Perhaps, another plant, the name of which so accurately describes its medicinal properties, is difficult to find in our country. People noticed its amazing ability to cleanse the skin in ancient times. Thanks to her, the plant got its name.
What else is called celandine?
Using celandine, you can easily get rid of corns, including chronic, acne, various skin rashes, fungus and even herpes. But celandine was especially famous for its ability to easily and very quickly remove warts, for which it received another name among the people - the warthog, and for its bright yellow juice it is called golden grass.
True, not all of the many names of this plant are so flattering. Along with them, celandine is known as witch grass or damn milk. And I must say that it is not in vain. Possessing a powerful cleansing effect, the juice of this plant causes severe poisoning due to the content of toxic components in it. Therefore, celandine must be used with caution.
But first you need to find out how it looks and where celandine grows. This is also important because the plant is widespread even in urban environments. Adults and especially children, not knowing what celandine looks like, can poison them.
Why does the plant have such a name?
The generic name of this culture is Chelidónium. It comes from the Greek word celadon, which translates as "swallow". It would seem, what is the connection between a plant and a pretty bird? According to one version, celandine was named so because it blooms when swallows arrive. According to another, which many written sources confirm, the ancient Greek doctors used the plant to treat eye diseases, because, according to legend, the swallow healed blind chicks with yellow juice.
What does a celandine plant look like?
This is a perennial shrub from the Poppy family up to 1.2 m high, although the average height ranges from thirty to one hundred centimeters. Celandine stalk branched, hollow and ribbed, covered with sparse hairs.
Leaves
They are soft, painted saturated green above, and bluish below. The upper leaves resemble a lyre in shape, and the lower ones are cirrus. The different shape of the leaves may depend on the location of the bush. For example, they are pointed in the western regions of our country, and elongated in Siberia. It was once believed that these are different species of one plant, but today the Siberian variety is called celandine large modified. What does celandine look like big? Photos of this plant are presented in the article.
Large celandine is a very tenacious culture due to the developed rhizome. It is vertical, short, but gradually deepening into the ground, passes into a long, branched root. The older the plant, the more roots it has. Fighting this grass is very difficult.
Flowers
You do not know what a celandine plant looks like? But you have seen him many times, even in the city. Yellow flowers, consisting of four ovoid petals, are very pretty. They have one pistil and several stamens. Two sepals, painted in yellow-green tones, make up the cup. They gather in a little loose umbrellas, 3-7 flowers. Celandine flowering begins in May and lasts until September. The plant dies at the end of the so-called Indian summer.
Fruit
We figured out what a celandine flower looks like, it's time to find out what the fruits are remarkable for. These are the pods, which, when opened, are divided into two wings. When they do this, you can hear quite loud pops. You can easily determine the beginning of this period by paying attention to how the grass of the celandine looks. Photos of fruiting shrubs are often published by publications for herbalists. Grass at this time loses its brightness, coarsens.
The plant bears fruit several times a season. As soon as the bush sheds seeds, bright fresh leaves appear on it.
Roots
Their thickness can be compared with a person’s finger. This is the most dangerous part of the plant. Although in some publications you can find recommendations for their use in treatment - do not do it yourself, without consulting a specialist. The roots contain 20 times more alkaloids - toxic substances than in leaves and stems (about 40%).
Juice
Everyone who saw what the celandine looks like (we posted a photo in this article) knows that the plant gives off a thick juice of bright yellow color, darker than the flowers, and this helps not to confuse it with other plants. Juice has a specific smell and a very bitter taste. Dried grass loses this color. This can be explained by the instability of the coloring matter. However, it can be used as a dye for fabrics, such as wool.
History of Celandine
The ancient Greek Theophrastus, who lived in the III-IV centuries. BC e., left notes on the use of celandine for the treatment of liver tumors, constipation and jaundice. Sorcerers and healers believe that in addition to the healing effect, this plant, belonging to the element of fire, relieves of the dark forces rising from the ground and helps a person to get out of prison or release an innocent from imprisonment.
