2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
At the dawn of our era, in its first century, the healing abilities of the plant "Vinca minor" were mentioned in their writings by such well-known people as the ancient Roman naturalist, pharmacologist and physician, Pedanius Dioscorides, as well as the writer erudite of Ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder. The healing effect of Periwinkle is very actively used in today's Europe, as well as in China. In addition, it is one of the best decorative shade-tolerant ground cover plants
Distribution in nature
In the wild, periwinkle is known in Asia Minor and Europe. In Medieval Europe, the plant was used in various rituals, giving Periwinkle magical qualities. Considering the plant a symbol of constancy and eternity, people made talismans from its seeds and carried them with them.
Periwinkle is also found in Russia, and relatively large thickets of plants have been found in Ukraine. In abandoned parks, gardens and old estates, previously grown as a cultivated plant, Periwinkle runs wild, covering the ground with such a dense green carpet with its creeping stems that there is no place for other plants there.
Description
Perennial periwinkle is a herb or shrub. Its low (10-40 cm) vegetative shoots spread along the ground, releasing the same low erect peduncles.
Elliptical whole-edged leaves up to 2.5 centimeters wide and up to 5 centimeters long are decorated with corollas of blue-violet flowers up to 3 centimeters in diameter.
The fruit is a cylindrical double leaf with numerous small brown seeds.
Growing
Quite unpretentious Periwinkle grows under the shade of trees, calmly withstanding shade and partial shade. He is satisfied with loamy moist soils.
Periwinkle is also unpretentious in reproduction, which can be carried out at any time of the summer season, rooting shoots with the help of cuttings, as well as dividing the bush in the spring.
Use in the garden
A herbaceous perennial or evergreen shrub does not bloom for long, a little over a week, in early summer. But its attractiveness persists throughout the season, thanks to its dark green leaves, forming a continuous dense carpet.
Where it is impossible to grow a green lawn, periwinkle is simply irreplaceable. Its tolerance for even deep shade is a godsend for shady flower beds and gardens.
It is great for decorating near-trunk circles of tall shrubs and trees with lush crowns. It is planted in rock gardens; in the form of low borders along the shady paths of the garden. In parks, decorative curtains are formed from it, and Periwinkle is planted along the banks of streams and reservoirs, shaded by hanging branches of willow or alder.
Healing action
Periwinkle has hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), vasodilator, hemostatic, blood-purifying, sedative, antimicrobial, astringent, tonic and restorative action. Such a wide range of useful qualities of the plant makes it very popular both in folk and official medicine in many countries.
Collection and procurement
For medicinal purposes, the leaves of the plant are most often used, which are collected in early summer or spring. The grass is cut at a height of 3-5 centimeters. Greens are dried in the shade of ventilated rooms. When using dryers, the temperature should be no more than 50 degrees.
Decoctions and infusions are prepared from the leaves.
With hypertension, drink 3 times a day for 1/3 cup of infusion prepared as follows: 5 grams (1 tablespoon) of crushed leaves are poured with a glass of boiling water and boiled for 15 minutes in a water bath. Drink chilled and strained.
Contraindications: The dosage should be observed, since the plant is poisonous.
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