Starworm
Useful properties and use of medium starwort
Botanical characteristics of starwort
Starfish (the second widely known name is "wood lice") is a perennial, less often an annual plant. It belongs to the genus of flowering from the carnation family.
Creeping shoots are characteristic of stellate, however, there are species without them. The stems of the grass are bare, sometimes hairy, tetrahedral. Their length ranges from 10 to 30 cm. In the dominant majority of species, the leaves are sessile, linear-lanceolate or ovoid.
Flowers are regular, bisexual, small, up to about 20 mm in diameter. Depending on the type, there are 4–5 sepals of a lanceolate or lanceolate-ovoid form. Bracts are leafy or membranous. The petals are white.
The ovary of the starlet is unilocular. The fruit is a polyspermous cylindrical box. Seeds are round, lumpy.
The plant blooms from late spring to autumn.
Starfish is widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In Russia, it can be found everywhere as an annoyingly growing weed.
Useful properties of starwort
Despite the fact that stellate is a generally recognized weed that all farmers, gardeners and flower growers are trying to fight, it has benefits for humans.
In the aerial part of the plant, the following beneficial substances were identified: carotene, sinapic acid, essential oil (in small quantities). The grass (fresh) contains vitamins C and E. In the ashes of starwort, a large amount of chlorine and potassium salts are found.
Thanks to this composition, the aerial part of the starfish is effectively used by traditional healers for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, rheumatism, liver, internal bleeding, gout, pulmonary diseases, as well as for normalizing the cardiac activity of the body, for strengthening the nervous system and treating the thyroid gland.
Application of star gear
Stellate is not yet fully studied medicinal plant. However, it is widely used in homeopathy and in traditional medicine.
In homeopathy, an essence is prepared on the basis of fresh stellate, and in folk medicine - infusions and decoctions for the treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, thyroid gland, kidneys, edema, diarrhea, lungs, rheumatism, as well as rashes of a different nature.
Medicines recipes
Recipe number 1. 1 tablespoon of fresh raw materials must be poured into a container and pour 1 glass of boiling water. The composition should be infused for four hours, and then carefully filtered. Dosing regimen: 1/4 cup 4 times a day before meals.
This infusion is intended for the treatment of purulent wounds, ulcers, and is also useful for joint pain for external use (bath). It is recommended to apply compresses from the infusion to tumors.
Hot compresses are prescribed for the treatment of diseased joints, with sciatica, rheumatism, polyarthritis, and also with sprains.
Recipe No. 2. Measure 1 tablespoon of the herb and pour it into a container, pour 200 ml of boiling water over the raw material and leave for 1 hour, then strain. Dosing regimen: 50 ml 4 times a day.
The infusion is prescribed as an antiseptic for bacterial diseases of the kidneys, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity.
Recipe number 3. To prepare the broth, measure 4 tablespoons of raw materials, pour it with 1 liter of water and boil for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 2 hours, then strain. The tool is prescribed as a lotion in the treatment of skin diseases.
Recipe number 4. To prepare the tincture, you need to measure out 1 tablespoon of raw materials, pour into a container and add 300 ml of vodka. The composition should be insisted for 2 weeks. Don't forget to strain it. Reception scheme: 20 drops 1 time per day. Tincture is prescribed for pain in the stomach and intestines.
Fresh stellate juice is used as an effective wound-healing agent. Reception scheme: 1 teaspoon before meals 3 times a day (honey may be added)
For diseases of the thyroid gland and liver, fresh stellate juice is also prescribed, which is recommended to be taken for 10-15 days according to a similar scheme: 1 teaspoon 20-30 minutes before meals 3 times a day.
Medium starfish
The average stellate is a one-sometimes biennial herb, the height of which is about 30 cm. The stem of the plant is very thin and, as a rule, lying or ascending. It is branched, evenly and sparsely leafy. The shape of the leaves is ovoid, the ends are pointed. The upper leaves are sessile, the lower ones are located on the petioles.
The flowers are small in size, they are terminal or axillary. Petals are white, bipartite, on long pedicels. A characteristic feature is the buds that do not die off in winter. The fruit of the plant is an oblong box with kidney-shaped or round seeds.
The flowering of the middle starlet occurs from May to September, and the ripening of the fruits - from July to October.
The herb of the plant is used as a healing raw material. Infusions and decoctions, prepared on its basis, have an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, wound healing, tonic, stimulating and choleretic effect. They help to establish metabolic processes in the body, have a positive effect on the central nervous system, and stimulate cardiac activity.
The plant acts in different directions. The preparations prepared on its basis act as an effective choleretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, wound-healing, hemostatic and tonic agent. Medium ovule stimulates the heart, metabolism, and has a beneficial effect on the central nervous system.
This type of plant is recommended by traditional healers for the treatment of diseases of the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, and is also prescribed as an effective laxative and antihistamine.