Fresh celandine, which a person constantly wears on his body, changing a twig every three days, according to esotericists, relieves depression. The ancients believed that celandine is able to make peace, and a person who constantly wears a bag of dried celandine on his body will live in harmony with everyone.
At the end of the XVI century, celandine began to be grown in areas, not only as a medicine, but also as an ornamental plant. Can you imagine what celandine grown in captivity looks like? Usually it is a more impressive plant than its wild relative, and they do not differ in medicinal properties.
The use of celandine in different countries
Pharmacists in many countries produce celandine-based products that are used to treat many serious ailments. But they should be used under strict medical supervision. In different countries where this plant grows, certain views on celandine treatment have formed.
In Bulgaria, its juice is used as an antispasmodic and painkiller for diseases of the liver, gall bladder, jaundice, colitis and gastritis.
In Poland, it is a painkiller, anthelmintic and anti-inflammatory agent. Polish doctors prescribe drugs based on celandine and its juice for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, hepatic colic, hemorrhoids.
Austrian scientists came to the conclusion that extract from this plant activates the activity of the bile ducts and gall bladder, has powerful soothing and anticonvulsant properties.
In France, celandine is most often used as a laxative and diuretic, and the juice of young plants is used as an aphrodisiac.
In our country, an ointment prepared from celandine herb powder is actively used to treat lupus, tuberculosis of the skin. In pharmacies, you can buy ready-made products based on the juice of this plant. They have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. For example, “Bee Celandine”, according to customers, helps to reduce the severity of rashes, reduce the intensity of inflammation and redness of acne.
A cream prepared at home is used to treat more severe skin pathologies. It contains more active substances, so it should not be used for cosmetic purposes. Tincture from the roots with strict adherence to the dosage helps with dysbiosis, gallstone disease and constipation. Intravenous administration of celandine-based preparations is indicated for hypertensive patients to lower blood pressure, normalize the pulse, and when applied externally, they quickly heal ulcers and scars on the skin, treat psoriasis and eczema.
Chemical composition
The composition of the celandine includes biologically active substances. Among them:
- flavonoids;
- alkaloids;
- saponins;
- tannins;
- resins;
- organic citric acid;
- bitterness;
- organic malic and succinic acids;
- Vitamin A
- essential oils;
- vitamin C.
Spread
You already know what celandine looks like, now we will tell you where it can be found. The plant is widespread throughout Europe. A small number of plants can be found in Central Asia and in the foothill-steppe zones. Celandine prefers soils that contain a large amount of humus. It settles in shaded areas, in broad-leaved, mixed coniferous-small-leaved, spruce, fir forests.
In the steppes, most often, celandine can be found along natural reservoirs. Grows in small groups and small curtains. Celandine is easiest to find near anthills: insects carry seeds to them. It is so unpretentious that it can be found among the swamps, and by the road. It grows on abandoned quarries, in fields, along river banks. The only climatic zone where celandine does not grow is the Far North.
Herbalists who are well aware of the benefits of this plant prefer to grow it on their own. To do this, they collect seeds and in February are sown in a greenhouse. With the arrival of steady heat, the sprouts are transferred to open ground on moist soil, in a place slightly shaded by the crown of a tree or shrub. Celandine quickly takes root, but it is necessary to control its distribution, since it can be aggressive towards cultivated plants.
Collection and harvesting of raw materials
Usually, the healing properties of celandine are associated with its upper herbaceous part, however, it is proved that the content of active substances in the root is much higher. Therefore, you can harvest both the underground and grassy parts of the plant. But we must not forget that with the roots you need to be very careful.
Grass
Harvested when the plant is actively flowering, usually in late May or early June. The stem is cut at a height of five centimeters from the soil. Dry grass in well-ventilated attics or under a canopy. The raw materials are laid out in a thin layer and regularly, often shaken. You can also use electric dryers with a temperature setting of about 60 ° C.
