2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Mother-and-stepmother (lat. Tussilago) - a herbaceous perennial plant of the Asteraceae or Asteraceae family. A monotypic genus is represented by a single plant species -
Common mother and stepmother … It blooms before the leaves open, in early spring. It has been used as a medicinal plant since ancient times. Good honey plant.
Description
Branched roots, creeping, long. The buds on the roots give life to two types of shoots: vegetative and flowering.
Flowering low shoots are the first to break through to the surface. Their surface is covered with scaly leaves. The flowering shoot ends with a single head, from which two types of bright yellow flowers are formed. Outer ligulate, almost filiform, flowers are female. In the middle there are tubular bisexual flowers that do not bear fruit. The fruit is an achene, it forms on the marginal flowers and is equipped with a parachute (pappus).
On vegetative shoots that appear later than flowering ones, relatively large green leaves are located. The leaves are petiolate, simple, cordate, unevenly toothed. The leaf venation is marginal, palmate. The upper surface of the leaves is smooth and cold. The lower one, facing the ground, is white-felt, soft, warm. It is to this structure of the leaf that the plant owes its name.
Medicinal properties
Plant cells of the leaves of coltsfoot secrete mucus, which contains antiseptics and antibodies (immunoglobulins) that can neutralize bacteria and viruses. For a long time, colds were treated with a decoction of the leaves of mother-and-stepmother, their softening effect relieves cough.
Traditional medicine widely uses coltsfoot in the form of decoctions and infusions. They treat runny nose, flu, allergies, gastrointestinal diseases, strengthen the neural system.
Leaves, whole or in the form of gruel, are used for skin diseases and disorders: burns, ulcers, boils, mastitis. To reduce heat, apply the outside of the sheet to the head.
Leaves boiled with boiling water will relieve headaches (one tablespoon of dry leaves per glass of boiling water; take a tablespoon one hour before meals).
In collaboration with other wild-growing herbs, the leaves of coltsfoot will help:
* for hair and face skin care (together with nettle);
* it is better to sweat in the bath (steam the leaves of coltsfoot, lime blossom, ripe raspberries in a thermos and drink before going to the steam room).
Usage
* For medicinal purposes.
* Blossoming in early spring serves as a honey plant. In the spring, when the bulk of the plants has not yet awakened, the flowers of the coltsfoot are a source of nectar and pollen for bees.
* The presence of a coltsfoot plant on the garden plot without laboratory tests will indicate that the soil here is slightly acidic.
Contraindications
For pregnant women and nursing mothers, the mother-and-stepmother turns her cold side, she is contraindicated for them.
The presence in the coltsfoot of alkaloids containing nitrogen, and still little studied, limit the duration of one period of application of the flowers of the plant to a month.
