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Oregano grows almost all over the former USSR, with the exception of the Far North, in dry places, in glades, edges, among shrubs, on dry open grassy places, on hillsides. Cultivated as an essential oil plant in the USSR and as a medicinal plant in Western Europe.
Use the leafy tops of the herb with flowers, collected during the initial flowering period. The smell of common oregano is aromatic, the taste is bitter-spicy, slightly astringent, tart.
Chemical composition and properties of oregano
In the herb found essential oil (0.5-1%), which includes phenol, thymol and its isomer carvacrol and tricyclic sesquiterpenes, tannins, pigments, ascorbic acid - in flowers 166 mg%, in leaves 565 mg% and stems 58 mg%. Useful properties of oregano allow you to use this plant as a medicine in many recipes of folk medicine.
Effects and treatment of oregano
Treatment with oregano in the form of infusion has a calming effect on the central nervous system, has expectorant effect, enhancing appetite, improving digestion with insufficient secretion of gastric juice, choleretic, diaphoretic and other properties.
During the experimental study of oregano herb by researchers at the Ivano-Frankivsk Medical Institute on control dogs was found to have a strong diuretic effect.
Medicinal properties of oregano, which are included in the medicinal infusion of this herb is used as a means of stimulating gastric digestion, with intestinal atony, spasms in the stomach, inflammation of the liver, jaundice, with acute and chronic bronchitis (as a means of increasing the secretion of bronchial glands). Also this drug is effective in whooping cough, painful menstruation, increased sexual excitability, as well as a means of increasing the secretion of sweat glands. Externally, treatment with oregano is recommended for dry and wet compresses and aromatic baths. Included in a lot of training camps. It is used in the form of an infusion.
Treatment with oregano in Bulgaria herb is recommended for stomach cramps, painful menstruation, nervous excitement, lack of appetite, liver disorders, jaundice and others.
In the GDR oregano herb was used as a sedative for convulsive, spastic cough, as a sedative anticonvulsant and appetite-improving remedy, as well as for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Properties of oregano in folk medicine had a beneficial effect on the body. Decoction of this herb is used for baths and aromatic pillows.
In Austria, decoction of the herb and oil are also used for coughs, as an antispastic, sedative, appetite stimulant and for gastritis and colitis.
In France, an infusion of oregano (marjoram) is considered a good stimulant for gastric diseases, can be used as an appetite stimulant and digestive aid, as an antispasmodic and a valuable remedy to promote wound healing. Treatment with oregano for internal use is recommended in the form of infusion, for external - in the form of essence for the treatment of rheumatism (rub sore spots).
In Poland, it is used as a sedative, digestive, choleretic and expectorant.
The herb oregano is official in Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Norway, Poland and Austria (Klan, 1948).
In Indian medicine, the properties of oregano are utilized in essential oils. They have aromatic, stimulating and strengthening effects. The plant has antibacterial properties.
In domestic folk medicine oregano herb is used for rheumatism, paralysis, epilepsy, intestinal pain, amenorrhea, as diaphoretic and diuretic. Treatment with oregano externally recommended for headaches in the form of washing, with scrofula and various rashes as therapeutic baths.
In Bulgaria, the above-ground part of oregano, collected during flowering, is recommended for stomach and intestinal spasms, nervous excitement, painful menstruation, increased sexual excitability, as well as liver disease, jaundice. Strong tea from the herb absorbed the best properties of oregano, this drink causes profuse sweating and cleansing the body of toxins. Herb oregano is used in eczema in the form of baths, as well as for washing wounds (100 g of raw materials for 2 liters of boiling water, the resulting infusion is added to the bath water).
Oregano herb is used in pickling and canning cucumbers and mushrooms.
The above-ground part of oregano at the beginning of flowering we use as an aromatic, improving the taste, reducing the excitability of the central nervous system, choleretic, regulating digestion, diuretic, as well as antispasmodic and increasing the secretion of bronchial glands means.
Common oregano, according to our observations, is indicated for hypertension, atherosclerosis, kidney disease, liver disease; in addition, it is included in the collection for baths.
In epilepsy herb oregano can be used alone in the form of infusion (10 g to 300 ml of boiling water) 100 ml 3 times a day for 15 minutes before meals. The course of treatment is 3 years..
