Mashta

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

Mashta (lat. Cleome droserifolia) - a low-growing light-loving drought-resistant shrub from the Caperceaceae family, growing in the deserts of North Africa and Israel, has been used by nomads for medicinal purposes since ancient times. Today, he is increasingly attracting the attention of doctors, demonstrating amazing healing abilities.

Having managed to survive in the difficult conditions of the desert, where the heavens grant moisture from time to time, Mashta learned to accumulate in her aboveground parts many useful substances necessary for a person to fully function the body. People can only extract them from the stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, and put them at the service of their health.

Description of the plant

The stunted bushes of Mashta spread in friendly dense flocks on the hot sands of the desert, enlivening its monotony. They will touch the most indifferent traveler with their sticky leaves covered with glandular hairs, which inevitably will stop a tired person with streams of sweat on his face and be surprised at the beautiful creation of nature.

And there really is something to be surprised at. Thin fleshy erect stems seem to defy the scorching sun, hiding from it behind a thick bristle of glandular hairs. The stems branch, forming a greenish-gray-yellow dense carpet on loose sands.

The same hairs protected themselves from the sun and small oval leaves. A sticky substance is released from the glands on the surface of the leaves, which settles on the tips of the hairs in the form of dewdrops. Hence the Latin name of the plant, Cleome droserifolia, which in our native language means "Cleoma dewdrop".

The hairy stems and leaves have served as the plant's Arabic name, Mashta. The meaning of the word "Mashta" means "prickly" or "comb". It is under this name that the medicinal herb is sold in the Bedouin "market" in Egypt.

Small grains of sand settle on sticky leaves, and therefore the dried medicinal herb seems even more prickly than in nature. The smell of such a medicine resembles that of well-dried hay.

Small flowers with pubescent bracts have four relatively long yellow petals. To add a little brightness to the plant, nature painted purple, purple, or red spots and stripes on the petals.

Small dark seeds are enclosed in a seed capsule, similar to a miniature pod. The capsule, like other aerial parts of the plant, is protected by glandular hairs and is sticky. This allows the plant to expand its territory with the help of desert animals, to whose wool pods stick.

Medicinal abilities of Mashta

The medicinal herb with the Arabic name "Mashta" does not mean anything to the official world medicine. And there is very little information about "Cleome droserifolia". Perhaps the reason for this inattention to the grass is the difficult access to the places where it grows.

As for the local inhabitants of the desert, the Bedouins, they have Mashta in high esteem. The wind that lifts the sand into the air does not spare the skin of the Bedouins. To keep the skin of the face attractive, women resort to the help of Mashta. But not only beauty is supported by Mashta, but also relieves of rashes and itching that accompany many skin diseases, including eczema, herpes, psoriasis, the scourge of the late 20th century - allergies.

The herb infusion restores the skin burned by the sun's rays; strengthens hair, promoting its growth and density; frozen, it is used as a cosmetic to maintain skin elasticity, preventing women from aging quickly.

The valuable ability of Mashta, studied by the scientists of Egyptian medicine, is the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in the human body, which attracts the attention of people suffering from diabetes.