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Medicinal plants as medicine
contents
- The belladonna
- The meadowsweet
- The thimble
- The valerian
- True St. John's wort
- Real opium poppy
- The cowslip
- The hornet
- The autumnal timeless
Essential oils for colds provide thyme, eucalyptus and mountain pine. Silymarin, obtained from milk thistle, protects the liver. Grape leaves and an extract of horse chestnut strengthen the veins. Celandine, mint, chamomile and cumin (medicinal plant 2016) help with stomach and intestinal disorders, valerian, hops, lemon balm and passion flower falling asleep. Hawthorn tea strengthens the heart, St. John's wort relieves depression. As many as the uses of the medicinal plants are, so different are they used, as regards doses and the plant parts used.
It does not always have to be the chemical club - in many diseases and diseases, naturopathy helps as well with numerous medicinal plants. The application should be clarified in case of doubt first medical. (Image: behewa / fotolia.com) The belladonna
The substances of some plants should be taken by sufferers exclusively as medicinal extracts so as not to end the disease by their own death. One of these dangerous plants is the belladonna. The Stone Age hunters already used it as a dart poison for hunting. Since antiquity, doctors have used it as a remedy. Its Latin name Atropa belladonna, however, received the black and purple shrub fruit as a questionable remedy: namely with the alleged effect of seducing the male world. Atropine dilated the pupils, and women into the modern age drizzled into the eyes of the black cherry juice to shine as black-eyed beauty.
Doctors use turtle extract in ophthalmology, it relieves cramps in epilepsy and asthma, and it helps as a home remedy for irritating cough, rattling cough as well as a home remedy for bronchitis. In addition, Parkinson's disease can be alleviated with the belladonna.
The atropine extracted from the belladonna relaxes the muscles and it helps as a home remedy for cramps in the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract. It also helps against menstrual pain. However, medically administered atropine can cause serious side effects: The mouth can dry out, the appetite is absent, the intestine clogged, sometimes the heart beats faster and the patients vomit.
The belladonna grows also in nutrient-rich locations. If children accidentally eat berries, they should be consulted immediately.> (Image: unpict / fotolia.com) The meadowsweet
Meadowsweet is a medicinal plant that many people do not even know. It contains analgesic substances that act similar to acetylsalicylic acid. Meadowsweet smells sweet and our ancestors seasoned it with the honey wine.
The real meadowsweet is about two meters high; the top of the leaf is dark green, the underside "hairy", the leaves are finely toothed. On the panicles grow small flowers. These smell sweet and are colored white-yellow. Meadowsweet blooms from June to August and grows on moist soils, often near streams. As a medicinal plant, it helps against gastritis and nausea. Also to increase the amount of urine for rheumatism or gout, it is extremely helpful.
The Teutons of Antiquity used meadowsweet as a herbal painkiller. This was not a superstition, because the herb contains salicylic acid. The pharmacist Felix Hoffmann made this substance in 1897 acetylsalicylic acid, and is still used as a painkiller.
Meadowsweet also has an anti-rheumatic effect, but its effects fluctuate greatly in the wild because of different locations. It is therefore better to take care of yourself in the pharmacy. (Image: Starover Sibiriak / fotolia.com) The remedy is in the flowers: The vegetable oil consists among other things of salicylaldehyde and salicylic acid methyl ester. The two substances split the body to salicylic acid. It works against inflammation, relieves pain and reduces fever.
The thimble
The thimble is famous since antiquity - and notorious. One hundred years ago, a tea made from leaves of the thimble was considered a cure for a weak heart. This is not wrong, because the glycosides of Digitalis purpurea make the heart beat stronger. The content of the glycosides in the plants varies, but these are also offered as medicines which the pharmaceutical obtains from the Fingerhu.
Using this poisonous plant directly can lead to death - even if the dosage is slightly too high. So do not even experiment around, the drug is prescribed for safe use as a finished preparation by the doctor. Thimble medicines contain extracts of digoxin and digitoxin. As tablets and prescribed by the doctor they help against disorders of the heart rhythm.
