Ivy varieties, medicinal plant and application

Medicinal Plant Ivy: All about the healing properties of this particular plant

The common ivy belongs to the Aralien. Although it is toxic, in 2010 it was not without reason that it was voted medicinal plant of the year. The dose makes the poison, or the cure. The effects that can be achieved with ivy and the risks associated with its use are discussed in detail in subsequent paragraphs. Here are the key facts about the ivy in advance:

• Ivy works against bacteria, viruses and fungi.
• Ingredients are toxic in higher doses and must therefore be measured accurately.
• Ivy helps to cough up phlegm, works against colds and diseases of the respiratory tract.
• Ivy works against skin diseases and massage for cellulite and lack of blood circulation in the skin.
• Ivy is numbing.



contents

• Medicinal Plant Ivy: All about the healing properties of this particular plant
• ingredients
• applications
• Juice, tea, tablets
• Make ivy extract yourself
• Ivy Ointment
• Efeutinktur
• warning
• Ivy as a garden plant
• Ivy ethymologically
• The wreaths of Dionysus
• Ivy as a symbol
• Ivy in cemeteries

ingredients

The useful active ingredients of ivy are in its leaves. These include triterpene saponins, hederacoside C and B as well as alpha-hederin. In addition there are caffeic acid derivatives, flavonoids and essential oil, as well as glycosides and chlorogenic acid.

Although ivy is poisonous, it also has a number of medically usable ingredients. As an anti-cough agent, for example, an extract of ivy leaves has been proven. (Image: PhotoSG / fotolia.com)

The triterpene saponins are poisonous. They occur in high concentrations in the ivy berries and already few berries trigger symptoms of poisoning such as headache, high heart rate and cramps. Higher doses lead to shock and respiratory arrest.

The ingredients of the ivy also have antifungal (against fungi such as skin fungi), antiviral (e.g., against influenza) and antibiotic (against bacteria). The plant's active ingredients also kill parasites, including various worms.

applications

At low doses, the toxic effects of the leaves prove to be effective against bronchial, convulsive and irritating cough. The toxic triterpene saponins cause the bronchial mucosa to produce thin mucus. This makes it easier to cough up the mucus. An extract of ivy leaves also ensures that the mucus is better transported away. Alpha-Hederin relaxes the bronchial muscles and loosens cramped airways.

The Herbal Medicinal Product Committee has recognized the ivy leaves as a remedy for mucous dissolution, and the Commission E of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices sees ivy leaves as effective in "catarrh of the respiratory tract and for the symptomatic treatment of chronic inflammatory bronchial diseases."

Juice, tea, tablets

In pharmacies, there are various means based on ivy leaves, for example, cough drops, cough syrup or tablets. Tea can only be prepared with care from ivy, as only small amounts of the plant may be used as a remedy because of the poison's effect. Ivy is compatible with other mucus removers such as thyme, primrose roots and eucalyptus.

For external use there is no danger. Ivy leaves are numbing and against nerve inflammation, rheumatic pains, sciatic pain and arthritis. Ivy also helps against cellulite, as it can be anesthetized and massaged more vigorously, and the ivy-induced vasoconstriction removes stored water from the tissue.

Make ivy extract yourself

You boil a handful of ivy leaves with 0.75 liters of water for about 10 to 12 minutes. This results in a concentrated infusion. In these you dip towels, squeeze them out and put the damp envelopes on the desired places - once a week.

A tea made from ivy leaves can be used for cough and respiratory problems, but here a little caution with the dosage is required. (Image: PhotoSG / fotolia.com)

For a tea to drink you use much less ivy leaves. Take only half a teaspoon of it and pour over boiling water, let simmer for about 10 minutes, then pour it through a strainer. For colds, cough and mucosal inflammation in the nose, mouth, throat and airways drink 2 cups of it daily. Ivy tastes bitter, and to soften that taste, you can add honey.

Ivy Ointment

An ivy ointment tightens the skin, promotes blood circulation and wound healing and inhibits inflammation. To make such an ointment, take:

• Some ivy leaves, the best-grown,
• 20 g beeswax
• and 100 ml vegetable oil, for example olive, rapeseed or sunflower.

