Crowdberry (Empetrum Nigrum) For The Treatment Of Kidney Disease, Anthrax And Fatigue
Crowdberry (Empetrum Nigrum) For The Treatment Of Kidney Disease, Anthrax And Fatigue

Video: Crowdberry (Empetrum Nigrum) For The Treatment Of Kidney Disease, Anthrax And Fatigue

Video: Crowdberry (Empetrum Nigrum) For The Treatment Of Kidney Disease, Anthrax And Fatigue
Video: crowberry - Empetrum nigrum. Identification and characteristics. 2024, April
Anonim

Probably, many of you, being in the sphagnum bogs, paid attention to a creeping plant with black berries, a neighbor of cranberries and blueberries - crowberry. Most readers also know that the fruits of this bog dweller are excellent thirst quenchers.

But it turns out that crowberry has a lot of other useful properties. This plant is actively used in medicine, it can also be used in cooking, and from the fruits of the crowberry they get a paint for dyeing wool red.

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Crowberry (shiksha, crowberry, dear grass, blue grass, brush), whose Latin name is Empetrum, belongs to the family Empetraceae, a related family of heathers. The number of species within this genus varies in different sources. Some authors believe that this genus contains only one polymorphic species, others name up to 16 species.

Typically, the literature mentions the black crowberry Empetrum nigrum, the bisexual crowberry Empetrum hermaphroditicum (some botanists consider this species a subspecies of the previous one), and the Siberian crowberry Empetrum sibiricum.

Shiksha is an evergreen, creeping shrub, 5-20 cm high. Its shoots can be more than 1 meter long. Crowberry has leathery, oblong leaves that persist on the plant for 3-5 years. Crowberry roots grow over time with mushroom mycelium. Flowering occurs in May - June, it blooms with small pinkish or purple flowers. The fruit is a globular drupe about 5 mm in diameter. Ripening, the berries remain on the plant throughout the winter of the next year.

Shiksha is widespread almost throughout the CIS (except for Kazakhstan and Central Asia). It grows in sphagnum bogs, in tundra, forest-tundra, pine and deciduous forests, in the alpine belt of mountains, alpine loaches, subalpine meadows.

Why is this little berry so useful? It is known that crowberry contains carotene, vitamin C, acetic and benzoic acids, resins, manganese, tannins and dyes, saponins, flavonoids, and sugars.

The list of diseases for which shiksha is used is quite large. In folk medicine, the aerial part of the crowberry is used in the form of decoctions and infusions as a sedative for migraines, scurvy, epilepsy, insomnia, and hypertension. It is believed that the fruits improve metabolism, relieve fatigue, headache. In the treatment of diseases of the peripheral nervous system, paralysis, baths with shiksha are used.

In Tibetan medicine, crowberry is used to treat kidney disease, anthrax, and fatigue.

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Shiksha preparations have anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects, increase the resistance of tissues to damaging influences, and increase the rate of recovery of their functions.

It has been experimentally found that the plant is capable of preventing the development of epileptic seizures, in addition, it has a protective effect against damage to the central nervous system.

In the study of Siberian shiksha, it was also confirmed that it affects the nerve centers and has an anticonvulsant effect.

In addition to its various medicinal properties, this berry has found application in cooking. And although the taste of its berries (slightly sour, almost insipid) will not be appreciated by everyone, lovers of crowberry eat berries in soaked and fresh form, with yogurt and milk. In addition, they make jam, preserves, soft drinks. It can be used as a seasoning for meat and fish dishes, and hermetically sealed berries in glass containers do not ferment due to the content of benzoic acid.

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