Of the entire large family of labiate, the most famous plant is the motherwort five-lobed. It has long been widely used to treat a number of diseases and is popularly called "heart grass", as well as "dog nettle."
Botanical Description
This herbaceous perennial sometimes grows to a two-meter height, but more often it is no more than 50–70 cm. It has a lignified rhizome and a tetrahedral pubescent stem with weak branching, on which oppositely palmate leaves are located. The lower ones consist of five blades and have a heart-shaped base. In the middle and upper part of the stem, the leaves are three-lobed, oblong.
Flowers are located directly in the axils of the upper leaves. They are quite small, pink in color. Purple speckles can be seen on the yellowish corolla. Flowering begins in early June and lasts until September. Fruits are formed unevenly - first on the lower part of the stem, then on the upper. Each consists of four peas with a hairy top.
For therapeutic purposes, only motherwort and motherwort are five-lobed, the botanical description of which is very similar.
Places of distribution
The plant prefers loamy and sandy loamy soils. Motherwort, justifying its name, is often found in abandoned areas, on vacant lots and clearings. How can weed populate gardens and orchards. In Russia, it is distributed almost universally. The only exception is the Far North and desert regions.
Cultivation and care
Five-lobed motherwort can be grown in the same place for several years. This plant is unpretentious and does not cause any problems in care. Planting is carried out using seeds sown in the ground in spring or late autumn, before the onset of frost. To improve the germination of spring seed, it is stratified for a month at a temperature of 0 to 4 degrees.
The soil for growing this plant does not need special treatment. It is enough to dig it up and to increase the yield, add fertilizers - organic, nitrogen and potash (3 kg, 20 g and 15 g, respectively, per 1 m² of land). At the same time as sowing seeds, granular superphosphate (3 g per 1 m²) is embedded in the soil.
The seeding rate is 0.8–1.0 g per 1 m², the embedment depth is from 1.5 to 2 cm. A distance of 60 cm is maintained between the rows. When the first seedlings appear, the soil is slightly compacted and the first top dressing is applied. Further care consists in periodically loosening row spacing, timely watering and destruction of weeds.
The grass of the motherwort five-blade is harvested during the flowering period. Only the leafy top with a thin stalk up to 40 cm long is cut. Too spiky inflorescences are not recommended to be collected. If the collection is done correctly, then in one place you can harvest several years in a row.
Harvested raw materials are dried in a dark, ventilated area. To prevent blackening of plants, they need to be mixed periodically. You can store grass for three years.
Healing properties
In different countries of the world, the motherwort is five-bladed. This plant, due to its sedative properties, has the ability to normalize the state of the nervous system and the strength of heart contractions. It has a positive effect on metabolism, regulates cholesterol, lactic and pyruvic acid levels, and normalizes the content of total lipids in the blood.
Means based on motherwort have a pronounced antispasmodic, hypotensive and diuretic effect. In some countries, it almost completely replaces such a well-known medicinal plant as valerian, because its therapeutic effect is more pronounced, and harvesting motherwort is much simpler.
Medical use
Due to the powerful therapeutic effect of this plant, for hundreds of years there has been a high demand for the motherwort five-lobed both in folk medicine and in pharmaceuticals. From it make infusions, extracts, alcohol tinctures. Indications for their use are increased nervous excitability, cardiosclerosis, hypertension, angina pectoris, vegetovascular dystonia, epilepsy, uterine bleeding in women, bazedova disease, diseases associated with the gastrointestinal tract.
For the treatment of non-healing wounds and burns, as a bactericidal agent, motherwort infusion is used externally. For colds, plant juice is used, mixed with chicory root, crushed into a powder - a teaspoon of the prepared mixture is poured with boiling water (250 ml) and insisted for one hour.
It is very useful to use motherwort five-blade in the form of tea. A description of its preparation is not required - it is prepared in the most usual way. In this case, a glass of boiling water will require 2 teaspoons of dry grass. You can drink 3 cups a day as a sedative.
Recipes for treating heart disease
For the treatment of cardiosclerosis and angina pectoris, traditional medicine offers the following:
- Motherwort juice in an amount of 40 ml is mixed with 50 ml of vodka and infused for about 7 days. Take with water, adding 30 drops of tincture to a glass, three times a day before meals.
- Another way to prepare a remedy for angina pectoris involves the use of a whole set of medicinal plants. In addition to motherwort, melissa, lingonberry, astragalus grass, leaves of plantain, blueberry, yarrow and white mistletoe are added to it. The collection is mixed, poured with boiling water (for every 3 tbsp.spoons of collection 4 cups of water) and insisted for about an hour. Drink 60-70 ml three times a day.
In order to normalize high blood pressure:
- Pour the crushed motherwort grass with water and leave for 8 hours. Strain, drink 50 ml before meals.
- Five-lobed motherwort is mixed with hawthorn fruits and valerian root and poured with boiling water. After half an hour of infusion, the filtered solution is taken in 3 tablespoons up to three times a day.
- Motherwort is mixed with other herbs - marsh cinnamon, yarrow, fruits of chokeberry and hawthorn. The resulting mixture is poured with one liter of water and put for half an hour in a water bath. After this, the solution is infused for two hours, filtered and taken for two weeks, a third of a glass three times a day.
With myocardial infarction, one spoonful of motherwort grass, caraway seeds, fennel, and valerian root are mixed. The collection is poured with boiling water and insisted for no more than an hour.
To prepare the next remedy, you will need to mix motherwort with valerian, add yarrow herbs and anise fruits. The mixture is poured with boiling water and insisted for about 40 minutes. Take both funds 3 times a day for half a glass before meals.
Digestion Recipes
With problems of the gastrointestinal tract, motherwort five-lobed is also effective. Its use in conjunction with other medicinal plants allows you to cope with a number of diseases.
- Gastritis with high acidity. To treat this disease, a rich mixture is prepared from herbs of motherwort, Dubrovnik, poultry, meadowsweet, centaury, rhizomes of plants such as marshmallow and angelica, orchis tubers with the addition of medicinal cuff leaves and lemon balm. Pour the crushed plants with boiling water in a thermos and insist 8 hours. Drink half a glass 3 times a day.
- Insufficient secretory activity. Brew motherwort and chicory root with boiling water. Take half an hour before meals, 100 ml.
Treatment of inflammatory diseases
For internal use in inflammatory processes, an infusion is prepared, the basis of which is motherwort five-lobed (the photo of which is given in this article), elecampane tall, bearberry and horse chestnut fruits. All components are taken according to 1 tbsp. spoon, mix, after which they are filled with water (500 ml) and insist in a thermos for 10 hours. Then add 40 drops of tincture of ginseng root and take a brandy glass 3 times a day half an hour before meals. The course is designed for 1 month.
It was established that motherwort is five-lobed, cardiac and Siberian have almost the same therapeutic effect.
Contraindications
In motherwort found a high content of alkaloids. When accumulating, it can lead to impaired attention, memory, slow down the processes of growth and development. Therefore, motherwort is contraindicated in children. Due to the ability of this plant to have a stimulating effect on the uterus, products based on it are not recommended for pregnant women. People who have a slowed heart rate, as well as suffering from hypotension, should not use drugs with motherwort.
