Woodruff - effect, use and cultivation

Fragrant lab herb - healing power from the forest

Waldmeister - also known as fragrant lab herb - we know from the Maibowle and from the jelly. It grows in deciduous forests of our latitudes. Little is known the lab herb as a medicinal plant. Here you will learn what remedies Waldmeister has, what he can be used in the kitchen and what to look out for when growing in your own garden.

contents

• Fragrant lab herb - healing power from the forest
• Waldmeister - the most important facts
• Origin and distribution
• Woodruff - Biology
• Traditional usage
• Is Woodruff poisonous?
• Healing effect of woodruff
• application areas
• Recipe for medicinal tea with woodruff
• How long do we take Woodruff to heal??
• Woodruff in the kitchen
• Grow woodruff
• overwinter
• Buy woodruff
• Which name does the lab herb have??

Waldmeister - the most important facts

• Waldmeister cleanses the blood, has an antiseptic effect, urinates, sweats and bile juices, has an anesthetic effect and was used for wound healing.
• It contains coumarin to a great extent, so in jello for children no real woodruff is used.
• The plant is famous for its fine smell. This is reflected in the Latin name Gallium odoratum - the probably smelling Labkraut. It is therefore also found in perfumes.
• His leaves are in bowling. Jelly and sweets popular.
• This lab herb is common in deciduous forests, is undemanding and prefers calcareous clay soil. He can simply grow in the garden.

From April to June, the white, star-shaped flowers of the woodruff. (Image: karo_s / fotolia.com)

Origin and distribution

The lab herb is native. It grows frequently in beech forests of Northern and Central Europe, in the East to West Asia up to 1400 meters. Waldmeister grows in Turkey, the Altai and Kazakhstan, also in northwestern Africa, in China and Korea. In America, he expanded as a neophyte.

Woodruff - Biology

Woodruff grows herbaceous up to 50 cm high and perennial. It forms a long and thin rhizome, which serves firstly for propagation and secondly for persistence.

He can be easily recognized by his leaves. These are lanceolate, up to 5 cm in size, and up to 8 of them accumulate in a leaf knot. In the middle they show a white color from the tip to the knot of the leaf. The leaf blade is narrower and runs sharply, the leaf margin is rough, the leaf surfaces mostly bald. The ovary is occupied by hook bristles.

relationship

The genus Labkräuter, to which the medicinal and spice plant belongs, comprises about 650 species. The more distant relatives are coffee and cinchona bark. As medicinal herbs were also the close relatives burr lab herb, meadow labkraut and genuine lab herb known.

A spring flower

Woodruff flowers from April to June. A nickname "the Maiblume" stems from the fact that the plant is a classic spring bloomer. The flowers are white and in the form of stars, the petals fourfold. They send out the woodruff scent emanating from coumarin. This scent is stronger with dried flowers than with fresh ones.

The flowers are vierzählig and have only a rudimentary cup, the petals are funnel-shaped with spatulate Kronlappen.

The fruits

The plant forms schizocarps, which disintegrate into two single-seeded partial fruits. These are up to 3 mm long, almost spherical and covered by up to 1.2 mm hook bristles. With these burdock, the part fruits attach to animal fur, bird feathers and clothing and spread this on.

proliferation

The labweed can reproduce in various ways. First, by cross-pollination, mostly via flies. Second, by self-pollination of the female genital organs by the male stamen, thirdly by the spread of the burdock. Fourth, it massively increases by forming foothills. The name Waldmeister also stems from the fact that the plants lay like a blanket over the forest floor.

For example, Waldmeister is used for the traditional Maybowle. (Image: Printemps / fotolia.com)

Traditional usage

The lab herb has been used as a seasoning for Maibowle, Berlin whites, ice cream or Waldmeister syrup since ancient times. Because of its fragrance, people hung bags with woodruff in the house, which should also fight moths.

As a remedy serves the dried herb of the not yet flowering plant. This promotes blood flow, inhibits inflammation and relieves cramps.

Is Woodruff poisonous?

The plant is classified as hardly poisonous. It contains up to 0.28% coumarin glycosides. Cumarin is released on drying, which can cause drowsiness such as headache and damage the liver if used for too long.

For a punch, it is best to use no more than 3 grams of fresh herbs per 1 liter of fluid. Because of coumarin, sodas have not been allowed to contain true woodruff since 1974, and flavorings may only contain up to two milligrams of coumarin per kilo. Alcohols are allowed up to five milligrams.

Healing effect of woodruff

We use the medicinal herb for menstrual cramps, cramps and urinary problems. It offers prophylaxis against bladder and urethral stones as well as congestion of the liver. Historically it was known as a remedy for jaundice (questionable) and for blood purification (meaningful).