Thimble: Attention, even in smaller doses this is deadly. Children should be warned, as even small amounts of the plant are extremely toxic. (Image: matauw / fotolia.com) The valerian
The genus of valerian includes over 200 species, of which the great valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is the medically used. In Germany, for example, it grows in the Harz region - up to one meter high in good locations - but also in many Alpine locations. He likes damp and shady places, for medicinal use, he is now increasingly grown in Central Europe again. Incidentally, hangovers are attracted by the plants, as their smell resembles that of common cats.
The umbels are pink or white, the rhizomes in the soil lead to a perennial expulsion. The dried root, which contains numerous essential oils and alkaloids, is used. The valerian is an effective herbal tranquilizer, an effective calming tea can be mixed from it. However, it exudes a bitter odor by the contained isovaleric acid.
For internal restlessness, restlessness and increased irritability as well as sleep problems, this medicinal plant helps. In antiquity, it was already used as a diuretic herb and against cramps. Hildegard von Bingen recommended him as a home remedy for gout. He can also help against spasms in the gastrointestinal tract and nervous heart problems.
Dry extracts or the dried root in the tea are used. In studies, the healing effects could be assigned to any single substance contained, therefore, an interaction of numerous individual substances is suspected. The essences of the root are also used in the perfume industry as fragrances.
The flavonoid Linarin in Valerian is responsible for the sedative effect of the medicinal plant. For Linarin even an efficacy against Alzheimer's is suspected, this is still being researched. (Image: LianeM / fotolia.com) True St. John's wort
St. John's wort grows on the heath, ie in open landscapes with few trees. The leaves look "pierced". These bright spots are oil glands. The yellow petals are as dotted as the leaves. The oil glands contain hypericin, and that colors the oil red. If one rubs the flowers, the fingers turn dark red.
Although this led to many superstitions about a supposed "blood plant", but the healing power of St. John's wort is a reality. The substance Hyperforin and the terpenes in the plant have an antibacterial effect and help as a home remedy for burns, stomach and intestinal disorders.
St. John's wort is often processed into medicine: as capsules, pills and dragees, as a tea, as a drop, as freshly squeezed juice and as an oil.
Lavender and St. John's wort (here in dried form): Both plants are effective against depressive moods. (Image: photocrew / fotolia.com) St. John's wort is scientifically recognized to treat depression. But it takes a high dose and regular control of a doctor. St. John's wort is regarded as a "first aid" for depression and can lift the patient's mood before other therapies take effect. However, the care of the doctor is required here. Mild and moderate depression, treated only with St. John's Wort, can lead to severe depression. But then the herb no longer works, and relying on the plant is life-threatening. Hard Depressive are in fact acutely suicidal. Tea and capsules also help against mild anxiety disorders and inner restlessness.
St. John's wort oil can be applied to the skin to heal wounds and burns, relieve muscle pain as well as bruises, sprains and dislocations, nerve pain, lumbago and rheumatism.
The therapeutic efficacy of St. John's wort is probably due to the interaction of several active ingredients, but more details have not yet been explored. (Image: tverkhovinets / fotolia.com)Real opium poppy
"Among all the means of giving to man to relieve his sufferings, the Almighty has fallen, none is as fully applicable and as effective as opium." (Thomas Sydenham, 1624-1689)
The opium poppy is native to the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. The flower bud is one to three inches long and stands on hairy stems. The flowers reach a diameter of five to ten centimeters. Four white-purple-red petals are twice as large as the other petals. The flower blooms from June to August.
If you scratch the immature seed pods, a milky juice comes out, and with it the "queen of drugs": opium. The ancient Greeks used it as a sleep aid for children. But they were not the first Opium friends; the Bandkeramik culture already used the poppy, 6000 years before Christ. Opium poppy is thus one of the oldest cultivated plants. Cuneiform 4000s. Chr. Already report how medicine is made from sleeping mud.
The Sumerians, the first high culture of the Near East, called it the "plant of joy". From the Bronze Age, pots were made in the form of poppy capsules containing opium - and even opium whistles. The Egyptians used opium for religious ceremonies almost 4,000 years ago.
