About black elder made legends and did it for good reason. A few centuries ago, the useful properties of this plant were known.
Our ancestors were confident that the black elder gives people health and longevity.
In the Middle Ages elder was called "witch bush," people believed that evil spirits find shelter on its branches.
The elder is considered a close relative of honeysuckle. On this perennial shrub grow small fragrant berries of black or dark purple. In nature, a red berry still grows, but, it is not used by man for any purpose, because it is poisonous.
Modern phytotherapists and herbalists in the treatment of many diseases prefer this shrub for its healing power and rich composition of vitamins and minerals.
On the territory of Russia, the shrub began to spread inland from the young regions. In the southern regions, the bush can reach heights of up to 10 meters, and in the central and northern regions it is not more than 3.5-4 meters.
The elderberry is a rather unpretentious plant, so the halo of its habitat is quite wide: from New Zealand to the Caucasus. The bush can multiply in several ways: with the help of cuttings, seeds and layers. If you leave a broken twig on the ground, a young bush will grow in this place in a few years.
Inflorescence large umbelliform, in which specific smells yellowish-white color. For medicinal purposes all parts of the plant are used, but inflorescences and fruits are most often used. Flowers are harvested only after they have fully blossomed, and they need to be torn off with whole inflorescences.
You need to do this on a sunny and dry day after dinner, when the dew comes off, but flowers are dried only in places without access to direct sunlight( in the shade).The berries ripen in the fall( late September), they are harvested at this time.
Dry elderberry flowers are suitable for use for 2 - 3 years, while berries are stored without losing their healing properties - 5 - 6 months.
Many useful substances are contained in the inflorescences: is several organic acids, essential oils, tannins, carotene, choline and much more. They are harvested without leaves and rough petioles. Do this in late spring.
The roots need to be digged in late autumn. They are washed, cleaned, dried and ground to a powdery state. The shelf life of the dry means is about 5 years. Store the substance in a linen bag in a dry, well ventilated room. With high humidity, the product will quickly deteriorate and lose its healing qualities.
In ripe berries there is a large amount of ascorbic acid, glucose, carotene, fructose, colorants and free acids. Immature fruits contain poisonous substances.
Fresh leaves contain carotene, vitamin C, A, essential oils, tannin, aldehydes.
In the bark of the bush - essential oils, choline, phytosterols.
In infancy, inflorescences and berries, bark, seeds and roots are most often used - much less often.
- Therapeutic properties of
- Nutritional value and caloric value
- Harm and contraindications
- Methods of application in folk medicine
Therapeutic properties of
- Inflorescence of .They are endowed with anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic and antibacterial properties. They are used in the role of diaphoretic and laxative. Elder flowers are successfully used to treat colds, flu, sore throat, bronchitis. Decoctions are used to rinse your throat. Just infusions of inflorescences of black elder help with gout, arthritis and rheumatism. The phytoncides contained in the inflorescences "kill" the malignant bacteria.
- berries are used only in dried form, fresh fruits are poisonous, and during cooking and drying the poison has the property of breaking down. With the help of berries heal from hepatitis, peptic ulcer not in acute stage, malaria and neuralgia. It is possible to use them in the complex therapy of certain oncological ailments. Vitamins that make up the fruit activate the growth and reproduction of healthy cells. And biologically active components prevent the development of pathogenic coca. If a day to eat a few ripe fruits, after a few months, the vessels will be cleaned and become more elastic.
- leaves are used as a fastening, diuretic and antipyretic agent. Some of them are used as a soothing and diaphoretic. Decoction of the leaves are recommended for general strengthening of the body. Clean, steamed leaves of elderberry can be applied to burns and diaper rash, bruises, skin inflammations and even to boils.
- The bark is used in the combined treatment of various kidney diseases, it helps with dropsy, edema and urethritis. With its help they treat gout, rheumatism, arthritis, skin diseases. Decoction from the bark of the bush activates metabolic processes and significantly increases the body's defenses.
