Since childhood, many people know the bitter grass of wormwood silver. It has a fragrant smell and unusual bitterness, the strongest of all plants. Wherever you meet this unpretentious culture! It can be found even along fences and roads. This accessible herb consists of many useful components, therefore it is widely used in medicine, everyday life, and cooking. We invite you to get acquainted with the medicinal properties and contraindications of wormwood, reviews of tinctures and oil of this plant.
Mentions and legends of wormwood
In Latin, wormwood sounds like “artemisia, ” because it is named after the goddess Artemis, who revealed to people the healing properties of this plant. The bitter wormwood grass is mentioned more than once in the Bible, where the plant is associated with the retribution of sinners, suffering, apostasy from God. Many priests associate annoyance and humiliation with wormwood bitterness, and honor and approval are compared with honey.
Russian folk songs, epics, sayings also sing artemisia, linking it with longing and bitterness. The ancient Romans believed that it was the goddess Artemis who gave them this grass. They gave wormwood to their warriors, so that they were strong, fearless, did not feel fatigue in distant campaigns. Our ancestors believed that the bitter grass relieves muscle pain, protects against poisoning.
Description of the Queen of the Wastelands
Wormwood belongs to perennial plants of the family Asteraceae. The plant has a short, branched, lignified root, so it is unpretentious to atmospheric and soil conditions. Many farmers are unhappy with the abundant distribution of this tenacious grass. She especially likes the wasteland, where wormwood feels like a queen. She settles on abandoned sites, roadsides, forest edges.
The height of an adult plant can reach up to 2 meters. In the first year of life, the grass consists of one small stalk. Then shoots appear from it, which in the second year bloom and bear fruit. Erect stems are characterized by multi-branching from above, silver-grayish color and slight pubescence. Strong spicy smell and bitter taste - these are the properties that distinguish grass from other plants.
To the base, the leaves are attached with long petioles having several branches. In the middle of the stem are bicinosus, sessile, cirrus leaves. The upper part of the grass is covered with triple, simple, solid, lanceolate leaves. The stems and leaves of artemisia seem silky due to the abundance of small hairs on their surface.
Blooming wormwood resembles a yellow mimosa. Basket flowers appear in mid-summer. These baskets make inflorescences in the form of a panicle. From the flowers, small fruits are formed in which the seeds ripen. It is them that propagate wormwood. Up to 100, 000 seeds can be counted in one plant.
Wormwood grows in the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. Also, the places of its settlement are Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, and Central Asia.
Harvesting raw materials
For harvesting, both leaves and flower-bearing panicles are used. In May-June, stem and root leaves are harvested. During flowering (July-August) harvested flowering tops. Panicles need to be cut in 10-15 days. Later harvesting threatens to darken the grass during drying, and panicles can scatter.
The tops of the stems are cut with a sickle or knife, wearing gloves. The length of the tops should not exceed 20-25 cm. An attic or canopy is suitable for drying, where the raw materials are laid out in a layer of 3-5 cm. In good weather, it will take 5-7 days to dry. It needs to be interrupted periodically. You can dry the grass in the oven at a temperature of 50 ° C. Higher temperatures promote the evaporation of essential oils. The leaves are dried in the same way as the flowering part. It is not recommended to dry raw materials under an iron roof. Finished material is laid in paper bags or bags. Shelf life is 2 years.
Chemical composition and medicinal properties of the plant
Artemisia has a wide chemical composition. It is rich in essential oil, bitter glycoside absintin, anabsintin, volatile, tannins. Resins, vitamins B 6 and C were found in its composition. Also, wormwood contains succinic, acetic, malic acid, starch, protein, provitamin A (carotene). Doctors use in medicine both the terrestrial part of the plant and the underground. After all, this folk remedy, time-tested, has the following properties:
- increases appetite;
- helps to improve digestion, stimulates the secretion of gastric juice;
- promotes the secretion of bile and pancreatic juice;
- endowed with analgesic properties;
- restores blood;
- wonderful outdoor antiseptic.
Broths and tinctures of wormwood treat the digestive system, diarrhea, gastritis with low acidity. They eliminate gastric colic and pain. The plant treats flatulence, anemia, depression, insomnia, tuberculosis. It is an excellent choleretic and diuretic.
From the ground part of the grass make infusions, tinctures, extracts. They treat bronchial asthma, rheumatism. Wormwood perfectly treats burns and eczema. People with gastritis, peptic ulcer and duodenal ulcer are also shown remedies with this potion. It helps with epilepsy, paralysis, gout, neurasthenia. The tool eliminates unpleasant odors from the oral cavity, heartburn, is used for fainting. With joint inflammation, bruises, compresses and lotions from infusions of herbs are applied to sore spots. Squeeze juice out of wormwood, make ointment, make powder.
