2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ankhusa (lat. Anchusa) - a genus of flowering herbaceous plants from the Borage family (Latin Boraginaceae). Inflorescences of small blue-blue flowers are very similar to the delicate flowers of Forget-me-nots. Although this is not very strange, because both plant genera belong to the same family, which means they are quite close relatives. In English-speaking countries, the plant even has such a name "Cape-forget-me-not", which the Google translator interprets as "Cape-forget-me-not." In Russia, the plant is considered a weed and is called "Volovik" (with an accent on the letter "and"). Although among the 40 (forty) plant species representing the genus "Anchusa" on Earth, there are medicinal plants.
Description
Ankhuza or Cape forget-me-not can be found in various parts of the planet: in Europe, including the European part of Russia, in the north and south of sultry Africa, in the countries of Western Asia, where it grows, created by nature itself. You can see it in the USA, where it was brought artificially.
The plant can be an annual or perennial, including a biennial, depending on the surrounding conditions. These are, as a rule, grasses, the stems and leaves of which are covered with protective bristly hairs, which distinguishes them from plants of the Forget-me-not genus.
Long and narrow, simple or wavy leaves seem soft, but when you touch them, you feel the coarseness of the hairy bristly cover. Each plant has numerous stems that grow up to one meter in height. Young stems are often colored deep, beautiful red.
In spring and summer, the stems are covered with spiral curls, forming a racemose inflorescence of numerous bright blue small flowers. The diminutiveness of the flowers pays off by their number and the blueness of the petals, duplicating the heavenly blue. Varieties with white flowers have been bred by flower growers, but they are not as bright as natural bright blue flowers. The flowers are pollinated by bees and butterflies, which love to visit the plant on sunny days.
Five sepals, united with each other, form a small green cup, inside which three seeds are hidden. Since there are a lot of flowers, each plant produces hundreds of seeds, which, falling into the soil, easily sprout around the parent plants, ensuring the long life of the plant in one place.
The roots of the Anchusa tinctoria species are used as a colorant base for cosmetic paint. This use of the plant served as the basis for the name of the genus - Anchusa, since the name of the red-brown resinous dye - "anchusin", which is contained in the roots of the plant, is derived from the Greek word "anchousa". This substance is not soluble in water, but soluble in ether, chloroform and alcohol.
Usage
The leaves and flowers of the species "Anchusa capensis" are eaten by people living in southern Africa. Leaves completely replace vitamin spinach, and flowers are added to salads and desserts for beauty and exoticism.
Red dye is extracted from the roots of Anchusa tinctoria and added to pharmaceutical ointments. The oil-based paint is used by wood craftsmen, who use it to turn not very valuable wood into mahogany wood, or simply give the wood a pink color.
Flowers and roots of some species are used by traditional healers to treat inflammation of the skin, kidney stones, measles, smallpox. Although many aspects of this use are questioned by official medicine, the Anchusa plant is recognized as a miracle herb.
Some old knowledge about the healing powers of certain plant species is still recognized today. It is a diuretic, diaphoretic, antitussive action. However, doctors warn against ingestion of such drugs, since the herb contains a substance that has a paralyzing effect.
Volovik officinalis (Anchusa officinalis) is used to treat the stomach and duodenum, as well as an expectorant and sedative.