It was supposed to preserve chastity in the sixteenth century, which was a dream of jammed Christians. A powder from the flowers served against burns. Not a bad idea, because the plant inhibits inflammation; Coumarin, tannins and flavonoids promote the regeneration of the skin.

A foot bath with flowers and leaves should make tired legs happy. Medically, this was also justified, because the lab herb opens the pores and thus increases blood circulation.

Overall: Woodruff works against inflammation as well as bacteria, has antioxidant and sometimes antiviral - against herpes simplex.

application areas

Ingested helps Waldmeister against inner restlessness, trouble falling asleep and discomfort in the period, as well as against the symptoms known as "spring fatigue".

Envelopes or cooled tea applied to the skin on the outside or baths with Waldmeister extracts help against skin injuries, boils and ulcers.

Recipe for medicinal tea with woodruff

For a woodruff tea, we pour a teaspoon of dried woodruff leaves per cup of hot water, let it steep for 7 minutes and sweeten with honey. We drink the mixture twice a day for about a week.

How long do we take Woodruff to heal??

We should not consume fragrant labweed in the long run and for no longer than one week at a time. Otherwise, overdose can cause headaches and liver problems. Pregnant women should keep their hands off Waldmeister.

Homemade Waldmeister syrup is great for refining drinks of all kinds. (Image: fotoknips / fotolia.com)

Woodruff in the kitchen

It is used in the kitchen as a seasoning for sweets and drinks. The taste is unique and even artificially copied. Pure Woodruff is best described as bittersweet-fresh.

Waldmeister is easy to process into syrup, which then gives white wine and sparkling wine the special note (Waldmeisterbowle) and goes well with fruit juices. The queen of the summer refreshment is an iced tea made from elderflower, fresh mint and woodruff leaves. Even Gundelrebe harmonizes with the lab herb, as well as meadowsweet, earth and raspberries.

The syrup and leaves are excellent in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, for example in caipirinha plus lab herb. Creams, pies, biscuits and fillings in countless variations can be enhanced with Waldmeister von Hausmannskost to the Aha experience. Here Waldmeister syrup offers.

Grow woodruff

The plant grows in nature on moist soil with many nutrients and lime. This corresponds to most garden floors. Here she feels most comfortable under large deciduous trees or north / east. The "Maiblume" is a perfect plant for a shade and swamp bed as for a forest garden and harmonizes with deadwood, mushrooms and ferns.

They sow between October and February, because Waldmeister is a cold germ. So it sprouts only after a long frosty season. The seeds need between three weeks and 3 months to germinate. Between the seeds you should keep a distance of 20 cm, so that the plants can unfold.

In the first year you do not fertilize, later you use compost. Fragrant lab herb always needs moisture, but does not like waterlogging. Ideal is the bank edge zone of a garden pond, a swamp bed or places that are exposed to the rain. The plant should not dry out, this can also destroy the root system and kill the lab herb.

As beautiful as the flowers look, they reap the leaves before flowering. Then the taste is more intense.

Since the plant is a cold germ, it should be sown between October and February. (Image: Kalle Kolodziej / fotolia.com)

overwinter

The master of the forest is indigenous and not a "sissy" who goes down with the slightest frost. "Like in the forest" we make him in winter a bed of leaves, small wood or dry staudenstängeln. This also pleases the insects. We put potted plants in the staircase until March.

Buy woodruff

If you buy Woodruff to cut it down or pluck the leaves, watch out for the earth. Is this wet? Are the leaves abundant? A well supplied with nutrients plant distinguishes a lush growth of the leaves. If, however, the distances between the leaf nodes are large, this indicates a lack of care.

Seeds can be purchased from all major seed manufacturers. Pay attention to the price: Woodruff is neither rare nor are the seeds hard to win. 10 grams of seeds should not cost more than a maximum of two euros. Everything else is outrageous. You can also buy woodruff tea in bags at tea shops.

Which name does the lab herb have??

Woodruff is known as May herb, friend of the heart, Waldmeier or Mäserich, also as a member herb in Silesia, limb or Halskräutlein in Alsace, Herfreudeli in Bern, Leberkraut, Mäsch or Herzfreud in Mecklenburg, as Mariengras in East Prussia, as a star liver herb in Switzerland. These names show that humans used woodruff against suffering from liver, heart and limbs.

Why is the plant called Woodruff? The first interpretation refers to the widespread spread of the lab herb, which populates beech forests nationwide. Also the French pure of the bois, queen of the forest, allows this assessment. In Latin, the plant was called matrisylva, the wood nut.

The term Waldmeier could also have led to the woodruff and derives from the word Miere, which is also in Vogelmiere.
(Dr. Utz Anhalt)

literature
The Great Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants. Klagenfurt 1994.