2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Black cohosh (Latin Actaea cimicifuga) - a herbaceous, foul-smelling, perennial plant of the Voronets genus (Latin Actaea), ranked in the Buttercup family (Latin Ranunculaceae). Its spectacular openwork leaves could become a decoration of the garden, if not for the unpleasant smell that emanates from the whole plant. It is not for nothing that botanists have assigned him such a terrifying specific epithet. Traditional healers, who know how to turn poisons into medicines, actively use the plant in the fight against a number of diseases. In particular, Black Cohosh is used as an antidote when a person is bitten by poisonous snakes.
What's in your name
Previously, this species belonged to the genus Klopogon and was called "Klopogon smelly" or Klopogon ordinary.
In addition, there are a lot of popular names that reflect the bad smell exuded by the plant, for example, such as "Klopovnik", "Stuffy root", or even a very simple name - "Stinker". But this species is not only distinguished by a bad smell. For example, the lower stems of the plant remind people of their own ribs, which became the reason for the name - "Adam's rib".
Description
The main habitat of Vorontsov black cohosh is in Altai and Western Siberia, where it can be found in forest ravines and glades, in sparse birch and coniferous forests.
Perennial Black Cohosh is supported by an underground short, but thick, rhizome, on the surface of which there are hard scars-lobes from the stems that have become obsolete.
From the new buds of the rhizome in spring, an erect stem is born on the surface of the earth, the height of which, depending on environmental conditions, varies from 0.9 to 2.2 meters. For a herbaceous plant, this height is quite a record. The stem does not like to branch, and its surface is covered with short pubescence.
Petiole leaves are compound, consisting of two or three pairs of leaves located on both sides of the petiole, which ends with a single leaf. The leaves are quite long, up to forty centimeters in length. The edge of the leaves is serrated, giving them an openwork appearance. The vividness of the leaves is also given by the clearly defined veins of the leaf plate of the leaflets, extending at an angle from the central vein to the edges of the leaflets.
The external attractiveness of the leaves is crossed out by an unpleasant odor emanating from the entire plant.
The length of racemose inflorescences is inferior to the length of compound leaves, reaching about fourteen centimeters. The inflorescences are formed by inconspicuous, greenish-white, small flowers. The small size of the flowers is compensated by their abundance. But the smell, unfortunately, and the flowers are very unpleasant and sharp. On one peduncle there can be several flower racemose inflorescences drooping in different directions. Flowering occurs in the last two months of summer.
The crown of the growing season is a leaf-fruit, inside which from five to eight seeds can be located.
Healing abilities
The unpleasant smell of black cohosh is explained by the chemical composition of plant tissues, including the presence of toxic alkaloids in them, as well as essential oil, which has an unpleasant pungent odor.
But, as the ancients also said, any poison in certain proportions turns into a healing agent. What can be said about the healing abilities of the stinking Black Cohosh Voronts.
The plant is actively used by folk healers in China, Mongolia, as well as in our country, including Altai healers.
Firstly, it is an excellent antidote for snake venom, when, having bitten a person, the snake injects its poison into his body. The plant is also suitable for combating fever, bronchial asthma, and is also used by Chinese traditional healers as a general tonic.
With the help of preparations from this plant, various pains are quenched, used as an antipyretic agent, used to treat diseases of the skin, respiratory tract, digestive system … In general, not a plant, but a panacea for all diseases, including cancer of the uterus and mammary glands.
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