Initial Cap Is A Beautiful Medicinal Plant

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Drop cap properties

More and more plants are being resettled by people from fields and forests closer to themselves, to garden plots. Some, due to decorative qualities, others, due to medicinal properties.

But the medicinal letter (Betonica officinalis) fell in love with gardeners for its beauty and healing properties. The initial letter is beautiful not only at the time of flowering - from July to September with its pink-purple flowers in spike-shaped inflorescences on peduncles 1 meter high.

From spring to autumn, it is decorated with large oblong-ovate leaves with lace edges. They are so remarkable that botanists call some plants with similar leaves drop-shaped.

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If you rub the leaf of the letter with your fingers, you will feel a strong peculiar smell. Essential oils, tannins, which are especially abundant (up to 15%), stachydrin, betonin, betonycin, turicin, choline, flavonoids, resins, vitamins C and K make themselves felt. Thanks to them, the letter has exceptional healing power, which was known still the ancient doctors of Greece and Ancient Rome. Strabo (809-849) in the well-known poem of the early Middle Ages "On the culture of gardens", describing at length about the use of the initial letter, in conclusion writes: "… And immediately you will start to wonder at its properties." Since ancient times, the properties of the letter have been known in Russia.

In different provinces, it was called differently: Field sage (Vyatka), God's hands (Mogilev), Polevoy canuper (Kharkov), Bukovina (Tverskaya), Materinka (Poltava), Lyubka (Astrakhan), Zhabrey (Nizhegorodskaya). In the Herbal Dictionary of the 19th century, we find about the initial letter: “The leaves in the broth taste quite pleasant and in some places they replace Chinese tea”. Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, in his "Science to Win", instructed the soldiers to have a drop cap in their first aid kit.

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Using a drop cap

The above-ground part is harvested from the drop cap at the time of flowering, dried under awnings until the stems are brittle. Raw materials are stored in cardboard packaging for two years. Apply in the form of an infusion (take 1 tablespoon of herbs in 2 cups of boiling water and insist for two hours), half a glass four times a day half an hour before meals. The infusion can be sweetened with honey for taste.

In folk medicine, the infusion of the drop cap is used for asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of the lungs and bronchi, diseases of the liver, kidneys, bladder, pain in the stomach and intestines, indigestion and recurrent constipation, with gastritis with high acidity, arthritis and gout, with nervous exhaustion, increased nervous excitability, migraine, in the treatment of atherosclerosis, to enhance metabolism.

The medicinal letter is included in the pharmacopoeia of Germany, France, Bulgaria and other countries, and is also used in Tibetan medicine. Unfortunately, she is not recognized by our official medicine, so her herb cannot be bought at the pharmacy. And not in every area you can find it in nature. But there is nothing easier than growing this natural, unpretentious winter-hardy plant in your garden.

Growing a drop cap

The drop cap is easily propagated by both spring and winter sowing of seeds. Seeds are sown in grooves 1-1.5 cm deep. When sown in spring, seeds germinate longer - about 2-3 weeks. Care must be taken to maintain soil moisture at all times. For example, sprinkle with hay, cover with damp burlap or lutrasil, shade with spruce branches and other materials. In the first year of life, the plants grow a rosette of leaves about 15 cm high. In September or early spring, plants can be planted in a permanent place open to the sun after 25-30 cm. They tolerate transplantation well.

Plants bloom from the second year. In the future, they can be easily propagated by dividing the bushes. In one place, the letter can grow for a long time without a transplant. She feels good on ordinary garden soil. She does not need shelter for the winter.

The initial letter is an excellent honey plant. Bees attracted by her to the site at the same time pollinate the flowers of cucumbers, strawberries and other plants, thereby significantly increasing their yield.

Unfortunately, the seeds of the drop cap are not available for sale in the Semena stores. To everyone who wishes to grow this beautiful and medicinal plant on their site, I will gladly send the seeds of the drop cap. They, as well as planting material for maral root, rhodiola, wild garlic, kandyk, God's tree, golden currant, kalufer and more than 200 other rare medicinal, spicy plants, vegetables, flowers and shrubs can be ordered from the catalog. Send an envelope with your address - in it you will receive the catalog for free. The catalog can also be viewed on the website www.sem-ot-anis.narod.ru or received by e-mail - send a request to E-mail: [email protected]. My mailing address: 634024, Tomsk, st. 5th Army, 29, apt. 33, mob. t. 8913 851 81 03 - Anisimov Gennady Pavlovich.