Since ancient times, people have been using wild and cultivated herbs in everyday life, the names of which are known to everyone - dandelion, burdock, nettle, celandine, clover, wild rosemary, sage, adonis and several hundred thousand more species. They are grown for food, medicine, livestock feed, and industrial use.
What are herbs
In the world there are such groups of plants:
- Trees- they have one tall trunk, covered with bark, numerous branches extend from the trunk.
- shrubs- instead of the main trunk, they form several thin lignified stems.
- Herbs- do not have a trunk, but have soft stems that die off annually. They are annual, biennial and perennial.
Wild and cultivated herbs
Plants that grow without human help are called wild plants. They spread where there are suitable natural and climatic conditions for them. Herbaceous plants that a person planted or sowed, looked after (watered, treated, fertilized) are cultivated herbs. Examples of cultivation have been known since ancient times. During breeding work scientists have significantly improved the quality of cultivated grasses, increasing their frost and drought resistance, productivity, and disease resistance.
The same plant can be both wild and cultivated. For example, if clover grass grows in natural meadows, it is wild. If a person sows clover in pastures and takes care of it, it becomes a cultivated plant.
Is cucumber an herb?
Cultivated herbs are widely used on the farm. Their names are varied - lettuce, sorrel, meadow timothy, lemon balm, cumin, dill, parsley, mustard, horseradish, motherwort, ginseng and others. This is for everyone notable examples. But did you know that potatoes, cucumber and tomato are, in fact, also cultivated herbs? Their names are familiar to us, but we perceive them as vegetables. In fact, the fruits of these plants are called vegetables in everyday life, while their life form in botany it is called grass. By analogy, banana, pineapple and Jerusalem artichoke are also herbaceous plants, this also includes wheat, rye, peas, beans and other crops that do not have a tree trunk or lignified stems.
Classification
From a scientific point of view, herbs are divided into:
- Annuals - they completely die off after the growing season and fruiting (for example, dill, peas). You can only renew them with the help of seeds.
- Biennial - plants, full of which lasts up to 24 months and includes 2 growing seasons. This, for example, cabbage, carrots, daisies.
- Perennials are plants that have a life cycle of more than two years. St. John's wort, burdock, banana are classic examples of perennial herbs.
Other classification options
By industry:
- herbs (field cultivation);
- herbaceous plants whose fruits are vegetables (vegetables);
- flowers (floriculture).
For business purposes:
- Edible herbs - dill, parsley, cumin, mustard, eggplant and hundreds of others.
- - alfalfa, sainfoin, meadow timothy, etc.
- - flax, hemp, etc.
- Honey plants - buckwheat, sweet clover, snakehead, etc.
- Medicinal cultivated plants- herbs used in herbal medicine. These are chamomile, motherwort, valerian, ginseng, mint, calamus, St. John's wort, succession, plantain, oregano. They are sown in the fields to collect useful raw materials: leaves, flowers, rhizomes.
- Dyeing plants - calendula, which also applies to medicinal plants.
- Technical herbs - rapeseed.
A rare type of classification
Cultivated plants (including herbs) are sometimes classified according to their chemical composition, taking into account the predominance of any substance:
- protein-containing,
- starchy,
- sugar-containing,
- oilseeds,
- essential,
- spicy,
- alkaloid,
- fibrous.
Title options
Each plant has several names. In the people, the names of herbs (variants can vary greatly among themselves) aptly indicate their special properties. In the scientific world, such plants are called Latin words.
Cultural herbs of Russia
The names of herbaceous plants that grow in the vast expanses of our country are extremely numerous. Crops are grown in agricultural fields, the fertile lands of which allow rich harvests. The owners sow and plant on their household plots many herbs.
The most common cultivated herbaceous plant in Russia is wheat. Other cereals widely grown in the country include rye, oats, barley, corn, soybeans and millet.
Popular legumes- peas, beans, lentils.
Potato is the only type of starchy herbaceous plant that is successfully grown in Russia. We also cultivate the only sugar-bearing crop - sugar beet.
Of the oil-bearing species, sunflower, rapeseed, flax, and mustard are widely distributed.
In the fields and in any garden grow - cucumbers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, dill, radishes, beets, onions, carrots and cabbage. All of the above are also cultural herbs of Russia. Their names are included in the botanical reference book as herbaceous plants. Although it sounds unusual, agree!
Medicinal cultural herbs
Titles medicinal plants, which were cultivated in Russia, are extremely numerous. In total, several million hectares in the country are allocated for sowing medicinal herbs. Most often they sow mint, chamomile, valerian, plantain, burdock, nettle, celandine. Rarely grow lavender, St. John's wort, celery, ginger, motherwort, sage, wormwood, marjoram, basil.
AT recent times cultivated areas under medicinal herbs are shrinking rapidly. The main reason is economic inexpediency. Herbaceous plants are demanding in care, crop processing is mainly carried out manually, and raw material prices are low. In addition, many medicinal herbs in subsequent years clog the crops of other crops as weeds, growing again and again in the aisles.
