Hawthorn
Properties, recipes and tincture of hawthorn
Botanical characteristics of hawthorn
Hawthorn is a shrub that belongs to the Rosaceae family and has thorns on its purple-brown branches. In size, the hawthorn reaches four meters in height. The leaves of the hawthorn are alternate, rounded-rhombic, pointed and with deep lobes; they are also pubescent on the sides. The flowers of the plant are quite small, white, in very dense and corymbose inflorescences, emitting a not very pleasant smell. Regardless of the fact that the flowers are white and at the same time unimportant smelling, hawthorn fruits are bright red in color, taste sweet, the flesh resembles something mealy.
The time when the hawthorn begins to bloom falls on June, and the full ripening of the fruits, that is, berries, is reached in late August or early September.
For medicinal use, almost all components of this plant are used, except for branches, that is, leaves, flowers, and hawthorn fruits. If you need to use hawthorn for medicinal purposes, you should collect flowers at the very beginning of summer, as soon as the hawthorn begins to bloom, you must use dried flowers.
In order not to lose the beneficial properties of dried hawthorn components, it is necessary to keep them strictly in air-tight places. Due to the frequent exposure to air, the plant, so to speak, erodes and loses almost all of its beneficial qualities. Try to place the dried hawthorn in a container that is tightly closed and protected from moisture.
The hawthorn fruit should only be harvested when it becomes red enough. The blood-red I years indicate that they are ripe and ready to eat. If, after picking the berries, you decide to dry them, do it immediately after picking. The hawthorn will bring berries every year.
The chemical composition of hawthorn
Hawthorn flowers are very rich in chemicals. For example, such elements as choline, essential oil, acetylcholine, trimethylamine, flavone glycosides, caffeic, chlorogenic, ursolic and other various acids.
But the hawthorn fruits contain fatty oil, flavonoids, triterpene saponins, choline, acetylcholine, tannins, sorbitol, organic acids. Also, the flowers of thorny hawthorn contain essential oil, caffeic and chlorogenic acids, choline and acetylcholine, trimethylamine, quercetin and quercitrin.
Hawthorn berries contain flavonoids, carotene, choline, acetylcholine, fructose, coloring and tannins, essential oil, sorbitol, fatty oil, hyperoside, b-sitosterol and amygdalin. Also, the fruits of this medicinal plant have a high content of oleic and ursolic triterpene derivatives, ascorbic, tartaric, citric, crategic, chlorogenic and caffeic acids.
Useful properties of hawthorn
The use of hawthorn has a beneficial effect on heart performance. Recently, the problem of cardiovascular diseases is gaining momentum. It is the hawthorn that copes well with this dangerous ailment. For the desired result, hawthorn should be taken for a long period, and in some cases you will have to use it constantly. Hawthorn does not have side effects, overdose factors in decoctions and other methods of use are excluded. Hawthorn has a very beneficial effect on the human body.
Hawthorn is recommended to be used by people at a fairly decent age, not only as a medicine for a certain ailment of the cardiovascular system, but also for prevention in order to avoid these diseases. Hawthorn also strengthens the heart muscle.
The elements that make up hawthorn have unique properties: they reduce the risk of developing sclerotic changes in the coronary vessels of the heart, and sometimes completely prevent them, and also accelerate the blood flow process. If you decide to arrange prophylaxis for your health with the help of a plant such as hawthorn, then you must use it in the form of a tea broth.
Hawthorn is not only a remedy that is used to treat or prevent heart disease, but this plant also helps with constant fatigue, eternal overwork, which subsequently leads to cardiovascular diseases and in the future - to the problems of the entire human body as a whole. Hawthorn tidies up the well-being of a person and is a good helper that prevents dangerous diseases.
We remind you that in no case should you be indifferent to your own health! If you do not feel well, if you notice any changes in your body, even the smallest and most insignificant ones, know that the body is giving a signal. And this signal must be taken into account and action must be taken. After all, jokes are bad with health, and especially if the disease has reached its peak and it cannot be eradicated even with expensive treatment. Use hawthorn tincture for prevention, especially since this is a very simple way to feed the body with vitamins.
