Butterbur
Useful properties and uses of butterbur
Botanical characteristics of butterbur
Butterbur is a herbaceous perennial plant with a thick horizontal rhizome. The root is located in the upper soil layer or on the surface of the soil. Large basal leaves have a rounded shape with unevenly serrated edges. The height of the reddish flower stems can reach 60 cm. Large leaves are planted on the stems. After flowering, they form interesting rosettes.
Dirty purple flowers have a strong aroma. Graceful flower baskets are presented with tassels. The fruit is expressed by a tufted achene. Butterbur flowers in April and early May, bears fruit in mid-May. This plant prefers to settle along river banks, in ravines and next to ponds. Butterbur grows in the central and southern regions of Russia.
Useful properties of butterbur
In the rhizomes of this plant, tannins, triterpene saponins, essential oil, alkaloids, resinous substances, flavonoids, inulin, petazol, mucus, tannins, a large amount of manganese and organic acids were found.
Butterbur leaves boast the same chemical composition. The inflorescences contain twice as much flavonoids than the roots. This plant has a unique diaphoretic, antispasmodic, expectorant, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and antihelminthic properties. In addition, its analgesic and wound healing effect should also be noted.
Butterbur use
For wound healing, it is recommended to apply crushed fresh leaves of this plant to them. Along with this, butterbur is an effective remedy for reducing and eliminating swollen areas on the body. To do this, you must use a medicinal infusion. To cook it, you need 2 tsp. raw materials and one glass of boiling water. The mixture should be infused for at least one hour, after which it is taken 50 grams 4 times a day.
The use of butterbur leaves in other preparations can cure anacid gastritis and diseases of the bladder. For rheumatic and gouty pains, dressings from the brewed leaves of this plant are prescribed.
Butterbur roots. To prepare the broth, take 2 tsp. dry roots and fill them with a glass of hot water. Then the mixture should be boiled for 15 minutes, after which it should be infused for one hour. It is necessary to take a decoction during acute respiratory infections and in case of peptic ulcers, 30 ml up to five times a day.
Butterbur medicinal
Such a herb from the Asteraceae family grows up to two meters in height, creating very dense thickets. It begins to bloom in April, delighting with small red flowers that are collected in baskets. The large lower leaves of butterbur can be up to 30 cm in length. They are used for medicinal purposes.
Leaves should be harvested in August, when rusty spots appear. A decoction of the leaves is used for colds, coughs, inflammations, bruises and wounds, as well as for ulcers and boils. This diaphoretic, expectorant, and pain reliever is also prescribed to kill parasites.
Hybrid butterbur
Hybrid butterbur is a common plant that is often found at the bottom of ravines and on river banks. The strong flowering stem is decorated with a thick cover of greenish-beetroot leaves. A rather dense inflorescence after a certain period of time stretches into an interesting long brush. Hybrid butterbur is distinguished by dark pink flowers and rounded leaves with a heart-shaped shape.
Butterbur wide
Butterbur wide is a perennial that has a branched rhizome. The maximum height of the thickets of this plant can reach one and a half meters. Dense, spike-shaped inflorescences appear in early spring, after the snow melts. In late spring, powerful large leaves develop on fairly long petioles. It should be noted that they die off in the fall at the first frost.
Butterbur is widespread in Sakhalin and the Kuriles, as well as in Japan. This plant prefers valley floodplain forests, mountain depressions. Butterbur often settles along the banks of rivers and small streams. From the flowers of this unique plant, you can prepare an excellent remedy for improving digestion.
Japanese butterbur
Delightful Japanese butterbur is a chic ornamental plant that can grow up to 45 cm in height. This butterbur is often used as a groundcover to suppress weed growth. This herb has pale yellow flowers that are collected in flawless globular inflorescences. They appear in late April, that is, several months earlier than large plate-shaped leaves.
Butterbur false
False butterbur is a perennial plant with a long creeping rhizome. The fluffy stem grows up to 20 cm in height. It is covered with lanceolate scaly leaves. Numerous baskets are expressed in a pointed inflorescence. With fruits, they are larger. Cylindrical achenes, about 2 mm in size, have a slightly ribbed shape. The flyburns of the false butterbur are silvery.
The distribution area of this plant is represented by Siberia, Europe, Central Asia. Butterbur prefers to settle on the sandy shores of lakes and rivers, often forming continuous dense thickets.
Butterbur cold
Cold Butterbur is a perennial plant with basal triangular leaves and a long creeping root. The fluffy stem of cold butterbur reaches a height of 40 cm, with fruits it can grow up to 70 cm. Stem scale-like ovoid leaves at the end have an unusual rudimentary plate. The basket of this type of butterbur reaches 13 mm in length, while its width is 5 mm.
The presented plant can be found in Northern Eurasia. The cold butterbur selects sedge and peat bogs, stream banks, moss tundra and forest hollows.
Butterbur contraindications
Such a poisonous plant should be used with undoubted caution, observing the exact dosage. In addition, butterbur is contraindicated in pregnancy at any time.
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).