Given the high value of such plants during the Soviet era, they were necessarily included in the crop rotation. However, today the farmer sows wheat and sunflowers - those crops that provide maximum profit. And who wants to sow sage? Perhaps this is a rhetorical question.
Dandelion- perennial herbaceous plant Asteraceae or Compositae families. well known dandelion officinalis with a rosette of basal leaves and bright yellow flowers.
Dandelion Description
Plant height from 10 to 30 cm. The root is strong, vertically located, white in section. The leaves are dissected in shape, form a basal rosette. flowers yellow color, collected in sockets. The main flowering is in April-May, it can bloom until autumn. The fruits consist of an achene with a tuft, ripen in June-July.
dandelion spread
Dandelion officinalis grows throughout our country - in the fields, gardens, lawns. Often considered a weed. Appears as soon as the snow melts.
Medicinal properties of dandelion
In fact dandelion officinalis- very useful plant, cures many ailments. His medicinal properties have been known for a long time, and were used in Russia by all healers. Dandelion leaves contain choline, various trace elements and beneficial bitterness, as well as other substances necessary for health. All parts of the plant that are harvested for future use are useful. Aboveground part dry in the shade in the air, or in well-ventilated areas. Roots are harvested in spring or autumn. To do this, they are dug up, cleaned from the ground, washed and dried.
Dandelion officinalis used to improve digestion, as a means of stimulating appetite and giving strength, with diabetes, beriberi. Its use is considered an excellent tool for the prevention of atherosclerosis. They treat anemia, heart, kidneys, intestines, metabolic disorders. Traditional medicine claims the antitumor properties of dandelion officinalis. And in China, it has long been used as a strong antioxidant. The biologically active substances contained in it also have an expectorant, laxative, sedative, antipyretic and antispasmodic effect.
Dandelion juice restores liver cells, normalizes its work. It is used for cholecystitis and poisoning. Restores the formation of bile. Treats eczema and furunculosis. Sometimes dandelion juice mixed with carrot juice.
Juice can be prepared in several ways:
1 way - in May or June, dig up the plant along with the roots. Rinse, hold in slightly salty water for about half an hour, squeeze out all the water, dry and squeeze the juice. Mix with sugar 1:1 and add vodka 1/10 part. After 2 weeks the juice is ready. Keep refrigerated.
Method 2 - all the same, only without the addition of sugar and vodka. The squeezed juice is diluted with a little water. Take with honey for 2-3 months, ¼ cup before meals.
Method 3 - finely chop the washed leaves, blanch for 1 minute, then drain the water. Pass through a meat grinder and squeeze through a double layer of gauze. Dilute the resulting mixture with water in a ratio of 1:1. Boil for 1-2 minutes.
dandelion roots is an excellent natural diuretic. They are used to cleanse the kidneys. Infusions help with arthritis - pain decreases, the process of joint deformation stops. Due to its rich composition, dandelion decoctions regulate metabolism and help with weight loss.
Contraindication are conditions with obstruction of the biliary tract, gastritis and ulcers.
Application of dandelion
To improve metabolism: 1 tablespoon of crushed leaves pour 1 cup of boiling water. Insist 1-2 hours. Then strain and take 1/3 cup 3 times a day 15-30 minutes before meals.
For constipation: Grind the roots well in a coffee grinder. Take 3 times a day for ½ teaspoon half an hour before meals.
For diabetes: the leaves are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus as part of herbal preparations recommended by the doctor.
Root infusion can be done as follows: pour 1 tablespoon of chopped root into a thermos, then pour a glass of boiling water. Insist for several hours, preferably at night. Strain and take 1/3 cup 3 times a day before meals.
In cooking all parts of dandelion are used by nutritionists as a low-calorie food. The roots of the plant are baked in the oven, then ground and drunk instead of coffee. If you add a little chicory, ginger or cinnamon, you get a fragrant drink.
Very useful as a source of vitamins salad of young leaves and flowers. In order to get rid of excessive bitterness, they are pre-soaked in a saline solution. In Europe, a variety of lettuce dandelion without bitterness has already been bred. Also used as a seasoning for meat.
Dandelion flowers are pickled and added to salads as a garnish.
Dandelion Salad Recipe:
Pour 100 g of fresh leaves with salted water and leave for 15 minutes. Drain the water and chop finely. Add 1 tablespoon sour cream and 1 tablespoon mayonnaise. Salt to taste. If desired, sour cream and mayonnaise can be replaced with vegetable oil and sprinkled with lemon juice.
To surprise your guests for the New Year, it's time to think about it during the flowering of dandelions and make wine (another name is whiskey). , reminiscent of the taste of Scotch whiskey, will mature in six months, just in time for the winter holidays.
If you want to stay young and healthy longer, pay attention to a small simple flower by the road. In addition to numerous useful trace elements, it contains silicon, the lack of which affects the aging of the body. So the name "elixir of youth" dandelion was not in vain.
