Bittersweet nightshade is a very common plant. It belongs to the nightshade family. This shrub received its name due to the taste of berries. If they are bitten, they are sweet, but then comes a bitter aftertaste. This plant, like most nightshade, is poisonous. But it also has strong healing properties. Since ancient times, people have used young stalks with leaves for the preparation of ointments and infusions. These remedies help in the treatment of many diseases.
Description
Bitter sweet nightshade is a perennial shrub. It can reach a height of 180 cm. The rhizome is woody, creeping. The stems of the plant are sinuous and long. Branched and climbing young shoots. The trunk in the lower part of the shrub is woody and bare.
The leaves of the plant are regular. The shape is oblong-ovate. The length of the sheet is from 2.5 to 12 cm, the width is up to 1 cm. Two oblong small lobes are distinguishable at the base. The leaves in this part of the plant may also have a heart shape. At the top, they are dissected or tripartite. Young leaves have a specific unpleasant odor.
The plant has paniculate inflorescences. Forked at the base, located on long peduncles. The flower is bisexual. The form is correct, the perianth is double. A cup of flowers is saucer-shaped. She is small, five-jagged. Five stamens. Their narrow anthers, fused around the column into a tube, have a conical shape. One pestle. Corolla voluptuous. The color of the petals is lilac. There are species with a pink or white whisk. The diameter of the flower is 12-18 mm. Corolla is wheel-shaped, five-dissected folded limb is visible. Ovary formed upper.
Bitter nightshade flowers appear in spring. But the plant blooms throughout the entire warm period until the month of August. The fruit is a berry. At first it has a green color. It turns yellow as it ripens, and then acquires a bright red color. This attractive shiny hanging berry grows to 3 cm in length.
Spread
Bittersweet nightshade is common throughout the subtropical and temperate zones of Europe. But this plant has made many trips. Now it grows in Asia and North America, where he was brought by immigrants from the Old World.
In Russia, this plant is easy to find throughout the European part of the country. It is not only in the Lower Volga region, as well as in Eastern and Western Siberia. Bittersweet nightshade does not grow in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. In Asian countries, it also does not occur.
This plant loves moist and even slightly swampy soils. It grows in floodplain meadows. It is found near raw thickets of various shrubs and in willows. The habitual habitat of this species of nightshade is the shores of lakes, ponds, rivers, and swamps. In addition, his favorite place is raw heaps of garbage, which are many in almost all areas and regions of central Russia. The plant does not tolerate direct sunlight, it needs a shadow.
The chemical composition of the plant
Bitter nightshade is a poisonous plant. For humans, it is extremely dangerous. In its berries, in addition to the usual carotenoids, such steroids as isofucosterol, stigmasterol, sitosterol, brassicasterin, campesterol are also found. These substances are also found in the roots. In addition to them, alkaloids are also revealed there. In the terrestrial parts of the plant, stems and leaves, tigonenin is found.
Seeds are no less rich in steroids and alkaloids. They also include phospholipids and higher fatty acids - palmitic, myristic and lauric.
Plant use
Nightshade is a poisonous berry. But she also has useful medicinal properties. In addition, this plant is used in human activities as an insecticidal substance.
Sweet-sour nightshade is known to landscape designers as a decorative shrub. It is used to decorate hedges. This is an excellent plant in order to hide an unsightly fence or a ragged wall of buildings. This species is popular because the flowering period is long, and after it the garden is decorated with beautiful oval berries. Most often, nightshade is used for vertical gardening of a site with strong soil moisture.
Since ancient times, people have known this plant as a remedy against larvae and harmful caterpillars. Prepare a decoction of stems and spray them with bushes and trees. Leaves containing tannins are used for tanning hides.
Application in traditional medicine
Few people know what a useful plant is nightshade. Homemade decoction of young shoots with leaves is an effective remedy for skin diseases. Compresses relieve inflammation and itching. This is the best folk remedy for eczema. Inside take infusions for colds, diarrhea. Solanum treats inflammation of the bladder. Women prepare a decoction of leaves to normalize the menstrual cycle.
This plant is not only a wound healing, but also an anthelmintic. Leaves are used for dropsy, whooping cough, hepatitis A. An ointment made on the basis of young shoots is used externally for rheumatism. Poisonous berries in low concentrations are effective even for sexually transmitted diseases. A decoction of them treat epilepsy and severe migraine attacks. Healing is also a tincture of flowers. It is given to people with pulmonary diseases. Use the essence of young shoots in homeopathy for acute respiratory infections, urticaria and seizures.
The nightshade plant is poisonous. Apply only under the strict supervision of a physician. This plant contains several chemicals that can cause serious harm to health. For example, dulcamarin has a similar effect with atropine. Many cases of poisoning of farm animals are known. In cows there is a violation of coordination of movement, rapid heartbeat and diarrhea.
