Flowers of chicory in folk medicine. What are the benefits of chicory flowers and how to use them?

The scientific name of chicory is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, the Greek philosophers who named this plant Kichorion.

Latin name intybus from Greektranslated as "incised" (because of the shape of the sheet), and from Latin - as "tube" (due to a hollow stem). The name wegewarte (German) - "plantain", "watchman roads" - emphasizes that this plant can be found near roads, along the fields. At the same time, the Ukrainians call it the wooden strength "petriv batig". In this article we will find out what kind of plant it is, and how to use the flowers of chicory.

Description

This herbaceous perennial plant familyComposite gray-green color with a multi-headed thickened spindle-shaped root, reaching a length of 1.5 m. Moreover, all parts of this plant contain milky juice.

Stalk erect, single, up to 150 cm high, covered with sparse hairs, branchy.

The leaves are regular, assembled into a rosette, radical,Pinnately cut, pubescent on the lower side, narrowed to the base in the petiole, while the cauline leaves - sharp-toothed, regular, sessile; the upper ones are solid, lanceolate.

Tsikoriya flowers are blue, sometimes white or pink, reed, collected in a variety of solitary and sitting on a few pieces on small peduncles baskets.

Fruit is a seed of a wrong-wedge shape,Prismatic, with a small tuft of films. One plant can produce about 25,000 seeds, which retain their germination capacity not more than 7 years. Chicory blooms all summer, fruits ripen in early autumn.

Reproduction

Propagates vegetatively from the root and seeds. It is distributed practically throughout the territory of Russia, excluding the northern regions.

Areas of growth

Chicory grows on loamy and sandy loamy freshand dry soils along the precipitous coasts of rivers, as well as along the roadsides and slopes of ravines. It transfers the temporary lack of moisture and significant soil compaction.

Flowers of chicory since ancient times are consideredmedicinal. Avicenna, a famous doctor of the Middle Ages, widely used plant drugs for the treatment of a number of diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and inflammation of the eyes. He recommended externally applying chicory in the form of a bandage with gout on sick joints. The plant was familiar to ancient Romans and Greeks.

The first plantations of chicory in Russia were laid in 1880 in the vicinity of Yaroslavl.

Chemical composition

The roots of the plant contain lactucine, choline, pectin,lactukopicrin, intibin, which gives the leaves and roots a bitter taste, glycosides, cichorian, inulin, tannins, silicic acid, taraxosterol, sugars, ascorbic acid, thiamine.

Chicory flowers contain crystalline glycoside, young leaves - carotene, seeds - fatty oil. Also in the plant are found inulin, ascorbic acid, potassium salts.

Cultivation and cultivation

Propagate chicory seeds and from the root. After harvesting the plants that were on the selected site earlier, perform basic plowing and peeling to a depth of about 30 centimeters. The soil is harvested in spring and buried before sowing. In the spring they sow, shoots appear after ten days. Care of them consists in weeding weeds and cultivating the rows.

Collection, drying and harvesting

As already mentioned above, for medicinal purposesactively used chicory. Flowers and leaves of the plant are harvested in autumn, after the rosette of the basal leaves begins to fade. Roots dig up, gently shake off the clinging earth, cut off the above-ground parts with knives, wash very quickly in flowing cool water, remove rotten damaged parts and spread out for wilting in the shade. Thick roots need to be cut along, while long ones - a few pieces across. Several developed specimens are left on the thickets for the resumption of stocks of this raw material. Dry in dryers or ovens at temperatures up to 60 ° C. The raw smell is absent, the taste is bitter.

Healing properties

So, how useful are the flowers of chicory? They have astringent, sedative, diuretic, choleretic, anthelminthic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory properties, improve digestion, regulate metabolism, improve cardiac activity, reduce blood sugar levels.

