Medicinal Watercress - Useful Properties, Growing Watercress. Recipes For Using Watercress

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

Medicinal ashes

Useful properties and recipes for the use of medicinal watercress

Botanical characteristics of watercress

Zherukha officinalis is a perennial plant with a hollow, half-lying stem at the base. The plant has long roots and a strong root system. Straight and dissected leaves are opposite each other. small white flowers are collected in cluster inflorescences. The fruit of the watercress is a long pod with many seeds inside. The beautiful flowering of this medicinal plant can be observed throughout the summer period. Zherukha is found in Europe, Crimea, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Since the plant is very fond of moisture, it grows on the banks of rivers and reservoirs, in swamps and in stagnant waters.

Growing watercress

The watercress is grown on the banks of such reservoirs that do not freeze, with a water temperature of 10–12 ° C. To plant watercress, you need to make a ditch in advance with a depth of 50 cm. Compost or humus is poured at the bottom of the ditch. At the end of summer, cooked cuttings should be planted in an inclined position in a dug ditch. Then the ditch with the handle is poured with water so that the tops of the shoots peep out above the water surface. As it takes root, you need to add water to the ditch. Before the onset of winter time, it is necessary to roll, but slightly, the watercress plants with the help of a special skating rink (this is necessary so that the plants spend the winter completely in the water).

The watercress is grown not only with cuttings, but also with seedlings. For this, seeds are sown in a prepared greenhouse in July. During the period of seed germination, it is necessary to regularly water the soil, not forgetting to remove the emerging weeds. Planting seedlings is no different from planting cuttings.

Useful properties and use of watercress

The medicinal watercress contains many useful substances, namely: iron, essential oil, calcium, iodine, vitamin E and phosphorus. Zherukha has a diuretic, antiscorbutic and antiseptic effect, and this plant also cleans the blood of toxins.

Due to the huge variety of substances contained in watercress, it is used for various skin diseases. Zherukha helps to cure severe bronchitis, which is accompanied by the production of phlegm with pus.

Zherukha medicinal is used in the treatment of acute and chronic nephritis, anemia and scurvy. And the ointment, made from fresh watercress juice and butter, removes warts, wines and heals burns. To strengthen the gums, watercress juice helps, which need to brush their teeth 3 times every day.

General weakness can also be removed with the help of a drug from watercress. Constipation is a very common problem for children and adults, which can also be helped to get rid of watercress.

Recipes for using watercress

Zherukha is used in the form of ointments, decoctions, infusions, and even fresh plant juice is a very good remedy.

Ointment for burns. We take four tablespoons of fresh watercress juice and mix it with 100 grams of butter. The oil and juice must be mixed very thoroughly to get a beautiful homogeneous mass-ointment. This ointment is applied to burns several times a day.

Watercress broth. Take 20 grams of fresh watercress herb and pour 500 ml of boiling water over them, put on fire for 5 minutes, then strain and cool. Take a ready-made broth before meals, 200 ml 3 times a day. Indications for the use of this broth are the following diseases: anemia, cancer, urolithiasis, diabetes mellitus and thyroid diseases.

Infusion of watercress leaves. Cooking this infusion is easy. To do this, take 30 grams of leaves and pour 1 liter of boiling water. Leave it to brew for 3 hours, then filter it. This infusion is taken for skin diseases, 200 ml twice a day.

Fresh watercress juice. Taking a fresh watercress, juice is squeezed out of it. It is necessary to take juice from watercress in case of urolithiasis, jaundice, cholelithiasis and as a laxative. A single dose of drinking watercress juice is 1 teaspoon. You cannot take juice more than three times a day.

Contraindications to the use of watercress

Fresh watercress juice should only be used in the correct doses. With increased doses of drugs from this plant, signs of irritation of the mucous membrane of the kidneys and stomach may appear. Unfortunately, at the moment, very few traditional medicines are prepared from this plant, because the watercress is very difficult to find. Therefore, no side effects and contraindications have been identified.

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).