Heather - Useful Properties, Cultivation And Application Of Heather. Heather Honey

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

Heather

Useful properties and uses of heather

It is an evergreen plant belonging to the heather family, and is no more than 1 meter in height. The reddish-brown stem is strongly branched. The leaves of the plant are opposite, hibernating and very small. The drooping flowers are collected in a multi-flowered inflorescence. The heather fruit is a capsule containing many small seeds, usually four-celled.

Heather bloom begins in July and lasts until the end of summer. During flowering, many beautiful pink flowers appear on the upper branches of the plant. The fruits ripen in early autumn.

Heather can live for about 40 years. It is very common in the European part of Russia, Eastern and Western Siberia. Heather prefers sandy and sandy loam soils with varying degrees of moisture. Moisture-rich peat bogs are best suited for heather. This can be easily explained: the sun's rays do not enter the peat bog, since they are trapped by the moss, so the water in the bog remains cold and does not enter the roots of the plant, or it does, but in very small quantities. In this case, the heather's leaves, which are rolled into a tube, help to retain moisture (due to which moisture is almost not lost). Heather can also be found between the pines, on dry sand.

Planting heather

Planting heather is best done in an open, sunny place, but light partial shade is also fine. Due to the fact that heather does not like calcium contained in the soil, when planting, you need to choose a place where dolomite flour or lime was not introduced into the soil.

Landings must be protected from the wind. Spring is the best time for planting a plant, since during the season the heather will adapt, take root, the shoots will have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather, which means that the plant will easily endure the winter. If you plant heather in the fall, this will affect its growth, since the temperature regime will change: from a warm climate to European frosts. The result of the autumn planting will be freezing of the heather and even the death of the entire plant.

Before planting, the root ball must be watered with water: this is necessary to completely get the root ball wet. And then we calmly plant the plant in the soil. No more than 8 tall varieties of heather or 15 low-growing bushes can be planted per 1 square meter. After 2-3 years, a beautiful heather carpet will appear at the planting site.

Care and cultivation of heather

Most heathers can go without watering for a long time, but if the heather grows on peat or sandy soil, then it simply needs constant watering, otherwise the plant will dry out. It is because of drying out that you need to carefully monitor the soil where the heathers were planted, and water the plant in time.

Heather does not tolerate fresh manure, therefore it is better to use mineral fertilizers as bait. And the best result will be given by a special fertilizer for azaleas, which must be applied according to the instructions on the fertilizer package, exactly following the instructions and dosages. To prevent a burn on the heather, you need to try not to apply fertilizer to the leaves of the plant. Top dressing must be done once a year in the spring.

Shoots should not be pruned for two years after planting heather. And in the future, it is necessary to do moderate pruning of the plant. Pruning is done in the fall, when the plant has faded. Shoots should be cut just below the location of the inflorescence. When pruning, try to trim off some old wood.

In late autumn, prepare the heather for wintering. To do this, after freezing the soil, you need to pour peat around the bushes. It is better to cover the plants with spruce branches, which will prevent the heather from freezing in winter, and will save from sunburn in spring. Lapnik is removed in mid-April, and peat must be removed from the bushes.

The benefits of heather

All parts of heather contain phenols, phenol carboxylic acids, catechins, glycosides, and coumarins. The plant stems contain leukoanthocyanidins, while the roots and shoots contain protoanthocyanidins.

Medicines prepared on the basis of heather have a calming effect on the nervous system of the body, hypnotic and anti-inflammatory effect on the human body. In addition, heather has antibacterial, diaphoretic and diuretic, expectorant and wound-healing properties.

The plant is able to accelerate blood clotting, and it is also used as an anti-acid agent.

Heather honey

Bees collect honey from the most beautiful pinkish-lilac heather bushes. heather honey is usually dark red in color, its aroma is very strong.

The composition of heather honey differs markedly from other types of honey. Heather honey contains many minerals, proteins, which is why this honey is so useful.

Heather honey is stored for a long time due to the fact that it contains a lot of protein substances and it does not crystallize, but, on the contrary, coagulates and becomes like jelly.

Heather honey is the most valuable and medicinal of all honeys. It is used as a diuretic for diseases of the bladder and kidneys. honey also helps to cure rheumatism and gout.

Are you suffering from insomnia? And here heather honey will help. It is enough to take just one spoonful of honey before bedtime - and you will fall asleep quickly and you will be guaranteed a restful sleep.

Due to the fact that honey has a unique chemical composition, it is used for diseases of the stomach or intestines as an anti-inflammatory agent.

If a person has low stomach acidity, then honey is used as an antimicrobial and anti-acid agent.

Heather treatment

Heather has been used in folk medicine for a long time and with great success. It is used in the treatment of cough, kidney stones, cystitis, gout, pulmonary tuberculosis, gastritis and other diseases.

Heather juice is used to rinse the mouth and throat.

For gastritis with increased acidity of gastric juice, use heather infusion.

Heather is a stimulant of the cardiac system, this is due to the content of glycosides in the herb.

Heather decoctions are used for stomach diseases, allergies, eczema, dysentery and other diseases. And outwardly, the broth helps in the presence of wounds on the body, ulcers and burns. Heather baths are used for radiculitis, leg edema, dislocation, fracture and bruised bones.

Decoction of heather leaves and flowers. It is prepared like this: they take 20 grams of crushed leaves of a plant along with flowers and pour 200 ml of boiling water over them. After holding the broth in a water bath for a quarter of an hour, it is cooled for 45 minutes, and after cooling it is filtered. You need to use such a remedy 70 ml before meals every day 2-3 times. This medicine is used for kidney stones, liver or gallbladder disease.

Heather tea. To prepare it, take 1 or 2 teaspoons of herbs or flowers, pour a glass of boiling water and brew for 10 minutes. After straining the tea, take it warm in a cup once a day. This tea is soothing and helps to cope with insomnia.

Tincture of heather. We take 10 grams of plant roots and fill them with 50 ml of 70% alcohol. Leave to infuse for 14 days in a dark place. Then, having filtered the tincture, you can safely take 30-40 drops daily 3-4 times before meals.

Heather bath. To do this, take 50 grams of the herb of the plant and steam it in 7 liters of boiling water. We leave the composition for half an hour to brew and then filter. Pour everything cooked into the bath and take the procedure. This bath has a calming effect on the entire body.

Contraindications to the use of heather

It is best not to take heather if you have stomach problems with decreased gastric acid secretion. Also, a contraindication is an individual intolerance to the body of common heather.

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).