In folk cosmetics a mask of fresh leaves is used, which moisturizes, nourishes and rejuvenates the skin of the face. Freckles and age spots are well whitened with an infusion of flowers.
Dandelion juice will help get rid of small warts. And an insect bite will heal a freshly crushed leaf.
Dandelion- an excellent honey plant. Honey from it is obtained with a strong aroma and a slightly bitter taste.
There are plants that will bloom well in difficult environments - even in warmth, even on an open windowsill. Knowing to which variety the flower is defined, it is reliable to organize necessary care. The main components of cultivation consist of adjusting the moisture content of the air, the timing of introducing water into the soil, and controlling a safe temperature. The sun is one of the main factors. Most cultivated flowers are divided into groups. Others can be cultivated strictly outside the home. Certain species can only be bred indoors at home.
Dandelion - "life elixir"
When contacting a nutritionist, I was very surprised when among the recommended foods in the first place was ... dandelion!
Dandelion improves the general condition of the body and normalizes metabolism, stabilizes the function of the gastrointestinal tract, lowers cholesterol, relieves symptoms of hypertension and heart failure.
There are many recipes for preparing preparations from dandelion for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, some of them are known from ancient times. So, Avicenna with dandelion juice treated liver diseases, venous blood stasis, dropsy, used it as an antidote for snake and scorpion stings. The ancient Romans whitened their skin with dandelion juice. The famous physician of the Middle Ages, Paracelsus, treated skin diseases with preparations from the root of the dandelion.
In modern folk medicine, infusions, tinctures, decoctions, extracts, ointments, oils, powder for powders are made from dandelion. All parts of the plant are used for this, both fresh and dried. The sap of the plant and the leaves and roots ground into gruel are widely used.
Warts, calluses, age spots, freckles are lubricated with fresh milky juice. For oral administration, juice is obtained from crushed leaves and roots by pressing or extracting with a small amount warm water. Previously, the leaves can be soaked for 30-40 minutes in salt water to reduce bitterness. But this is not always advisable. To mask the taste of bitterness, a little honey is added to the juice or mixed with sweet fruit juice.
Juice is taken in a tablespoon before meals for diseases of the liver, kidneys and bladder, to strengthen teeth and bones, relieve swelling and pain in the joints, increase appetite, normalize blood sugar levels and activate metabolism, with intoxication and poisoning, as an effective diuretic. With insomnia, juice is drunk at night. Juice can be preserved by mixing it in a ratio of 1 to 1 with vodka or 2 to 1 with alcohol.
The leaves, crushed into gruel, are used in the treatment of skin diseases, wounds, ulcers, boils, bedsores. Used for compresses for inflammation of the joints and rheumatism. For compresses, you can use cotton wool soaked in an alcohol solution of dandelion juice or infusion of leaves and roots. For external use, powder from dried roots is also used. In addition, it can be taken orally, but in small quantities (1-2 grams). Inside, they also take a fresh root grated or chopped in a blender, which is considered an effective remedy for diseases of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder and bladder.
Often, infusions and decoctions are used for oral administration, which are prepared from leaves, roots and flowers individually or in a mixture. As a rule, for their preparation, they take a tablespoon of dried leaves and flowers, a teaspoon of dried roots (twice as much fresh) in a glass of boiling water. To obtain an infusion, it is kept for 2-3 hours in a thermos or in a warm place, then filtered and squeezed. To obtain a decoction - bring to a boil, stand for 5-10 minutes on low heat or a water bath, then allow to cool. Usually drink from 1-2 tablespoons to 1/3 cup before meals. When coughing and bronchitis drink a hot infusion or decoction between meals. With insomnia and depressive states, an additional decoction or infusion is drunk at night.
It is not difficult to prepare an oil or ointment from dandelion, which are used externally and in the treatment of inflammation of the mucous membranes. To obtain oil, dry leaves, flowers or roots in a ratio of 1 to 3 insist on vegetable oil. To obtain an ointment, one part of dried leaves, flowers or roots, ground into powder, is mixed with three parts of thick oil, lard, fat or vaseline. Before being used for its intended purpose, the resulting mixture is kept for at least a week in a warm place.
There are no serious contraindications to the use of dandelion preparations. But it is better not to abuse them with peptic ulcer and gastritis with hyperacidity. Be aware that overdose of dandelion preparations can cause indigestion.
The humble dandelion, considered by many to be a weed, can help a person in the treatment of many diseases. But in case of serious illnesses, do not get carried away with self-medication, but be sure to consult a doctor who will help you choose the optimal dosage and regimen for taking the drugs.
Vladimir Rogoza
What do we know about plants - signs of a flower horoscope? Dandelion
Dandelion - the first truly winter sign of the flower horoscope - takes over from Gladiolus on December 3rd and rules until the 12th.
Those born under the sign are real generators of ideas, supporters of everything new, sometimes annoying others with their indefatigable proposals to change or improve something. However, they prefer to entrust the implementation of their own projects to someone else.
Dandelion loves to impress, complementing extraordinary mental abilities with fashionable and bright, extravagant, on the verge of good taste clothes.
