Aspen - Useful Properties And Use Of Aspen In Traditional Medicine

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

Aspen

Growing, useful properties and recipes for the use of aspen

Botanical characteristics of aspen

Aspen is a dioecious root-sucking tree that can grow up to 30 meters in height. The bark of the plant is smooth, gray in color, but it can also be green in color. Aspen leaves are round or rhombic, glabrous, with rounded teeth at the edges. The leaves are painted in two colors: above - green, below - a bluish hue. The leaves have flattened petioles, thanks to which they move.

The plant has small dicotyledonous flowers, which are collected in earring inflorescences. Female flowers have a pistil with an upper ovary and 2 purple stigmas, male flowers consist of 5, 6, 7 or 8 stamens and red anthers. Aspen blooms until the leaves bloom (April). Fruits ripen immediately after flowering (May-June). Aspen fruits are capsules, consisting of two valves. Inside the fruit, fluffy seeds are abundant. The seeds are very light and small. The root system of the plant is deep in the soil, so it is not afraid of fires.

Aspen is common in forests, forest-steppe zones, on the banks of a reservoir, near swamps and ravines. It grows all over Russia, Mongolia, Crimea, China, Europe and Kazakhstan.

Useful properties of aspen

Aspen bark contains many useful substances, such as aromatic and fatty acids, tannins, carbohydrates and phenol glycosides. The buds of the plant contain essential oils, resins, flavones and mineral salts. Fresh aspen leaves are rich in vitamin C, carotene and various enzymes.

Aspen has a whole range of substances useful to humans. Most often, the plant is used as a diaphoretic and anti-inflammatory agent. Aspen has antipyretic, diuretic and astringent properties.

A tincture is prepared from aspen, which is used for gout, rheumatism, problems with urination and inflammation of the bladder.

Aspen application

Aspen has been widely and for a long time used in folk medicine as an effective and versatile medicine. The preparations are prepared from the buds, leaves and bark of the plant. Medicines made from aspen have analgesic properties. Aspen decoction is used to treat gastritis, diarrhea and as a remedy that increases appetite and improves the digestive tract.

Tincture from the buds of the plant helps with cystitis, hemorrhoids and dysentery. An ointment for external use is prepared from the kidneys, which is used for bruises, ulcers and wounds. Aspen leaves are used as a poultice to help treat rheumatism, hemorrhoids and gout.

Alcoholic tincture of aspen bark for prostate hypertrophy. The bark must be removed in early spring from thin branches. To prepare this tincture, take 1 tablespoon of aspen bark and grind it into powder. Next, this powder is poured into 100 ml of vodka and everything is left to infuse for 14 days. Take such a tincture before meals, 1 teaspoon (30-40 drops) three times a day. The same tincture can be prepared from plant buds.

A decoction of the bark with a deterioration in appetite and gastritis. It is very easy and quick to prepare. We take 5 tablespoons of the bark of the plant, which we fill with a glass of boiling water. Now we put the composition on fire for 30 minutes. You need to take the broth in 3 doses a day before meals.

Aspen bark with pulmonary tuberculosis. Take 1 tablespoon of the bark of a young plant and pour 500 ml of boiling water over it. Pour everything into a thermos and leave to infuse for 12 hours. Now we divide the finished infusion into two parts and drink one part in small sips in the morning, and the second before bedtime.

Ointment for gout, burns and ulcers. We take 10 grams of plant buds and grind to a powdery state. Add 40 grams of petroleum jelly (or butter) to this mass. We mix everything thoroughly and use a means to lubricate festering wounds, ulcers and rubbing sore spots with rheumatism and gout.

Aspen for eczema. It is necessary to take aspen firewood and burn them, and the ash obtained from them, combine with butter and use as a remedy for eczema.

Means for raising the appetite. Take 1 tablespoon of aspen bark and fill it with two glasses of water. We put the composition on fire for a quarter of an hour, then remove and leave to infuse for 3 hours, wrapping the container with the infusion with a towel. Take this remedy for coughs and colds.

Contraindications to the use of aspen

To date, contraindications to the use of this medicinal plant are not known. But still, do not forget about the individual intolerance of aspen preparations.

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).