Mushrooms-healers

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

Since the middle of summer, many of us go on a "quiet" hunt. Someone, perhaps, managed to enjoy delicious mushroom dishes and wind up a lot of blanks. However, few people think about the healing properties of some mushrooms. After all, they can not only satisfy hunger, but also heal

Of course, it is worth making a reservation right away that we will not consider the microscopic mushrooms that gave the world a miracle cure - penicillin. They deserve a separate discussion. But the medicinal properties of macromycetes - large mushrooms are often forgotten. We will try to fix it.

The healing properties of these forest semi-plants, semi-animals have been known since ancient times. The ancient Roman physician and scientist Dioscorides in the first century AD declared the ability of the larch tinder fungus to help in the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments. The most knowledgeable in mushroom medicine were the Chinese (especially in Tibet) and the Japanese. They still grow some of the beneficial mushrooms in artificial conditions.

It can be noted with pride that, in comparison with other countries and continents, there are much more varieties of mushrooms in Russia, including their medicinal counterparts. Our compatriots began to study them actively in the Middle Ages. So in the second half of the 17th century in the treatise "Healer" was told about the mushroom "Judah's ear", which grows on trees in the Far East and the Caucasus. According to ancient studies, this mushroom has helped to cope with some diseases of the throat.

More than three hundred years ago, the beneficial properties of the porcini mushroom were known. Its extract helped to cure frostbite. Some researchers believe that the systematic consumption of this noble mushroom can exclude the development of certain gastrointestinal diseases.

Over the years, traditional medicine has made its own list of medicinal mushrooms through trial and error. For example, an ordinary vestka entered it. If you dry it and prepare an alcoholic tincture from it, then you can quickly heal wounds. Known drug from veselka for gout and rheumatism. It is often called "earth oil" - it is an ointment made from the inner mucous membrane of young mushrooms while they are still in the "egg" stage.

In the Urals, there is a kind of analogue of "earth oil" - an ointment from a mushroom - a close relative of the morel - round sarcosoma. It looks like a brown bowl (5 to 10 cm in diameter) filled with a gelatinous mass, which is used as an ointment. The fungus should be looked for in the forest soil at the beginning of summer.

Quite known in folk medicine - chaga - black, uneven growths on a birch. Infusions of this tinder fungus improve vision, heart function, nervous system, and can even help with oncology. However, you should not drink chaga infusions for dysentery and diarrhea, as well as for children and pregnant women, whose cells in the body are actively dividing, as chaga can block the vital activity of a number of cells.

Among the useful fungi-tree parasites, the edged polypore is also distinguished. He likes to settle on fallen deciduous and coniferous trees. Its infusions have a mild laxative effect and are useful for constipation.

Amanita, despite its not particularly flattering reputation, is widely used in folk medicine. No wonder wild animals love him. For example, deer and moose get rid of helminths with its help. Amanita can only help a person when applied externally - in no case should it be consumed internally! Amanita infusions for rheumatism are very famous.

A beautiful larch oiler mushroom with a bright golden yellow cap is rich in vitamins B2, B6, essential oils, fatty acids, lecithin (which prevents cholesterol from being deposited). It is recommended to eat dishes from it for gout and headache.

Raincoats and bigheads are good for their antibacterial properties, which are possessed by their white, unripe heart. She's also sterile. In the field, it can be applied to a wound instead of a patch. This method is often used by experienced tourists, geologists and biologists. The spores of mature bighead and slicker, as well as larch sponges, have hemostatic properties. Blood from the wound stops flowing after a few minutes, if sprinkled with powder from the spores of these fungi.

The above is only a small part of the list of medicinal mushrooms, which is quite large. However, despite all the praise for mushrooms, the importance of medical advice should not be forgotten. It is better not to allow self-medication without it. Most often, mushrooms, like plants in medicine, may have contraindications and will not be useful for everyone.