At work, Dandelions are well versed in production subtleties, they are able to quickly accept the only the right decision. The trouble is that they are well aware of their capabilities, and usually do not coordinate their own actions with anyone, including the authorities. It is easy to guess what it threatens. But, alas, filling bumps, Dandelion next time will still do it his own way.
In love, Dandelions do not know the measures, completely surrendering to the feeling and in no way worrying about the consequences. The same attitude is required from a partner, not tolerating any omissions.
In nature, dandelion is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Asteraceae family. Who does not know the little bright suns that adorn the meadows and stunted city lawns? The public utilities are fighting them, considering the plant a weed. But try to defeat the hero, whose root goes deeper than half a meter. No matter how much you cut a plant, it will still grow again.
By the way, dandelion inflorescences can be called small suns not only because of their external resemblance to the luminary. Active development plants occurs in the second year after the burst of solar activity. During these years they grow especially rapidly.
A basket of bright yellow dandelion flowers crowns a hollow cylindrical flower-bearing arrow. The ignorant consider it to be the stem of a plant, but in fact it is not. The stem from which the leaves extend is so short that it seems as if the leaves grow directly from the root.
The leaves are cleverly arranged. The groove formed by the raised edges of the leaf is directed towards the root, supplying it rain water and dew. Dandelion has developed its own irrigation system that allows efficient use of scarce moisture.
All parts of the plant, "from tops to roots", are rich in biologically active substances, the beneficial properties of which have been known since ancient times. The famous Avicenna treated with dandelion, traditional medicine offers many recipes for various diseases. Components derived from the plant are used in modern medicines and cosmetics.
In addition to medicinal properties, dandelion is also known as a food product. For example, in France, some of its varieties are grown as vegetable crop. The leaves of such plants reach fifty centimeters in length, grown in a shaded greenhouse, they are completely devoid of bitterness.
You can also eat familiar varieties. You can get rid of the bitterness of the leaves by slightly soaking them in salt water. Roasted roots can replace coffee beans, and the flowers make excellent jam.
The characteristic bitterness of the parts of the plant is given by the milky juice, famous for being the raw material for the production of natural rubber. In the USSR, at one time, the Kazakh dandelion kok-saghyz regularly provided rubber production.
Then they forgot about it, and recently they remembered it again. This time in distant America. Scientists from a research center in Ohio are seriously considering kok-saghyz as an alternative to the Brazilian hyvea, whose plantations in last years seriously affected by the disease.
It is possible that in the near future a migrant from Kazakhstan will begin to develop the American prairies. Well, good luck to the settlers.
Alexey Norkin
Dandelions - healing suns
Medicines are now expensive, and even ordinary ones, but many people cannot afford such necessary pharmacy vitamins. It is not surprising that we are increasingly turning to folk remedies - medicinal plants. But maybe it's for the best? After all, these are natural remedies without any chemicals and do not require large expenditures.
One of the most affordable healing plants that will appear very soon is the dandelion.
With dandelion juice, Avicenna treated dropsy, liver disease, removed eyesores. In France, dandelion leaves and root are used to treat the liver and lower blood cholesterol levels. In Bulgaria, fresh leaves and juice from them are used to treat atherosclerosis and anemia, C-avitaminosis, jaundice, hemorrhoids, catarrh of the stomach and intestines. In Germany, dandelion root is considered a good remedy with nephrolithiasis, other diseases of the kidneys and bladder, rheumatism, gout, with sluggish painful processes in the spleen, as a tonic and tonic after severe infectious diseases In addition, it is considered a good remedy for insomnia.
AT traditional medicine use dandelion roots and leaves. In the spring, with a lack of vitamins, fresh young dandelion leaves are used in the form of salads. They are bitter, but it is easy to get rid of bitterness by soaking them in salted water for half an hour. cold water. In the spring, this salad is a must. It improves digestion and activity of the stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, tones the body, improves blood composition. Often use preparations from the roots of the plant: to stimulate appetite, with catarrhs of the stomach and intestines. In addition, it is a good remedy for chronic constipation (use a decoction of the root inside).
In pulmonary diseases, dandelion preparations are used as an expectorant. They also have diuretic properties. Dandelion preparations are used for liver diseases as a choleretic agent. In addition, dandelion is widely used externally in folk medicine. So, in the treatment of eczema, dandelion root is combined with burdock root equally (20 g per two cups of boiling water), consumed half a cup. Or another recipe: dandelion and burdock roots, a tablespoon in three glasses of water, insist overnight, boil for 10 minutes in the morning and leave without fire for 20 minutes, use half a glass 5 times a day.
Dandelion is useful for hemorrhoids. Dandelion preparations are used for eye diseases in the form of lotions.
Root decoction: 20 g per 200 g of water, 1/4 - 1/2 cup 3 - 4 times a day.
Powder: on the tip of a penknife 3 times a day.