You melt the beeswax and the oil in a water bath, mince the ivy leaves and stir them in, preferably with a blender.

Efeutinktur

For an egg tincture, wash ivy leaves, chop them and put them in a jar with airtight lids. Continue to add high percentage of clear liquor such as grappa, vodka or gin and let it all drag for a month. Then fill the tincture with dark bottles. If you have a juice blender, you can also mix the ivy with the alcohol, the tincture will then get a dark green color like absinthe.

warning

If you are allergic to ivy, you should not take any ivy products. Avoid the fruits, because the concentration of saponins is high here, and instead of curing, you are likely to poison yourself, because even small amounts are toxic. For dried ivy leaves, the daily dose should never exceed 3 grams.

Ivy as a garden plant

In nature, ivy winds around trees or covers the ground, planting up to 20 meters into the tree. The roots only adhere to the wood, but do not deprive it of nutrients. However, old ivy plants can damage trees by surrounding them with a kind of "outer frame". This sometimes leads to the tree dying.

Today we find ivy everywhere: in public buildings, in gardens, on trees. He is popular with gardeners, because the dense foliage is considered beautiful, the plant covers wide, otherwise bare areas and is always green. In addition, most ivy species are undemanding, even like shadows and keep out wetness as well as drought.

In Germany, it is so popular that it carries many synonyms: evergreen, wall ivy, Eppich, Mauerewig, wintergreen and dead man. Ivy can easily be multiplied in the garden. You just have to pull cuttings into the ground and water them.

Ivy ethymologically

The term ivy is probably derived from the Saxon ebah, and that meant climbing, ep-hou meant in Old High German "climbing grass".

The wreaths of Dionysus

The Greek goddess of fertility, Demeter, the Greek god of the forest and the shepherds, Pan and the Greek god of wine, ecstasy, nature's rising and falling and sensual pleasure (Dionysus) all have one thing in common: all of them were Ivy consecrated.

Ivy was depicted with ivy vines and grapes, and the staff of Dionysus was wrapped in ivy. His followers, the Maenads, also wreathed themselves with ivy, to which they wore animal skins and ivy wounded rods. The Greeks wore ivy wreaths at drinking events, on the one hand, to pay homage to Dionysos and, on the other hand, to cool their heads. Her wine cups also covered her with ivy.
For the Greeks ivy had a sacred meaning: If it grew luxuriant, then Dionysus was nearby. The plant was also part of the god Apollo, and that's why the poets adorned it.

In Germany there is evidence for ivy in gardens in 1561 by the naturalist Conrad Gessner. The geometric parks of the Baroque, however, ran counter to the lusciously growing ivy. It became popular only in the landscaped gardens of the 18th Century emanating from England, and English gardeners were breeding more and more varieties. In the early modern period, it was considered a remedy for plague, gout, jaundice and bad hearing.

The evergreen ivy is often used to beautify impure facades, but is also used, for example, in cemeteries because of its symbolic effect. (Image: ivan kmit / fotolia.com)

Ivy as a symbol

Mauerewig and Totenranke show that the ivy is symbolically charged - as a symbol of loyalty and immortality. Thus, in the saga, Tristan and Isolde were buried separately, but on their graves Ivy grew, which linked in the air and so brought the lovers together again. For the Christians, he stood for eternal life after death. That's another reason why ivy is so popular on graves. Already in the first centuries of our era Ivy found on Christian graves.

Also, the heart symbol presumably goes back to ivy leaves, it comes from a time when the opening of the human body was considered a crime against God, and therefore nobody knew what our heart looks like. The "heart-shaped" ivy leaf stood for infinite love and loyalty. The ivy stood for loyalty, because he is stuck with his sticky roots.

Ivy in cemeteries

As a symbol of eternal life, ivy goes back to early Christianity, but it came into vogue as a cemetery decoration only in the early 19th century. Previously, the tombs in Central Europe were kept simple, now they turned into urban gardens with the core color dark green. Evergreen cemetery plants, such as rosemary or boxwood, and especially ivy, which is not only symbolic, but practically the plant of the nocturnal resting place, spread with it. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)