With the help of herbal infusions in folk medicine, they fight radiculitis, rheumatism, and sprains. It is an effective topical treatment for open wounds, scrofula, skin rashes, ulcers and eye inflammations.
Internally, tincture of stellate herb is also taken for the treatment of hemorrhoids, dry cough, hepatitis, pulmonary tuberculosis.
Grass juice is prescribed for weight loss and general weakness as a tonic, as well as for vitamin deficiency, hepatitis, cholecystitis.
Recipes for making tinctures and decoctions
Recipe number 1. You need to take 1 tablespoon of raw starwort medium and pour a glass of boiling water. The mixture should be infused for 4 hours, then strain. Reception scheme: 4 times a day (you can 3), 50 grams. It is recommended to take the remedy for arthritis.
Recipe number 2. You will need to take 500 g of raw materials, pour into a container and pour boiling water (1 liter) with boiling water. Next, you need to put the container in a water bath for 10 minutes, then strain. The broth is intended for external use, it is added to the bath. The duration of the bath is no more than 20 minutes.
Oak starwort
Oak starwort (another name - "owl potion") is a perennial herb, the height of which reaches 60 cm. The plant stem is lodging, ascending, it is covered with glandular hairs on top. The leaves of the oak woody star are thin, ovoid, sessile. Flowers are located on long pedicels, in the apical and axillary forks. The color of the petals is white. The fruit of the plant is a capsule.
Flowering occurs from May to mid-July. A characteristic feature of the oakgrass starlet is its ability to change, it has several subspecies. This species grows in forests, chooses humid habitats.
Hard-leaved stellate
Stiff-leaved stellate is a perennial herb, the height of which reaches 10–40 cm. It has a thin, creeping and branched rhizome. The stem of the plant is tetrahedral, weak, brittle, ascending or erect. Non-fruiting stems are shorter and more fragile.
Leaves are sessile, opposite, linear or linear-lanceolate. The leaves are pointed along the edge. They are about 70 mm long and about 7 mm wide. Unlike stems, stellate leaves are very strong.
The flowers are small, they reach 3 cm in diameter, are located on long pedicels, bipartite, collected in dichasia. The color of the petals is white. Sepals are ovate-pointed, sharp at the edges. Corolla large: it is almost twice the length of the calyx. Peduncles are long and thin enough.
The flowering of the plant begins in April and lasts until June. It bears fruit from June to July.
This species actively grows in coniferous, deciduous and coniferous-deciduous forests, preferring fertile soil, and is found on forest edges and among shrubs. Its habitats are the European part of Russia, Siberia (western part), Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Iran and northern Africa.
Stiffened stellate is considered a melliferous and fodder plant. There is speculation that the plant can cause poisoning in horses.
Forest starfish
Forest starfish (other names - "yaskirka", "chaveda") is a perennial herb, the height of which reaches 60 cm. The stem of the plant, as a rule, is recumbent, sometimes rising. It is smooth and fluffy only at the top.
The lower leaves are heart-shaped, pointed, the upper leaves are oblong-ovoid, sessile. The flowers are white, single at the corners of the branches of the stem, at the ends of the branches - half-umbels. The pedicels are horizontal. The flowers of the starlet have five sepals, five bipartite petals, ten stamens and three columns.
The fruit of the plant is an oblong or spherical box. This species blooms from May to August.
This type of starfish is widespread in the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Arctic and the Caucasus. The plant prefers damp shady forests, places near forest streams and bushes.
Forest starfish is a medicinal plant. Infusions prepared on its basis are used to treat fungal skin diseases. In Mexico, it is believed that the use of the plant gives a positive trend in the treatment of tumors.
It is worth remembering that the plant is poisonous.
Bunge starworm
Bunge stellate is a perennial herb, whose height ranges from 20 to 50 cm. This species has a thin, creeping rhizome.
The stems of the plant are simple, ascending or branched, they are very weak and fragile, covered with glandular hairs.
The length of the lower leaves is from three to eight cm, the width is from two to four cm, they are ovoid or ovoid-oblong in shape. The upper leaves are much smaller, they are smooth, sessile.
Flowers are found in axillary and terminal dichasia. Pedicels are pubescent, their length is 1–5 cm. Sepals are oblong, with blunt tips and a narrow border, their length is small, only 4–6 mm. The petals are longer than the sepals.
The fruit of the plant is an egg-shaped capsule, its dimensions are almost identical to the calyx.
Bunge starlet blooms from May to August. The plant is used in folk medicine to treat leg edema, dermatomycosis. For the preparation of broths, the aboveground part of the plant is harvested.
Contraindications to the use of starfish
Starfish should be used with extreme caution by people prone to allergic reactions. Discontinue use in case of individual intolerance to the herb.
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).
