Ledum - Properties And Uses Of Wild Rosemary

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Ledum

Properties and uses of wild rosemary

Marsh Ledum

The rosemary plant is an evergreen shrub. Outperforms other plants and grasses growing in swamps and wet forests. It is mainly found in North America, Greenland and the Far East, but can grow in most of the Northern Hemisphere. Often found in Belarus, it grows in wooded peatlands.

If you look at wild rosemary, you can see a brownish felt-type fluff on its branches, however, a mature plant does not have this nap and the color is grayish. The rosemary can reach a height of one hundred and thirty centimeters, and its minimum height is fifteen centimeters. Its leaves are arranged evenly, in a clear order, and the plates on them are slightly curved inward. The top of its leaf is green, dark and smoother on the surface, and the bottom, on the contrary, is covered with a reddish-brown fluff, and it is there, if you look closely, you can see its essential oil glands.

Ledum flowers are white and small, close to each other and form an umbrella at the top. You can see them in May or June. Flowers are pollinated by insects. The resulting nectar is poisonous for the bees, but nevertheless they also pollinate the wild rosemary. And the honey that forms in flowers is a poison for people.

The rosemary fruit looks like an elongated box, consisting of five planks. The seeds contained in the fruit are small and have wings-like processes at one end.

Ledum grows together with soil fungi, which in turn stretch through the small roots of the wild rosemary. But in comparison with other plants, there is a plus: wild rosemary grows from seeds on its own, without any help.

Wild rosemary properties

Among its main useful components are such as vitamin C, flavonoids, essential oil containing palyustrol and ice, sugar, gum, various trace elements, phytoncides, dyes, and tannins, and much more. The essential oil that is part of wild rosemary has the appearance of a thick, homogeneous mass of greenish tint and burning to the taste. This oil is found in every part of the plant that is on the surface, not under the soil, and it is this oil that has the greatest effect in the treatment. Consequently, the largest amount of it improves the impact.

However, there is one thing - do not forget what has already been said: one of the substances in the oil, namely ice-breaker, is a very powerful poisonous substance. Therefore, a large amount of oil at one time can lead to the fact that a person will start to catch their breath, a failure in the central nervous system, as well as in the functioning of the heart. At different times of wild rosemary flowering, the volume of essential oil contained in it is different, and significantly. For example, its largest volume occurs at the beginning of August and the end of July, when seeds appear, and the lowest content is recorded at the beginning and also at the end of the vegetative process.

In the composition of the leaves and branches of the shrub during the first year, as well as its fruits and flowers, there is an essential oil, and its amount is quite large compared to that found in the stems and leaves of older plants. In addition, its content in dry weather in summer is higher than with regular rain.

The use of wild rosemary

It is noted that drugs with wild rosemary raise the pulse (and therefore, increase the heart rate), suppress cough and its symptoms, dilate the coronary and peripheral vessels and promote urine excretion from the body. Therefore, wild rosemary is effective and helps with bronchitis, tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, hypertension, and whooping cough.

At home, rosemary ointment is used for diseases of the skin, in places of frostbite or bruise. The decoction or infusion obtained from its flowers and leaves is used to treat enterocolitis, headaches or diseases of the cardiovascular system, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, etc. Ledum is used for rubbing and applying compresses for joint diseases, myositis or neuritis, etc.

The sap of the plant kills harmful bacteria, that is, it is protistocidal and phytoncidal, and stops the spread of certain viral diseases: luminous vibrio, whooping cough or diphtheria rods, hemolytic streptococcus.

The essential oil contained in wild rosemary reduces convulsions, promotes detachment of bronchial mucus, quickly and effectively relieves inflammation, increases blood flow, increases the resistance of gastric tissues, is highly effective in anti-exudative properties, and also relieves spasm, etc.

Also, its application varies by country. For example, Bulgaria with a hot infusion obtained from the flowers of a plant treats cholecystitis and uses it as an abortifacient. Japan or Buryatia use wild rosemary for scabies, diseases of the female reproductive system, as a remedy against parasites, as well as for insect bites, colds, conjunctivitis, dysentery, skin diseases, chickenpox, blepharitis and many others, and as a means of promoting hair growth and restoration. Residents of Komi treat them for alcoholism by adding plant juice to wine. Residents of France and Germany are treated with this juice for rheumatism of a various nature, colds with the presence of cough, as well as for angina pectoris, etc.

In alternative medicine, in particular in homeopathy, the plant is used externally for the treatment of diseases of the skin, frostbite areas, tumors, arthritis, on wounds, for the treatment of asthma. They also use a special alcohol on rosemary, called Dr. Lori's alcohol, it will help patients with rheumatism. To get rid of cough, there is also a special medicine, moreover, made in Russia, called "Ledin", which also includes wild rosemary.

Preparation of the infusion: it is necessary to add one hundred and eighty milliliters of boiling water to six previously crushed grams of flowers and plant leaves and put in a water bath for fifteen minutes. Further, having removed from it, let the product stand for forty-five minutes, after which it must be passed through a strainer or gauze. It is recommended to drink the infusion three or four times a day, two tablespoons of the composition.

Preparation of the broth: two hundred milliliters of boiling water should be added to ten grams of crushed shoots of the plant and placed in a water bath for half an hour, then let stand for ten minutes, then pass through cheesecloth or a strainer and bring the volume of liquid to two hundred milliliters. It is necessary to drink the broth three times during the day, two tablespoons after meals.

Contraindications to the use of wild rosemary

Marsh rosemary is contraindicated for people who are especially sensitive to the substances that make up the plant. In addition, the admission should be carried out after a preliminary consultation with a doctor and taking into account the attached instructions and strict adherence to it, otherwise there is a risk of adverse effects of the drug on the body or overdose.

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).