The opium poppy may no longer be grown privately with us today. In the Austrian Alpine region, however, there are still many fields. (Image: Moritz Becker / fotolia.com) The ancient Greeks knew exactly what opium stood for: The poppy capsule was the symbol of Morpheus, hence the mount Morphin, the god of dream sleep, for Thanatos, the god of death, and for Nyx, the mistress of the night. Dream, night and death, in other words, the dark romanticism - this importance has not lost the opium until today, including his children morphine and heroin.
The Romans loved the opium poppy as a drug; the rich consumed it in quantities. The ancient Chinese used opium poppy initially medically, later he became a folk drug.
The Christians, however, prohibited the consumption of opium - but not because of the addiction, but because of its medical power. Pain came in the Christian interpretation of God, so an efficient pain-stealing as opium was therefore considered a devil's work. The crusaders later brought the opium back to Europe - Arabic medicine used it in many ways.
From the poppy the healthy seeds can be eaten, they contain no sedating ingredients. (Image: Fotana / fotolia.com) The Greeks and Romans breathed through opium-soaked sleeping sponges; The Middle Ages stirred opium into the so-called Theriak, a supposed panacea. Laudanum, an opium tincture, was found in every pharmacy in the 19th century.
The German pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner isolated 1806 the alkaloid morphine from opium and Merck brought it in 1828 as a painkiller on the market. The medicine, known as morphine, was used on a massive scale in 1870/71 to treat wounded people - many of whom suffered from morphine addiction.
The goal now was to create an equally effective remedy that did not make one dependent. "Diamorphine" was launched on the market in 1874, and around 1900 it was produced as a heroin mass-produced product: to relieve pain, cough, and, ironically, history, to treat morphine addicts. But heroin was much faster than morphine, and it seemed much stronger. So it quickly leads to drug addiction. Therefore, most countries restricted trade and use; in Germany it may not be used as a remedy.
For illegal opium production, the unripe capsules on the poppy fields are scratched in the green state, as shown in the picture, and then the milk juice is released, which darkens as a result of oxidation. (Image: Vera Kuttelvaserova / fotolia.com) Heroin is considered the fastest addictive drug, both physically and mentally. In addition, the organism gets used to the substance very quickly and this leads to the fact that increasingly higher doses are taken at ever shorter intervals in order to stop the withdrawal. The latter means sweating, trembling and sleepless sleepless as well as body aches and circulatory problems.
Morphine is used today for severe pain: cancer pain, surgical wounds, heart attack or accidental injury - as drops, granules, Zäpchen, injection or tablet. Rohopium calms the pain, inhibits appetite, helps against diarrhea and brings peace to sleepless people. In addicts, the loss of appetite leads to weight loss. An overdose can cause respiratory paralysis and lead to death. The psychological consequences show up as lethargy and depression.
Opium is subject to the Narcotics Act and may only be prescribed as a Tinctura opii on a narcotic prescription for chronic diarrhea. Opioids, such as tilidine and tramadol, are still analgesics - especially in dental surgery.
Here in the picture is an old opium pipe to see. For centuries, opium has been smoked in China as a pain, anesthetic or intoxicant. (Image: Christian Gauthier / fotolia.com) The cowslip
The cowslip is native to us, it will bloom from March. In addition, they are also found in many other areas of Europe and Eurasia. Only in some areas, however, does it frequently in this country. It is under conservation, wild collecting is prohibited. It rarely gets higher than 25 centimeters, it likes calcareous but low-nitrogen soils.
It was first described by Carl von Linné in 1753, but as a medicinal plant it has only been used again for about 120 years. After Hildegard von Bingen and Hieronymus von Bock she fell into oblivion. It can help with diseases of the upper respiratory tract, with stubborn sinus infections it allows the accumulated secretion to run off better. Also in the bronchi the mucus can dissolve better. This is probably responsible for the saponins. However, medical studies on efficacy in human subjects are still missing.
As side effects, skin rash and stomach pain may occur, possibly a reaction to contained flavonoids. Traditionally, the cowslip is considered fertility, but it should also help with neuralgia, as a home remedy for migraine and nervous insomnia.