Use in medicine

The use of chicory flowers has long been known to healers. Decoction is consumed internally in diseases of the liver, gall bladder, kidneys, to increase appetite, improve digestion, dyspepsia, gastritis, enlarged spleen, constipation, diabetes, helminthic invasion, anemia, asthenia, itchy dermatoses (neurodermatitis, eczema, pruritus, skin itching, seboroid dermatitis, urticaria), hysteria, vitiligo, psoriasis, furunculosis, alopecia, vulgar acne, and also as a diuretic, sedative, choleretic agent and for the regulation of all metabolic disorders.

Chicory flowers in folk medicine is involvedin the form of a decoction, used externally in the form of lotions, baths, dressings, used for gout, pruritic dermatoses. In Bulgarian medicine - in the form of gruel for the treatment of furunculosis.

Also, infusion is used as an improvingdigestion, stimulating appetite, choleretic, diuretic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and astringent, with gastroenteritis, gastritis, gallstone disease, hepatitis, nephritis, diabetes mellitus, hysteria, neurasthenia. In the form of washing with ulcers, wounds - decoction, infusion; with eczema, boils - in the form of lotions; with inflammation of the glands, pain in the abdomen - in the form of compresses.

With anemia - juice as a tonic work.heart and nervous system soothing; for the treatment of skin rashes, boils, acne, eczema and pustular skin diseases, purulent wounds, as well as diathesis used externally.

Chicory flowers in the form of decoction and infusion can also be used for hysteria, neurasthenia. As a choleretic agent is relevant plant juice.

Medicinal products

Chicory is not used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations. Popular drink from this plant - it is sold along with the usual food.

Grass decoction

For this you need to brew one spoonful of choppedfresh or dry grass with a glass of boiling water, heat on low heat for 10 minutes, 15 minutes. insist, then strain. The broth is used externally for washing, lotions, baths for the treatment of acne, to eliminate skin rashes, purulent wounds, boils, eczema, pustular diseases, diathesis.

Tincture

In order to get the tincture, you need 1 literboiling water brew 40 grams of a plant, in a warm place to insist for three hours, drain. Drink half a cup three times a day to remove bile with cirrhosis of the liver, jaundice, to cleanse the spleen and liver, with clogged stomach, spleen tumors, pain in the digestive tract. So, how many drops to drink chicory tincture? Every day for several days in the evening and before breakfast, one glass each.

Decoction of the root

Brew a spoonful of root with a glass of boiling water, heat on low heat for 20 minutes, then strain. To use on the table spoon several times a day or as tea without a dosage.

Poultice

With severe inflammation or pain in the stomachchicory leaves make poultices. First, they are poured with hot water, then wrapped in a clean cloth and applied to the sore spots every day twice.

Use of plants in other areas

The roasted roots of the plant are coffee substitutes. So, in Latvia they are added to the usual for us coffee, they also prepare a drink from it with apple juice, honey and lemon.

Tea made from chicory flowers is also very popular. They are often flavored fruit and berry drinks. The roots can serve as a source of fructose, inulin, used for the manufacture of alcohol (the yield of alcohol from chicory is greater than that of potatoes, and its quality is better).

The plant is valued especially in the diet. Actively used in the manufacture of cakes and sweets in the food industry. Fresh leaves can be eaten, bred lettuce varieties contain a large amount of ascorbic acid. At the same time salads are prepared from young stems, leaves and shoots. Young shoots are fried, boiled, baked. In Belgium, the plant is baked in wine with apples and cheese.

Vitluff (leaf chicory) is grown in Europe. It is added to the side dishes to steam, fried, baked and stewed fish, in salads, in raw form - in the soup.

During rains and in wet weather, flowers emit a huge amount of nectar of blue shade. From 1 hectare of a plant receive up to 100 kilograms of honey.

Side Effects of Chicory and Toxicology

Chicory roots are non-toxic and non-toxic.show obvious side effects. But with prolonged use, they can enhance the secretion of bile and gastric juice. Therefore, people with high acidity of gastric juice funds based on chicory should be used as carefully as possible.

Roasted plant roots are pronounced.choleretic action. They can significantly increase diuresis. Therefore, prolonged use of coffee from chicory is undesirable for people with diseases of the gallbladder and liver.