Althea

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Althea (lat. Althaea) - an ornamental-leaved flowering plant from the Malvaceae family.

Description

Althea is a tall herbaceous perennial, equipped with alternate petiole leaves with a whitish tomentose pubescence, which is very characteristic for them. In this case, the height of the plant is in the range from seventy to one hundred and thirty centimeters. Large (with a diameter of two to four centimeters) marshmallow flowers are located in the leaf axils and boast a pleasant pinkish or white color. And you can admire the flowering of this plant from June to August.

Where grows

The homeland of the marshmallow is the forest-steppe and steppe zones of America, Asia and Europe. This plant will not be difficult to see in shrubs, meadows, as well as along the shores of lakes and rivers.

Usage

Marshmallow is a fairly widespread and popular medicinal plant (it is also widely known as marshmallow): both its leaves and its roots with flowers are used for medicinal purposes, while the latter are used for treatment much more often than leaves.

Marshmallow is also used in veterinary practice - a decoction of its roots is an excellent antidote for animal poisoning.

Growing and caring

It is best to plant Marshmallow in areas with moderately moist fertile garden soil, which is characterized by a relatively shallow groundwater table. This plant is completely undemanding to care, the main thing is not to forget to systematically cut its peduncles so that their length does not exceed thirty centimeters. Also, seedlings must be periodically loosened and thinned out, and with the onset of late autumn, all aerial parts are cut off.

Althea reacts very well to all kinds of fertilizers, so from time to time it needs to be pampered with them.

And marshmallow reproduces mainly by seeds. It is important to take into account that the seeds of this plant equipped with thick shells are considered difficult to germinate, therefore, in order to improve their germination, it will not hurt to pre-soak them for a day in warm water, the temperature of which is in the range from twenty to twenty-five degrees, and then thoroughly dry to a loose state. In some cases, seeds are also subjected to scarification, during which mechanical damage to their shells occurs.

Seeds are sown either in rows or in holes with a depth of one to two centimeters. Under good conditions, the first shoots of marshmallow can be seen after eight to ten days, but if the conditions are not favorable for this, shoots will still appear, but after eighteen to twenty days.

As for the preparation and drying of the raw materials collected for medicinal purposes, this is not such a difficult process. Immediately after digging up, all the roots are cleaned of soil adhered to them, after which the thickened upper parts of the rhizomes are cut off from them, along with the stems. In perennial specimens, small lateral roots and lignified roots are removed, and those parts that have not yet had time to lignify are withered for two to three days in the air. It should not be forgotten that marshmallow roots are very rich in starch, and therefore, when they are outdoors, they often rot and mold. Therefore, immediately before drying, it makes sense to cut them into pieces, the length of which does not exceed thirty to thirty-five centimeters, and especially thick roots are split into two, three or even four parts. Also, before cutting the roots, it is necessary to remove the upper cork part of the bark with a sharp knife. Well-dried roots should break with a characteristic crack when bent and be either white or yellowish-whitish at the break points.