And from yellow dandelion flowers they make excellent honey or, as it is also called, jam - an indispensable medicine for colds and general weakness. As soon as yellow suns appear on the edges and clearings, choose a fine early morning and collect five hundred heads of dandelion flowers without stems. They must be open. Choose the largest and most beautiful. They need to be thoroughly washed and soaked for a day in cold water. Change the water from time to time - bitterness will go away with it. The next morning, drain the water, but do not squeeze the flowers. Add a liter of cold water and boil for 10 minutes. After that, strain the broth, and squeeze the flowers well. Add 1.5 kg of sugar, juice of two large lemons to the broth and simmer for half an hour over low heat. The jam should turn out golden and fragrant, viscous and amber-transparent, like jelly. Pour it into sterile jars and roll up.
It is an excellent medicine, especially for children, when used as an antipyretic. However, like ordinary honey, you can not eat a lot of it. You can add this honey to desserts: pour ice cream and fresh berries with jam, serve with pancakes or pancakes, coat the cake layers with it. All this will be very tasty. It is believed that dandelion jam is good remedy and salt deposition.
Frozen juice from dandelion leaves is used to remove coarse wrinkles on aging and withering skin.
Half-blown buds and young leaves are passed through a juicer. The juice is preserved by adding 30 ml of alcohol to 500 ml of fresh juice, and put in the refrigerator for freezing. Well-washed skin is warmed with a hot water compress, and then massaged with a cube of frozen juice for 5 minutes. After the massage, you need to wet the skin with a cotton swab and grease it with a nourishing cream, sour cream or cream.
By the way, modern science also recommends the use of dandelion: as bitterness to increase appetite, to regulate the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, as a choleretic and laxative. It can be used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, as a diuretic, for nephrolithiasis and cholelithiasis, for anemia, anemia, as a wound healing agent, in the treatment of paresis, paralysis, as an anthelmintic agent. Dandelion has antitoxic properties, stimulates the cardiovascular system, is used as a remedy for radiation sickness, is useful in the treatment of arthritis and for the removal of warts. It is also used for inflammation of the skin, bites poisonous insects, with a lack of milk in a nursing mother. Such a variety of properties of dandelion makes it a valuable plant for stimulating performance, eliminating fatigue, fatigue.
For all the above cases: 6 g of dry crushed raw materials (both roots and grass) in a glass of warm water, boil for 10 minutes, leave for 20 minutes, take a tablespoon 3 times a day before meals.
Fresh grass (or juice) with inflammation of the skin, bites of poisonous insects is applied to the site of the lesion. In recent years, medicine has established the beneficial effect of dandelion root powder (taken before meals) in atherosclerosis to remove cholesterol from the body. All parts of the plant have antipyretic, diaphoretic and tonic properties.
LYUDMILA RYNDINA
The world of plants on planet Earth is very diverse. In the process of centuries of evolution, they have adapted to growing in different conditions: survive in northern regions with a cold climate, in deserts where there is practically no rainfall. This article will focus on wild plants, which are different. These are herbs, and cereals, and shrubs. Some of them have beautiful appearance, others are beneficial to humans, and still others are dangerous weeds that harm horticultural crops.
What plants are called wild
These are the species that spread by self-sowing or shoots without the participation and intervention of man. These plants do not need to create special conditions. They adapt themselves to life in their natural environment. cultural species plants appeared much later than wild ones. A person cares for them in order to receive good harvest. He sows them, fertilizes them, waters them, weeds them, loosens the soil in which they grow.
Wild plants have a high energy value, therefore, they are now increasingly being used as food additives or as an independent dish. The fact is that they are not afraid of the chemicalization of agricultural land, after which the soil contains a large amount of poisons and nitrates.
If it is an initially non-poisonous plant, it is impossible to poison it, like many vegetables, for the cultivation of which high doses of various chemical fertilizers are used. Here is a small list of names of wild plants that can be eaten:
- Nettle.
- Horsetail.
- Sorrel.
- Oregano.
- St. John's wort.
- Mint.
- Raspberry.
- Currant.
- Thyme.
- Hop.
- Plantain.
- Chicory.
- Burdock.
- Sleep.
- Lungwort.
- Clover.
- Angelica.
- Blooming Sally.
Care must be taken when harvesting herbs. If for some reason it is impossible to distinguish useful herbs from others, it is better not to collect them, they can harm your health.
Classification
All plants are divided into cultivated and wild. There are many types of wild plants, for example:
- Herbs: nettle, euphorbia, cornflower, dandelion, plantain and many others.
- Shrubs: raspberries, forest grapes, currants, blackberries, etc.
- Trees: apple, pear, rowan, plum, oak, pine, birch, willow, etc.
There are wild plants that grow in the garden: onions, garlic, watermelons. In addition, plants are divided into medicinal, useful, edible and poisonous.
families
In nature, there are a huge number of plants that are conditionally divided into groups with similar properties, structure, and appearance. Most of all on the planet are flowering plants, which are monocots and dicots. Each of these classes is divided into families depending on the structure of the flower. The most numerous and widespread species belong to the following families:
- Liliaceae are herbs with a long life cycle. They form bulbs, corms, rhizomes. They differ in shape and growing conditions. For example, lilies, tulips, goose onions.