- With the help of black elderberry, they increase immunity, hemoglobin and improve blood composition.
- Infusions from berries and inflorescences are used as a prophylactic against colorectal cancer and prostatitis.
Read about the beneficial properties and contraindications of blackberries. Can it be used to treat diseases?
And in this article you can get acquainted with the therapeutic properties of artichoke.
Nutritional value and calorific value of
Nutritional value per 100 g of product:
- 0,65 grams - proteins;
- 0,5 gram - fats;
- 11.5 grams - carbohydrates;
- 0,65 grams - ash;
- 79.8 grams - water.
Harm and contraindications
Be careful! Elderberry has contraindications for use.
Do not forget the fact that this plant is slightly toxic. Therefore, do not use mindless drugs on its basis. Neglect this rule is impossible, under other circumstances it is possible to cause irreversible complications to their health.
In any case it is not recommended to use elderberry in any form:
- for women who expect the birth of a child and nursing mothers;
- for patients diagnosed with chronic gastrointestinal ailments and ulcerative colitis;
- to people who have a disease such as diabetes insipidus;
- age is up to 12 years. To small children to give broths or infusions from elder eggs is strictly forbidden.
If you have any doubts about some other diseases, before taking elderly medicines, talk to your doctor.
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On the healing properties of buckwheat honey you can read in this article.
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Ways of using in folk medicine
- Catarrhal diseases .To treat them, you need to prepare the next broth from the flowers of elderberry: take 1 tablespoon of raw materials. We put it in enameled dishes and pour a glass of steep boiling water. Then put on the stove and bring to a boil, the fire is made minimal and thus we give the mixture to languish another 10 - 15 minutes. After the brew cool down, filter it and take 3 to 4 times a day for ½ cup before each meal.
- Treatment of chronic constipation .We take the young leaves of the plant and boil them in honey. The received medicinal preparation we take inside on 1 table spoon 2 times a day - in the morning and in the evening before a dream. Kidney Diseases and Skin Diseases .To treat these diseases you need to make a decoction from the bark of the bush. Take a few spoons of crushed elderberry bark and pour it with boiling water. We let it brew for several hours. Baths from the ready-made broth help with rheumatism and arthritis.
- From the roots and bark, a powder is used, which is used to treat with wet ulcers, purulent wounds and burns.
- With , hemorrhoids use plant leaves. We take 8 - 10 young leaves, place them in clean dishes and fill them with a glass of boiling water. Then add 1 teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of sage. We insist for 1 hour. Inside use for a month every day for half a glass.
- The joints of can be cured by applying a compress on them, moistened in a drug from the flowers of chamomile and elderberry.
- With severe headaches and insomnia , a bandage is placed on the head, previously moistened with infusions from the roots and flowers of black elderberry.
- With , the climacterium is assigned a decoction of flowers.
- Brew from the leaves and bark are taken at night as laxative .
- For the treatment of cancerous tumors use extract from berries of black elderberry. Wine extract, prepared from ripe fruits should be taken inside. It works well for skin cancer, and jam and jam - for stomach cancer.
- In beriberi, osteochondrosis and weakened immunity , the following remedy is prepared: take ripe berries( 1kg), place them in a clean enamel pan and cover them with sugar( 1kg).We leave for a day in a cool room. We strain the resulting syrup and store it in a dark glass bottle in the refrigerator. Adult patients take 1 dessert spoon before meals. Therapeutic course - 1,5 - 2 months.
- Female diseases such as cervical erosion, cervicitis and colpitis are treated with a decoction prepared in this way: take 1 tablespoon of elderberry bark powder and cook it in 500 ml of water for 10 minutes. After the broth cools down, filter it and use it for syringing. The procedure can be performed until the symptoms of the disease completely disappear( in critical days, douching can not be done).
Folk methods and means are effective only if you do not violate the recommended dosage.
In any case, do not forget about the qualified medical care, without which the treatment may not be complete and ineffective.
