Willow loosestrife
Useful properties, application and cultivation of loosestrife (plakun-grass)
Botanical characteristics of the willow bush
Willow loosestrife is a perennial herb with an erect tetrahedral stem 50–150 cm high, often growing into large but loose clumps. It is characterized by a creeping woody rhizome and purple-lilac spike-shaped inflorescences located in the axils of the bracts. Lanceolate loosestrife leaves, green in summer, red in autumn.
Loose grass grows everywhere, preferring sunny places with moist soils. Since July, this melliferous plant blooms with bright, beautiful flowers, attracting many butterflies and bees. The honey collected from the loosestrife is very aromatic, it has a rich amber color and a slightly tart taste. At the end of August, the fruits are already ripening, which are oblong rounded boxes filled with small seeds.
Useful properties of loosestrife
The willow loaf contains flavonoids, polyfinol, glucosides, tannins (tannins), phenol carboxylic acids, essential oil, vitamins. The flowers of the plant are rich in anthocyanins, and the roots are rich in saponins. The aboveground part of the plant is usually harvested before flowering, the roots are dug up in the fall. Once a year, on Ivan Kupala, at the hour of dawn, it is allowed to harvest both at the same time.
The loosestrife has antiseptic, hemostatic, tonic, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and calming effects. If you fill the pillow with leaves and flowers of the plant, then the sleep will be deep and calm.
The use of loosestrife
Leaves, roots, seeds and flowers of the loosestrife are used for medicinal purposes. A decoction from the roots helps well with diseases of the upper respiratory tract, cramps, headaches and toxicosis in pregnant women. Infusions from the aerial part improve the patient's condition in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, prostatitis, hemorrhoids, rheumatism, epilepsy, and nervousness.
The polyphenols contained in the plant help in the treatment of venous insufficiency, tannins weaken the action of alkaloids and heavy metal salts, temporarily precipitating and binding them. For the complete removal of the formed toxic sediment, further medical intervention is required.
The infusions can also be used externally, using them for varicose ulcers and eczema, bruises and wounds. Tea made from loosestrife roots and flowers relieves headaches.
Lootwort broth: 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh grass needs to be poured with a glass of boiled water and put on a “steam bath” for 10-15 minutes. The mixture should be infused for 45 minutes and only after that the broth is filtered. A decoction is taken in a warm form, 1/4 cup (50 mg) 3 times a day.
Infusion: 2-3 tablespoons of dry crushed loosestrife grass are poured with a glass of boiling water, infused for four hours and filtered. The resulting infusion is consumed at 50 mg (1/4 cup) 3 times a day.
Growing loosestrife
Moist soils, rich in humus, are best suited for loosestrife. He also loves sunny places; in the shade, his flowering will not be so bright and abundant. Acidic substrates are exactly what is needed for plant growth, therefore, when planting a loosestrife in the soil, it would be nice to dilute it with high-moor peat - up to 10 buckets per 1 m 2. Such a mixture will not only provide the plants with nutrients, but also retain moisture well in the hot season.
To keep moisture even better in the soil, you can use mulching with bulk compost. It is also desirable to regularly feed the plant with full fertilizer. It should be borne in mind that the loosestrife loves aphids, therefore, preventive measures must be taken in time. For spraying, you can use an infusion of onion peels, tomato leaves, garlic, citrus peels or tobacco.
Bushes can be formed by slightly pinching the shoots that grow in an undesirable direction; in the fall or spring, all the stems are cut short. The loosestrife propagates by seeds, cuttings or by dividing the bush in early summer. Seeds for seedlings are sown in the ground (under the film) in March-April.
Loosestrife flowers
Merlin is a wild plant, but can be grown in flower beds, near a pond, and in a garden. Most often, for decorative purposes, willow and twig-shaped loosestrife are planted, differing from each other in the height of the stem and the color of the flowers. Quite often they are used in group plantings; they are valued for their long-term abundant flowering and unpretentiousness.
Derbenniks go well with such perennials as cuff, elecampane, meadowsweet, volzhanka, loosestrife.
Derbennik - "plakun-grass"
The people say about the loosestrife, that "in the morning he cries with transparent tears", for which he was nicknamed the weeping grass. But everything is explained simply! On the back of the leaves there are special stomata through which excess moisture is removed, because this plant is very fond of damp places.
For medicinal purposes, all parts of the loosestrife are used. The roots are carefully dug up, and the tops of the stems with flowers are cut with scissors and dried in the open air under an awning. It is used for colds, general weakness, diseases of the nervous system and gastrointestinal tract, bleeding, ulcers, indigestion, noise in the head, epilepsy. To do this, use decoctions, infusions and tea.
Derbennik "Pink pearl"
Bright mauve flowers in the form of dense spike-shaped inflorescences crown the even and straight stem of this perennial winter-hardy plant. Its height varies within 120 cm. Growing, the loosestrife forms large clumps, which will become a worthy decoration of any flower garden, reservoir, garden. This species is widespread throughout the territory of the Russian Federation. Without transplanting and dividing, a plant can grow in one place for many years. It hibernates without shelter, however, in the fall, the entire ground part is completely cut off.
It is often used in folk medicine as a hemostatic agent.
Loosestrife
This species differs from willow loosestrife in brighter flowers and compact size. The height of the stem together with the inflorescences is 120 centimeters. Inflorescences are less common, there is no pubescence, the stem is branched. The plant can hibernate without shelter, but in the absence of sufficient snow cover in a frosty winter, it can suffer. It is widespread in the temperate zone of Asia and Europe. Different varieties of this type of loosestrife have different shades of pink and crimson.
The loosestrife is unpretentious, grows well in the sun or in a slightly shaded place, can tolerate the drying of the substrate. It usually blooms in July-August. The plant propagates by seeds, vegetatively by dividing the bush and by basal cuttings in early summer.
For medicinal purposes, the root of the plant is most often used, but if the time for harvesting it has not yet come, then use the herb. Water broth is drunk for stomach pains, uterine bleeding, as a diuretic. Tincture of roots on vodka is used for colds, headaches, bruises, stomach pains. The broth is added to baths for bathing emaciated children, for childhood cramps or nervous diseases. The herb is also used as an astringent. Gruel from a fresh plant is good for bleeding wounds.
Contraindications to the use of loosestrife
Like every remedy, the loosestrife has its own contraindications. It should not be used in patients with increased blood clotting, it is contraindicated in atherosclerosis and a tendency to thrombosis. Neither tinctures, nor decoctions, nor fresh herb are categorically recommended for elderly people with atonic or senile constipation. With great care and only after consulting a doctor, you can use the plant for hypertensive patients, since the herb leads to vasoconstriction. As a result, the pressure can rise even more.
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).