- Bluegrass (cereal) - a family of plants (wild and cultivated) with different cycle life. For example, bamboo, reed, millet, feather grass, etc.
- Nightshade. Representatives of this family are mostly herbs or creeping shrubs and much less often trees. Among them are many poisonous species, such as henbane.
- Rosaceae - This family includes trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. For example, pear, cherry plum, apple tree, raspberry, currant, blackberry, strawberry, hemp, nettle, fig.
- Cruciferous are herbs, less often - shrubs, as an exception - shrubs. Examples of wild plants of this family: shepherd's purse, colza, levkoy, mustard, horseradish, cabbage.
- Compositae - the family includes 25 thousand species of herbaceous plants, shrubs, semi-shrubs, lianas, undersized trees. Example: elecampane, meadow cornflower, thistle, dandelion, sunflower, yarrow.
- Umbrella - this family includes herbaceous plants. The most famous species are Siberian hogweed, ribwort, speckled hemlock.
In many wild-growing representatives of the flora, all parts are edible, and in some, only fruits, such as acorns, can be consumed. They can be harvested after the first autumn frosts. Acorns are edible if properly prepared. But you should beware of unripe fruits of wild plants, they are poisonous. They are easily distinguished by their green color.
Wild apples are a favorite treat for children. They are especially good at winter time when they get cold. Foresters do not pass by wild raspberries and currants. The berries of these plants are much smaller, but they have a unique taste and aroma.
Edible wild plants
They are often found on our way, but many people do not know that they can be eaten, although they are often used to treat various diseases. About what wild plants can replenish our diet with vitamins, read below in the article.
Shepherd's bag
The medicinal properties of this plant have long been known, but few people know that they eat it. However, in China, this herb is a vegetable. Here, the shepherd's purse is used for cooking first courses, salads, salt for the winter. Best time for use of a plant in food - spring.
Surepka
This plant is the most common. The place of growth are meadows, fields, vegetable gardens, pastures. Everything useful is contained in the leaves. But you need to collect them until the plant has bloomed. This herb has a bitter taste, so it is mixed with other types of greens when preparing a salad. Tasty and healthy are pancakes from flowers, but fully bloomed. However, for people with diseases of the stomach and intestines, a wild plant is contraindicated.
Chistets marsh
This is an edible plant with bad smell. But don't dismiss it right away. The smell will disappear as soon as you start cooking the dish. Ripe tubers are suitable for food, which should be collected at the end of summer. They are fried, boiled, dried, salted for the winter. Chistets tends to fade quickly, so you need to collect as many plants as you need for cooking.
Clover
it unpretentious plant grows in nature as an annual and perennial grass with white, red, pink flowers. Clover is known for its useful qualities. It contains vitamins and minerals that our body needs. Many cultures use grass in different form. It is dried for the manufacture of seasonings, additives to flour. AT fresh clover is used to make salads. In the Caucasus, pickled flowers of the plant are eaten. This grass is an excellent honey plant, flowers are pollinated by bees and bumblebees. Honey produced by bees from the nectar and pollen of clover has a great taste. This grass is an important part of the forage base of livestock.
cattail
This representative of the flora belongs to wild herbaceous plants. In nature, it grows near water bodies, in swamps and adjacent places. The roots of this herb are edible. They can be baked, boiled, dried, pickled, and also ground into flour. The leaves located at the rhizome are suitable for salads.
Blooming Sally
This plant is also known as fireweed. All parts of it are edible. wild plant many people use it for brewing tea, but not everyone knows that flour and salads can be made from it. The leaves and flowers are used to make wine, and the roots are used for casseroles.
Common bracken fern
The petioles of the plant, until they have blossomed, resemble snails. They are the ones used for food. A vegetable stew is prepared from the fern, it is salted for the winter. If the leaves have blossomed, such plants are not suitable for consumption. Fern collection time is late spring or early summer.
Beautiful flowering wild plants
These plants during the flowering period are in most cases beautiful. In general, it is customary to talk about flowers as something special and sublime. But in nature there are many wild plants whose flowers will compete with garden hybrids and varieties. And there is another category of plants. Planting them once for beauty intentionally, you risk never getting rid of them. In the garden and garden, they compete with cultivated plants, as they consume 1/3 of all nutrients contained in the soil and moisture. Weeds are very tenacious plants, they adapt even to the herbicides with which they are treated. But many wild, herbaceous plants are so beautiful that they can hardly be considered weeds. These include:
- Mayweed.
- The bell is crowded.
- Lily curly (saranka).
- May lily of the valley.
- Lychnis chalcedony.
- Day-lily.
- Bought fragrant.
- Hellebore black.
- Tansy and many others.
Dandelion
These plants are considered the most common urban weeds. They are very unpretentious, grow everywhere, with the exception of the Arctic, highlands and Antarctica. This flower belongs to perennial wild plants. The genus dandelion has more than 2000 apomictic microspecies, but in our country the most common is medicinal (field or common).
