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The medicinal dandelion is distributed throughout the former USSR, except the Far North. Grows in meadows, fields, woods, gardens, near roads and dwellings.
Roots are used, dug in the fall during leaf wilting and in the spring before flowering, and the above-ground part, which is harvested during the early flowering period. Dandelion medicinal in dried form has no odor, the taste is bitter with a feeling of mucousiness.
Chemical composition and properties of dandelion
The properties of dandelion have been studied by healers of antiquity and modern phytotherapists. Roots contain bitter-tasting glycoside taraxacin (up to 10%), polysaccharide inulin (up to 40% in fall and 1-2% in spring), sucrose (up to 20%), protein substances (up to 15%), carotene, mucus, tannins, organic acids, resins, rubber (up to 3%), traces of essential oil, sterols, fatty oil. Inflorescences and leaves contain caratinoids: taraxanthin, lutein, flavoxanthin, triterpene alcohols, vitamin C, vitamin B2, choline, nicotinic acid, saponins, in the leaves found protein, iron, calcium, manganese (24%) and phosphorus, which they contain more than in leafy vegetables.
Useful properties of dandelion, which are contained in all parts of the plant, are used to create medicinal preparations.
The effects and uses of dandelion
Bitter substances of the plant stimulate appetite and improve the activity of the digestive tract, have choleretic, diuretic, anthelmintic and laxative properties.
The use of dandelion, namely herbs and roots, is recommended for diseases of the liver, gallbladder, gallstone disease, jaundice, gastritis, colitis, constipation, hemorrhoids, as a digestive and stimulating appetite remedy.
In France, dandelion leaves and root are used for chronic liver disease as a remedy to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Garnier recommends the following mixture: juice of fresh dandelion roots - 100 g, alcohol 90 ° - 15 g, glycerin - 15 g, water - 17 ml. Strain and take 1-2 tablespoons a day. Garnier advises villagers to boil 3-4 stems of fresh dandelion in 1 liter of water and let stand in the dark for 10 minutes, take 4 cups a day.
It is recommended to take 50-100 g of juice of the plant a day, as it has a blood purifying effect due to the fact that the properties of dandelion have an antibacterial effect on the body. Medicinal dandelion can be used as a tonic, diuretic, for stomach weakness, jaundice, for skin diseases and for gout.
Raymond Dextreit believes that the medicinal dandelion reduces the blood rush to the liver and dissolves gallstones.
Leclerc, in his book on phytotherapy, wrote of the effect of the tonic property of bitters, which "exert an influence on the gustatory nerves in the oral cavity," resulting in the swallowing reflex. It is necessary to take bitters before meals. They whet the appetite. They cannot replace quinine, but can also be used as an anti-fever remedy and as an adjuvant tonic. In high doses, they increase the number of white blood cells. Leclerc classifies gentian, cornflower, thistle, chicory, barberry, dandelion, thyme, wormwood, hops, verbena, periwinkle, lilac, veronica, etc. as gentians. (Trouard, Riolee, 1964).
In France, the medicinal dandelion is cultivated as a vegetable garden crop with larger and more tender leaves. The juice of young leaves is recommended to be consumed in spring to improve blood composition. The use of dandelion is recommended not only in medicine. Young dandelion leaves are eaten, beforehand they are poured cold salted water for 30 minutes to eliminate bitterness and eaten together with other vegetables or separately with vinegar and pepper. Flower buds are pickled and used in sauteed vegetables and vinaigrettes as a substitute for capers.
In Bulgaria, fresh dandelion leaves and juice are used in the treatment of atherosclerosis, anemia, C-avitaminosis, skin diseases. In folk medicine dandelion medicinal is recommended for liver diseases, gallbladder, jaundice, hemorrhoids, catarrh of the stomach and intestines.
In the GDR, in addition to these diseases, the use of dandelion was recommended for sluggish processes in the spleen, kidney and bladder diseases, kidney stone disease. Young leaves and juice of fresh dandelion used in the form of salad for stagnation in the portal vein, after severe infectious diseases, anemia, rheumatism and gout, avitaminosis (Bassler).
In Poland, dandelion grass is used for general weakness, poor appetite, liver disease, liver stones, etc. The properties of dandelion help to bloat the appetite and invigorate the body.
Dandelion root was included in the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR in 1961.
Abu Ali Ibn-Sina used the juice obtained from the fresh plant for stasis in the portal vein, dropsy; he used the milky juice to reduce the eyesore, and applied a bandage made of the fresh plant on the site of a scorpion sting.
In Russian folk medicine dandelion is given great importance, since ancient times it has been considered a "life elixir". The use of dandelion was recommended as improving digestion, bile flow, sedative, useful in jaundice, insomnia and other diseases.
Ancient physicians recommended dandelion juice against freckles and liver spots on the skin. The properties of dandelion allow you to normalize skin pigmentation.
In Central Asia, juice from fresh leaves is used for anemia and general weakness, as a laxative, for chest pains; milky juice of the roots is used to destroy warts.
Medicinal dandelion has nutritional properties. The roasted roots are used as a coffee surrogate, the young leaves, as above, for salads. The roots are used to make pills.
The above-ground part of the dandelion, collected during budding, and the roots are used by us as a means of increasing bile secretion, reducing blood cholesterol, improving its composition. Recommended by us for liver disease and atherosclerosis..