Take hawthorn even in cases where you have serious infectious diseases, as infections have a very negative effect on the heart muscle, which subsequently leads to its diseases. It is advisable to do this constantly and make it a habit.
The multiple healing properties of hawthorn not only have a beneficial effect on heart function, but also normalize and stabilize blood pressure levels. In some cases, hawthorn increases and decreases blood pressure. If you are wary of high or low blood pressure acquired as a result of the use of hawthorn, then there is no need to worry. Hawthorn is absolutely safe and unique in that it won't just play with your pressure.
Hawthorn recipes
Recipe 1. It is necessary to take a tablespoon of ground hawthorn fruits in a glass of boiling water, put on a fairly low heat and wait until the broth is boiled down to half without a strong boil. The remedy should be taken in small portions of half a teaspoon 3 times a day before meals. This course must be completed within three to four months. The recipe for this broth is used to treat angina pectoris, arrhythmias, extrasystoles, to restore cholesterol levels in atherosclerosis.
Recipe 2. This infusion is used for hypertensive diseases. Pour a tablespoon of well-ripe dried hawthorn berries with a glass of boiling water. It is recommended to insist the composition for about two hours in a warm place, it is even desirable to put it in the oven or on the stove. After two hours, the infusion must be filtered through a gauze cloth. It should be consumed 1 or 2 tablespoons 4 times a day before meals.
Recipe 3. The infusion prepared according to this recipe is used for nervous overstrain. It is done as follows: one tablespoon of dried hawthorn berries is brewed with a glass of boiling water, the product is allowed to brew for 2 hours in a warm place, preferably in the oven, after which it is necessary to strain the tincture. It is recommended to drink this medicine one to two tablespoons in the morning, afternoon and evening before meals.
Recipe 4. If you suffer from insomnia, then an infusion prepared according to this recipe will help you. Take 20 grams of berries or 40 grams of blood red hawthorn flowers and pour 200 milliliters of boiling water. A tincture made on flowers is applied one tablespoon 3 or 4 times a day. If the tincture is on berries, then it may well be used as tea.
Recipe 5. People in old age very often suffer from heart failure, help them in the treatment of hawthorn root. Hawthorn roots are dug up in very late autumn. After they are dug up, the roots need to be washed and dried. For medicinal purposes, water decoctions are prepared at the rate of 1:10. The roots of the hawthorn must be boiled for 10 minutes, after which the broth must be allowed to cool, and then strain it. Drink the broth one tablespoon in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Recipe 6. In this recipe we take flowers and berries of hawthorn in equal proportions and mix, then pour three tablespoons of the resulting mixture with three glasses of hot water. We insist the broth for two hours in a warm, heated place. After this time, we filter the product. We use the medicine in this way: half an hour before meals, one glass three times a day. If you have heart disease or you suffer from asthma attacks or dizziness, then the broth is applied 1 hour after eating.
Hawthorn tincture
In order to prepare a hawthorn tincture with alcohol, you need to take about 200 grams of ethyl alcohol diluted to 70 percent per glass of fresh berries. Next, take the berries and pound them with a crush, preferably a wooden one, then fill it with alcohol. After the composition, put in a dark place for exactly twenty-one days. After this time, strain the medicine through a gauze cloth, preferably folded in several layers, so that the tincture is cleaner.
Not only hawthorn berries are used for alcoholic tincture, but also its flowers. To prepare a tincture of hawthorn flowers, it is necessary to take 200 grams of ethyl alcohol diluted to 70 percent for four tablespoons of hawthorn flowers. The tincture should be placed in a vessel that is tightly closed, then put in a dark place and let it brew for ten days.
But it is important to remember that you need to shake the tincture every day! Ready tincture, slightly diluted with water, is consumed in the amount of a teaspoon in the morning, afternoon and evening before meals.
Contraindications to the use of hawthorn
No matter how useful hawthorn may be, its abuse leads to conditions such as drowsiness, weakness and disrupts the rhythm of the heart.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, treat the use of hawthorn very carefully, taking into account all the contraindications and taking special care.
The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist
Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).
