Oregano is a herb that owes its name to a pleasant and fairly strong aroma. People call it differently: a bee-lover, a motherboard, bone-breaking grass, field thyme, wind color, winch, dushin …
Oregano prefers to grow in places open to the sun, that is, in glades, on the slopes of mountains and beams, along roadsides. It is found in solitary bushes and in whole groups, even in thickets.
Oregano grass: a botanical characteristic
This herbaceous plant is perennial. Sometimes it reaches a meter in height, but on average it stretches only up to 60 cm. Oregano has a branched rhizome and several straight pubescent stems emanating from it with four faces. Oblong leaves are kept on short petioles, located opposite. The flowers are small, may have a purple color or reddish. There are a lot of them, all of them are collected in ears that form the shields.
This is what the oregano grass looks like. The photo perfectly shows how many scutes form a large inflorescence similar to a panicle. Oregano fruits are round-shaped nuts. They ripen in September, already after the plant fades (which does not last long - only 25 days, or even 15).
Oregano herb: use in herbal medicine
Galenic preparations based on it are widely used in modern medicine. They are recommended for colds, suffocation, coughing, pulmonary tuberculosis and other diseases of the respiratory system as a means of promoting sputum removal, expectoration and relieving inflammation. Oregano herb is also effective for intestinal atony, with some gastritis.
It is part of the gargle. Oregano grass is used externally: lotions, baths and compresses are made from its decoction for diathesis and skin diseases accompanied by pustular wounds. This plant is also useful for problems with the kidneys, blood pressure, and liver. True, it also has contraindications. It is undesirable for oregano to be used in the treatment of men, as it causes sexual impotence and swelling of the mammary glands. This plant is also strictly contraindicated during pregnancy: in the early period it provokes a miscarriage.
Oregano grass: use in alternative medicine
Here its use is even wider. In addition to the diseases listed above, the people treat oregano with joints, headaches, insomnia, and gynecological problems. Previously, oil was obtained from its seeds and rubbed their body with rheumatism and paralysis. Her fresh flowers were recommended to be chewed and kept in the mouth for about five minutes with toothache. In dry and crushed form they are inhaled into the nostrils with a cold. With abscesses, boils, compresses are made from chopped and steamed boiling water. With diathesis, scrofula and other rashes for children, oregano broth is added to the bathtubs. Often in this case it is used in combination with a succession. If you wash your head in the evening with oregano infusion, it will save not only from pain and insomnia, but also contribute to hair growth. In cosmetology, medical masks are prepared from the plant. It is crushed, natural honey or egg yolk is added and applied to the face for 10 minutes. Rinse off the mask with lotion. After the procedure, a person must be greased with some nourishing cream. Such a mask can often not be applied, because due to the coloring property of oregano, the skin will darken.
