Blue Cornflower - Cultivation And Use For Medicinal Purposes

Meeting these amazing flowers is one of the most vivid childhood memories. July, a bottomless blue sky, ripening rye rustling under a light breeze, and on the edge of the field stand alone or in groups of blue cornflowers. They seem to specifically show their beauty, exposing it to the public.

And they suffer, of course, from this, because soon everyone has a bright bouquet in their hands, and the girls decorate their hair with natural wreaths-crowns.

And although the peasants consider cornflowers to be weeds that pollute the crops, and after threshing the grain they add their seeds to the general harvest, they cannot help but appreciate the beauty of this plant.

And in a rare hut you will not see a bouquet of cornflowers standing in a glass jar during flowering. And the people also appreciate plants for their medicinal properties.

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Agrotechnics cornflower

Blue cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) is an annual plant belonging to the Astrov family. This flower, beloved by Russians, has received many other names in different localities - hair, seven-flowered, rye patchwork, cyanosis and others. It is not by chance that the blue cornflower was named rye patchwork. It was in the crops of rye that one could most often see it blooming.

And now it is quite possible to grow this plant in flower arrangements in flower beds - cornflower looks especially good in the vicinity of calendula, poppy, space. They start to bloom at about the same time, and the combination of their colors is very effective. Cornflowers are often grown in single compositions in small containers that decorate residential quarters, and even in boxes on balconies.

This plant is sown with seeds in May. Cornflower is unpretentious, but it is better to develop and bloom on fertile, light soil with neutral acidity. Before blooming the buds, it is advisable to feed the plants so that the flowering is more effective and prolonged.

If you decide to grow cornflowers with seedlings, then you need to remember that this plant has a long taproot, and therefore does not tolerate transplanting well. In this case, it is advisable to grow cornflowers in peat pots with nutritious soil, and then immediately plant them together with the pots in balcony boxes or on flower beds.

The flowers of the cornflower are blue or blue, rarely white. They are collected in single baskets, the marginal flowers are lighter in color, funnel-shaped. They are asexual - they do not have stamens and pistils. Their main task is to attract insects to more modest outwardly flowers in the middle of the basket - they are purple in color, with a pistil and five stamens.

The healing properties of blue cornflower

In folk medicine, blue cornflower flowers have long been used for medicinal purposes. They are used in herbal collections and in official medicine. It is the edge, funnel-shaped flowers that are collected as a medicinal raw material. Scientific studies have shown that they contain glycosides, a dye - cyanine and other substances.

Attention! The presence of cyanine in cornflower flowers makes this plant poisonous. Therefore, you need to strictly adhere to the dosage when using it for medicinal purposes

For what medicinal purposes are harvested cornflower raw materials (dried edge flowers) used? Preparations from it and with it have a choleretic, diuretic, mild laxative, antipyretic, diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-febrile, antimicrobial, analgesic and wound healing effect. They relieve spasms of smooth muscles of internal organs, stimulate appetite and improve digestion.

Healing recipes from cornflower

Infusion of blue cornflower is prepared as follows: 1 tablespoon of raw materials (cornflower flowers) is placed in an enamel bowl and 200 ml of hot water is poured, covered with a lid and heated in boiling water (in a water bath) for 15 minutes. Then cooled at room temperature for 45 minutes, filtered.

The remaining raw materials are squeezed out. The volume of the resulting infusion is brought up to 200 ml with boiled water. The prepared infusion is stored in a cool place for no more than two days.

It is taken orally in a warm form, 1 tablespoon three times a day as a light diuretic, choleretic and antimicrobial agent.

But for diseases of the urinary tract and kidneys, another infusion with cornflowers is used. It serves as a diuretic. To obtain it, you need to take 15 g of cornflower flowers, 15 g of juniper berries, 45 g of bearberry leaves and mix. Then you need 1 tablespoon of this mixture, pour 200 g of boiling water and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Then strain. In case of illness, this infusion should be taken 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.

Another type of cornflower has medicinal properties - the meadow cornflower (Centaurea jacea). It has a light pink color and a larger basket.

Contraindications

As noted above, the cornflower flowers contain cyan components, so folk preparations based on it cannot be used during pregnancy and when feeding a child. And it will never be superfluous to consult your doctor on the use of certain drugs, especially drugs that contain, albeit a small amount of toxic substances.

E. Valentinov

Photo by Natalia Butyagina