The cowslip (Primula veris) rarely occurs in the wild, so it should not be picked. In the pharmacy, it is available as a tea or extract. (Image: JRG / fotolia.com) The hornet
This almost forgotten medicinal plant was chosen as the medicinal plant of the year in 2018. It is widespread in the Mediterranean, it was introduced to other continents. Local accumulations in our region have become wild again as archaeophytes from the medieval cultivation as a medicinal herb. The plant likes dry loam and clay soils and was planted already in the Neolithic Age about 4000 years ago.
Even Dioscorides appreciated its expectorant properties, and Hildegard von Bingen used it as a strengthening wine elixir. Paracelsus saw the herb as a lung plant. Also against poisoning and as a home remedy for worms Andorn was previously appreciated. Today it is mostly used for respiratory diseases and for the treatment of loss of appetite. He is well tolerated, allergies are unknown.
In the naturopathy the upper parts of the Andornkrautes are used, as dry extract, tincture or in dried Teeform. A syrup from the fresh leaves was once used very successfully against cough. Traditionally, the tea is used for indigestion and gallbladder pain. Contained bitter juices increase the production of gastric and biliary secretions.
The hornet (Marrubium vulgare) looks a bit like the lemon balm, the contained healthy marrubiin makes it so bitter. (Image: terezqua / fotolia.com) The autumnal timeless
"Who does not know the tender virgin in the Lilac-gray robe,
Since then freezing flowers on autumnally desolated land! "
(The Herbstzeitlose, Emerenz Meier 1874-1928)
The therapeutic effect of St. John's wort is probably due to the interaction of several active ingredients, but more details have not yet been researched. (Image: tverkhovinets / fotolia.com) The Herbstzeitlose is up to 30 inches high; Parts of the plant grow underground to survive the cold period. In winter, a new one grows above the tuber and forms in summer up to a diameter of five centimeters. In the spring, the lancet-shaped leaves sprout up to 40 centimeters in length. They look similar to the wild garlic, and that often leads to poisoning.
The herb forms up to three flowers and their bloom forms fused to the shape of a tube. The ovary is in the ground. The timeless blooms from September to October. The capsule fruit in the form of an egg emerges from the soil in May, it swells in the next few weeks and turns brown. The plant is distributed from the south of the British Isles over France to northern Italy and east to the Ukraine. She loves wet meadows with rich nutrients in the windbreak.
The entire plant contains colchicine, a poisonous alkaloid - the flower is 1.8 percent, the seeds to 0.5 percent, the tuber to 0.2 percent and the leaves to 0.03 percent. The drug also remains in the dried plant. The pharmaceutics especially uses the seed. From this Semen Colchicin the Colchicum-Dispert is won. Each 15.6 milligram tablet contains 0.5 milligrams of colchicine. Colchicine helps against gout. In the treatment of cancer demecolcin is used, which also contains the timeless.
The autumnal season - here at its natural location in the Alpine Dolomites - looks very similar to the crocuses. However, it blooms in the fall, and may be taken because of their toxicity only as a pharmaceutically derived drug. (Image: markaay / fotolia.com) Homeopathy produces the "Colchicum autumnale" from tubers of the autumnal timbers - for this the tubers are minced and put into alcohol. Homeopaths use this remedy for gout, rheumatism and pregnancy problems. It is a prescription.
Self-experimentation is strongly discouraged because the plant can kill a human being. 60 grams of leaves, that is a handful, are sufficient. After a few hours the symptoms set in: The mouth burns, the swallowing is difficult, nausea and diarrhea give the hand. After a high dose, the breath stops, the circulation collapses, the poisoned die.
Children in the countryside are at risk because they get their hands on the plants when collecting the hay, when the timeless are blooming and therefore particularly poisonous. Even reports of poisoned milk from sheep and goats that ate the plants have come down to us. Adults play with their lives when they mistake the autumn time lot: Anyone who confuses them with the wild garlic or the leaves of an onion and uses them in just that amount easily exceeds a lethal dose.
(Dr. Utz Anhalt, dp, updated on 26.11.2018)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)