widely used in the perfume industry and as a moth repellent. Heavy use of lavender, especially if left in the bedroom overnight, can cause discomfort and heaviness in the head (Heithaller, 1964).
In Poland, the use of lavender in the form of decoction of flowers is recommended for neuralgic pain and inflammation of the middle ear. In a mixture with chamomile flowers - for hoarseness of voice and bronchitis. Lavender oil also has a wide range of medicinal uses.
In France, lavender spike is used as an antispasmodic, as a nervous system tonic and sedative. A decoction of lavender flowers is also used as a good diuretic. Lavender flowers and essential oil are included in various collections and blends. During the First Imperialist War, French doctors in the army successfully used lavender oil to treat long non-healing wounds after severe injuries. The properties of lavender have a wide range of applications in cosmetics.
In domestic folk medicine lavender flowers are used for therapeutic baths, neuralgia and for the preparation of aromatic pillows, lavender oil as an analgesic for sprains, headaches, flatulence and other diseases, internally in the form of decoction and externally in the form of rubs.
In ancient Rome, during epidemics of contagious diseases, Romans built fires near their homes and threw lavender into them, patricians rubbed themselves with lavender oil. Some authors of ancient times claimed that these measures helped against pestilence.
Lavender oil is used in the liquor industry to flavor wines and other products. In cooking, the use of lavender, namely its flowers and oil, is recommended by chefs for preparing salads, various dishes and drinks. Grinded inflorescences, leaves and stems are used to make scented candles, which, when burning, fill the room with fragrance and help to smoke out mosquitoes and other insects. Dried inflorescences with their aroma protect clothes from moths.
Lavender inflorescences, collected at the beginning of flowering, are used by us as an aromatic, antispasmodic and diuretic remedy for diseases of the kidneys, bladder and renal pelvis, as well as for therapeutic baths and spritzings..