Violet
A genus of wild plants, numbering 500 species, of which about twenty are found in the European part of Russia.
Violets are annuals, biennials and perennials. They are most common in the Northern Hemisphere, regions dominated by a temperate climate. Violets of many species are cultivated, they are grown as ornamental plants, and in one place, without any transfers. But in abandoned gardens and parks, they run wild again.
wild medicinal plants
The flora of our planet is amazing and diverse. Among numerous families there are poisonous and edible plants, there are also those that are beneficial for Agriculture and other industries. But of particular importance are wild medicinal plants that help a person cope with a disease or prevent it. Some of them are listed below in the article.
Coltsfoot
This wild plant blooms in April, as soon as the gentle sun warms the earth. In well-lit areas, flowers appear, painted in a yellow tint, similar to small suns. This is mother-and-stepmother. The plant is medicinal, it is used in medicine. So, for example, flower and leafy infusions are used to treat coughs. The plant is an excellent honey plant for the spring collection of pollen and nectar by bees.
calamus ordinary
Refers to perennial wild plants. It reaches a height of 10 cm. It grows near lakes, rivers, swamps, streams, in flooded meadows. It is believed that next to calamus always pure water. The roots of the plant have medicinal value. They need to be harvested in early spring or late autumn. They are dried, used for nervous disorders, fever.
Melilot officinalis
This plant reaches a height of one meter. Places of growth - meadows, fields, roadsides. The leaves and flowers of the plant are valued, which should be harvested in June-August. The dried leaves are used to make a tincture, which is taken to treat gout, rheumatism, and insomnia. The plant also has diuretic properties. It can not be used during pregnancy and blood incoagulability.
Burdock (burdock) felt
This plant is easily identified by big leaves and characteristic flowers and fruits. As a rule, burdock grows in wastelands, roadside, in the forest. This is a well-known and widespread representative of the flora. Rhizomes should be harvested before the onset of winter or early spring. An ointment is prepared from fresh roots for the treatment of wounds and burns. The leaves are used to protect against bacteria, they relieve heat well. They must be applied to wounds. A decoction prepared from the roots helps in the treatment of the intestines and stomach, it is used as a diuretic. The benefits of burdock in the treatment of various diseases have long been known, but few know the fact that the leaves and roots of a young plant are eaten. The roots of young plants are edible. But if the burdock is cooked incorrectly, it will be bitter. It is better to fry or boil it.
hogweed
This plant with a long life cycle, powerful, has a large size: two meters in height. Distributed everywhere. Place of growth - meadows, fields, coniferous forests, gardens, banks of reservoirs. In folk medicine, rhizomes and leaves are used, from which soothing infusions are prepared to relieve convulsions, prevent and treat skin diseases (for example, scabies), and digestive disorders. Fresh leaves are used as a lotion for rheumatism. Hogweed is edible plant. Its herb in dried, pickled or salted form is added to first courses.
sour
The plant is characterized by a small height (up to 10 cm) and creeping shoots. Places of growth - forests, shores of lakes, rivers. Oxalis prefers to grow in moist soil and in the shade. Based on the plant, an herbal infusion is prepared. It is used in the treatment of liver and kidney diseases. The herb has a diuretic and analgesic effect. It is also used externally, especially in the treatment of festering wounds. In addition, the acid is suitable for eating. Soups are made from it.
Nettle
There are two types of medicinal herbs that are used by official and traditional medicine: stinging nettle and stinging nettle. This plant has a diuretic and expectorant, laxative and anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and wound healing, analgesic and hemostatic effect. In pregnant women, taking infusions of nettle, the level of iron in the blood normalizes. In folk medicine, nettles are treated:
- Cold.
- dropsy.
- Constipation.
- Dysentery.
- Gout.
- Haemorrhoids.
- Liver.
- Bronchi and lungs.
- Rheumatism and more.
Mint
The genus includes about 42 species, and this does not take into account garden hybrids. It is valued as a medicinal plant containing in large numbers menthol, which has an anesthetic effect. This substance is part of drugs for the treatment of diseases of the heart, blood vessels: Valocordin, Validol, Zelenin drops. Mint has the following beneficial properties:
- Normalizes bowel function.
- Brings order to the nervous system.
- Eliminates insomnia.
- Relieves nausea.
- Helps with diarrhea.
- Reduces swelling, relieves pain in inflammatory processes of the respiratory organs.
- Strengthens gums, destroys microbes. It is used for rinsing the mouth.
Plantain
For medicinal purposes, two types of this plant are used: flea plantain and Indian plantain. They contain ascorbic acid, carotene, phytoncides. Psyllium extracts obtained from the leaves of the plant are used to treat severe gastrointestinal ulcers. Juice is taken for gastritis, enteritis. It improves digestion. Leafy infusions help to remove sputum from bronchitis, pleurisy, whooping cough, pulmonary tuberculosis, and asthma. In addition, plantain is used in the following cases:
- For blood purification.