The use of bitter grass in folk medicine
Reviews of the healing properties of wormwood are worth exploring. Even in the middle of the 20th century, residents of Russian villages used wormwood smoke to control bugs and earthen fleas. Walls and floors of houses were washed with specially prepared grass brooms steamed in boiling water. In order to disinfect Russian baths, brooms of dry wormwood were also used. These brooms were immediately steamed for the treatment of the spine and joints. Those who lived in the village probably associate it with the smell of this bitter potion. To smell it, you can buy a bottle of essential wormwood oil in each pharmacy. It is obtained by distillation. Knowing all the medicinal properties and contraindications of wormwood, it is used as follows:
- Gastritis with low acidity is treated with a decoction of 1 teaspoon of chopped wormwood and 2 glasses of boiling water. Infused for 20 minutes, the broth is taken half a glass three times a day.
- Anemia is treated with wormwood leaves collected in May. They insist on vodka or alcohol.
- Gout and rheumatism using bathtubs. To do this, 1 kg of dry wormwood is poured with a bucket of boiling water, allowed to infuse, and then poured into the bath. The procedure lasts half an hour at a water temperature of 36-37 ° C.
- Insomnia is fought with a decoction of 1 table. spoonfuls of wormwood and a glass of boiling water. Insist hour, drink before bedtime.
- Diarrhea and pain in the stomach stop the same broth.
- Bruises and tumors are covered with tissue soaked in infusion.
- Impotence is treated with wormwood seeds, previously crushed into powder.
- Epilepsy is fought with crushed powder of plant roots.
- Worms are disposed of with wormwood and garlic enemas.
- A decoction of wormwood and thyme helps to defeat the craving for alcohol. The medicine is used for a month.
Tincture of wormwood
It is worth writing in more detail about the properties of the tincture of bitter grass. It normalizes the digestive system, promotes metabolism, fights against fungal and infectious diseases. Thanks to the bitterness of this remedy, it is used to normalize weight. The tincture has a brownish-green color, a characteristic aroma and a bitter taste. The dosage of this drug is as follows: 20 drops 3 times a day before meals.
Especially useful tincture of wormwood on cognac. For 0.5 l of brandy, add a tablespoon of crushed plant roots. The mixture is placed in a steam bath and incubated for 10 minutes. After that, it is closed tightly with a lid and set for two days to insist. The drug is taken with neurasthenia 5 drops 2 times a day.
Wormwood oil, juice, powder, ointment
For the preparation of oil using fresh wormwood. 300 g of leaves are placed in a liter jar, add olive oil to the top and firmly close the lid. The tool is infused for 2 weeks. The oil should acquire a dark green or pearlescent color. Then the product is filtered and put in a cold place. It is used to lubricate ulcers, wounds and rough skin.
A similar tool is also made from the seeds of wormwood. They are crushed into powder and poured with oil. The remedy should be infused throughout the day. This oil relieves pain and cramps in the muscles.
Before flowering, leaves and stems of wormwood are used to squeeze juice. It is better to first pass the raw materials through a meat grinder. Fresh juice is taken immediately with honey (1 tablespoon). The remaining liquid is refrigerated.
Powder can be made from dried stems and leaves. To do this, they need to grind. This is a very effective remedy, valued more than infusion.
Wormwood is also used to make ointment. To do this, use a thick wormwood extract. For 100 g of vegetable oil or animal fat, you need to take 10 g of extract.
Treatment for parasites and worms with wormwood
Many diseases provoke ecotoxins and parasites. Traditional medicine fights them using natural remedies. So, wormwood helps to cleanse the body and destroy parasites. She copes with trichomonads, chlamydia, feline lamblia, proteus, toxoplasma. Bitter grass kills harmful microorganisms and helps many systems work. To combat parasites, dry grass is used, ground into powder.
Worms are excreted by using a special decoction and washing the intestines. To do this, make hot enemas from infusion of wormwood. It effectively fights with roundworms, helps to normalize cellular immunity. A small amount of broth (50 g) is administered overnight in the rectum for absorption.
Treatment of other diseases
Hemorrhoidal nodes bring big trouble. These are pains, bleeding. This disease is treated for a very long time. People use bitter grass to combat hemorrhoids. Enema is made from her decoction. Wormwood therapy relieves acute inflammation and normalizes the patient's condition.
Everyone knows about a dangerous virus, manifested in the form of watery painful vesicles on the lips - herpes. As a prophylactic for this disease, tincture or infusion of wormwood can serve.
Contraindications
Many people suffer from hypersensitivity to certain substances. It's about allergies. This disease is accompanied by a runny nose, swelling of the nasal mucosa, sneezing, tearing of the eyes. Sometimes an allergy to pollen of wormwood can also develop. Such people should avoid contact with this plant and consult a doctor. There are also other contraindications for medical wormwood, when it needs to beware:
- with gastric ulcer, hyperacid gastritis;
- during pregnancy and feeding the baby;
- in cases of heavy bleeding;
- with renal failure;
- in cases of severe liver disease.
The culinary properties of bitter herbs
The distillery industry makes extensive use of the bitter taste of wormwood. You have probably heard of absinthe and vermouth. Some countries plant bitter plants for this purpose. It is worth saying that wormwood is still different and is called "vermouth". These alcoholic infusions have a unique and specific taste.
Wormwood is also used by cooks as a seasoning for fatty dishes. With it, a fried goose or other meat dish acquires a special bitter taste and smell.