- Wound healing.
- Removal of inflammation.
- Pain relief.
Wormwood
This plant is used in gastroenterology. Its leaves are rich in substances useful for the human body. The benefits of nettle are as follows:
- It has a stimulating effect on the reflex function of the pancreas.
- Normalizes the activity of the gallbladder.
- Relieves inflammation.
- Contained in the plant essential oil excites the nervous system.
- The bitterness present in the grass excites the appetite, normalizes digestion.
Quinoa
This herb is well known to the older generation. In the war years, as well as lean years, quinoa seeds were ground, added to rye flour and baked bread. He, of course, did not have an attractive appearance and was tasteless, but he helped to survive. The quinoa is valued for its chemical composition. It contains potassium and rutin in large quantities. Thereby medicinal herb widely used in cardiology. In addition, it is useful for the treatment of diseases:
- Respiratory organs.
- Stomach.
- Skin.
- Inflamed wounds.
Quinoa has a wound-healing and soothing, cleansing and expectorant, choleretic and diuretic effect. This herb is edible. Shchi, soups, cutlets, mashed potatoes are prepared from it, and even bread is baked. Quinoa dishes are very satisfying.
Compositae family
Perennial herbaceous plant from the family. Compositae. The height of the stems is 4 - 45 cm. The leaves are collected in a basal rosette, thin, 10 - 25 cm long and 1.5 - 5 cm wide, strugoid-pinnate with lobes directed downwards, pubescent or glabrous. Flowering stems are leafless, hollow, woolly during flowering under the basket. Inflorescence - single basket more than 2 cm in diameter. The involucre of the basket is two-row, brownish-green, the outer leaves of the involucre are lanceolate, bent down. Receptacle bare, pitted. Flowers are reed, bright yellow. >Their golden attire is quickly replaced by fluffy balls consisting of achenes. Mature achenes are light gray or olive-brown. Root taproot, fleshy.
plant with milky juice. Blooms from May to autumn. Young chicory rosettes look like dandelion rosettes, in which the midrib is red, and the leaves are rougher to the touch.
All parts of the plant are eaten: roots, leaves and flower baskets. The roots are dug up in the fall, when they are concentrated the largest number nutrients, or in the spring, before the plant blooms. The roots are cleaned of leaves and stem residues, washed in cold water and dried in the air, the final drying is carried out in Russian ovens, dryers or in attics. Sometimes the roots are boiled in salted water for 6-8 minutes, dried, roasted and ground like coffee.
In some countries dandelion leaves harvested for future use, fermented like cabbage. Unopened young baskets of flowers are pickled. AT Western Europe and the US, dandelions are cultivated for salads, and the leaves are specially shaded to make them pale and more tender. Gourmet salads are prepared from tender young dandelion leaves, soups, cabbage soup are cooked, seasonings are made for meat and fish dishes. Jam is made from flower baskets.
Dandelion salad. Cut dandelion leaves (100 g) previously aged (2 - 3 hours) in salt water, add finely chopped green onion(50 g), parsley (25 g), table vinegar, salt, season sunflower oil, to mix everything. Top with dill garnish.
Powder obtained from dandelion roots, sometimes used instead of chicory, added to coffee. In the spring, among the delicate greenery of the lawns, golden dandelion heads appear, they attract bees, who willingly collect pollen from dandelions, which is necessary for the brood of bee colonies. However, there are also undesirable properties of dandelion: it contains bitter milky juice in all parts, which is not harmful to the human body. Bitterness is easily eliminated if the leaves are kept for half an hour or an hour in cold salty water before use, or boiled, or doused twice with boiling water.
dandelion leaves rich in all kinds of useful substances - this is a real treasury of vitamins, they contain vitamins A, group B (B1 and Br), C, they contain a lot of iron, calcium salts, phosphorus, triterpene alcohols, etc. In autumn, about 40% of inulin accumulates in the roots, protein substances, rubber, asparogine, choline, alcohols, organic acids, fatty oil, resins, iron, manganese, phosphorus, bitter substance taraxacin. All this makes dandelion extremely useful for human nutrition.
Dandelion Moreover, it has long been considered medicinal plant used in official and traditional medicine. Its roots are used in the pharmaceutical industry for the preparation of pill masses. Extracts with choleretic properties are prepared from them. Powder prepared from dried roots is used to enhance the excretion of harmful substances from the body.
Due to the content of iron in dandelion, it is very useful for anemic patients. An oily tincture of the roots is a good remedy for treating burns. The juice from the leaves is used for jaundice and diseases of the bladder. In the old days, it was believed that a decoction of dandelion leaves relieves fatigue, gives vigor, and adds strength. Outwardly, dandelion preparations are prescribed for eczema, age spots, furunculosis.
Dandelion is widespread in our republic everywhere. In recent years, it can be found in abundance along roads, in gardens, vegetable gardens, meadows, forest glades, near dwellings, in fields like weed. In France, the dandelion is introduced into the culture.
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