Lungwort medicinal (Pulmonaria officinalis) - an unusual beautiful plant with spotted leaves, for which flower growers love it. This plant is distinguished by such a phenomenon, which is not often found in flowering plants, such as a change in the color of the corolla of a flower during its flowering.
Since ancient times, lungwort was known as a medicinal plant, which was used to treat pulmonary diseases. Hence the scientific name of the genus Pulmonaria - from the Latin word pulmowhich means "lung". The people call the lungwort a lungwort.
Medunitsa grows almost throughout Russia. It is a perennial herb with a creeping rhizome, thin adventitious roots and erect stems 15–40 cm high. The leaves have a velvety pubescence and ovoid shape with a pointed tip.
Blooming shoots of lungwort in the spring sunny garden are visible from afar. Its juicy stem with alternate oval leaves ends with a bunch of flowers with a long corolla tube and a limb, in young flowers - violet-blue, and after pollination - bluish-pink. Plants bloom in May. After flowering, closer to the middle of summer, a fruit is formed - four nuts pointed at the end
Lungwort is a melliferous, medicinal and food plant. The plant's spring root leaves are used in spring salads, and in England it is specially grown in large areas for use in salads.
Medicinal raw materials
For medicinal purposes, the entire aerial part of the plant is used, collected before the blooming of flowers and during flowering. The collected grass is dried in a dark place. The smell of the grass is weak, honeyed, very pleasant. The taste is sweet, which allows you to combine it with any other salad plants.
Chemical composition and medicinal use of medicinal lungwort
The lungwort has the richest chemical composition. It contains substances that prevent the occurrence of blood clots, affecting the composition of the blood, etc. But, first of all, in folk medicine, it is used for all types of lung diseases, including cancer.
Also, lungwort is used as a diuretic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antiseptic. This plant improves the functioning of the body's immune system, helps with kidney and bladder diseases, is an enveloping and hemostatic agent.
The silicic acid contained in lungwort has a positive effect on connective tissues, treats inflammation of the mucous membrane of our stomach, throat, intestines and mouth.
In its pure form for pulmonary diseases, lungwort is used in the form of decoctions and alcohol tincture. To prepare a water broth, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of chopped dry grass with 1 cup boiling water, insist in a warm place for 1-2 hours, strain. Take 1-2 tbsp. spoons 3 times a day.
For the same purposes, herbalists often use infusion of lungwort on beer... For this, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of chopped grass must be poured with 1 liter of beer, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey and cook until the volume is reduced by half. Take 1-2 tbsp. spoons 3 times a day before meals.
For cooking alcohol tincture it is necessary to fill the dishes with dry leaves by a third, pour vodka to the top, leave for 15 days. Take 1 teaspoon with water 3 times daily before meals. In severe forms of diseases, the above doses are increased by 1.5–2 times.
The most widespread was the lungwort as part of the collection with other herbs for pulmonary diseases.
Often used collection, consisting of equal shares of lungwort herb, anise fruit, elecampane root, coltsfoot leaves, violet herb. To prepare the infusion, you need 1.5 tbsp. pour spoons of the chopped collection with 1 glass of water, leave for 3 hours, bring to a boil, boil for 15 minutes, strain. Take 0.3 cups 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals as an expectorant.
For the same purposes, a collection is used, consisting of 3 hours of lungwort herb, 2 hours.anise fruits, 2 hours plantain leaves, 1 hour pine buds, 1 hour thyme herb. To prepare the infusion, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of collection with 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 40 minutes, drain. Take 0.4 cups 3 times a day.
The same effect is obtained by a collection consisting of equal parts of lungwort herb, plantain leaves, sage herb and centaury.
For cooking infusion you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of the crushed mixture with 1 cup boiling water, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey, cook for 4-5 minutes. Take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day before meals.
In chronic bronchitis in folk medicine, a collection consisting of equal parts of lungwort herb, plantain leaves, licorice root, coltsfoot leaves, violet grass is often used.
To prepare the infusion, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of the chopped mixture with 1 glass of cold water, leave for 2 hours, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, leave for 10 minutes, drain. Take 0.25 glasses 4 times a day 30 minutes before meals.
Many herbalists use a collection consisting of 1 tsp of lungwort herb, 3 tsp of rose hips, 3 tsp of St. John's wort, 1 tsp of mint leaves, 1 tsp of knotweed herb. To prepare the infusion, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of collection with 1 glass of boiling water, insist in a thermos for 1.5 hours, strain. Take 1 glass hot 4-5 times a day 30 minutes before meals. The course of treatment is long, every 6 weeks you need to take a break for 1 week.
With dry cough and whooping cough, a collection consisting of 1 tsp of lungwort herb, 2 tsp of sunflower seeds, 1 tsp of sunflower leaves, 1 tsp of coltsfoot grass helps well. To prepare the infusion, you need 2 tbsp. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the crushed mixture, leave in a warm place for 30 minutes, drain. Then add honey and lemon juice. Take 2-3 tbsp. spoons 5-6 times a day.
For pulmonary tuberculosis, many herbalists consider an effective collection consisting of 2 hours of lungwort herb, 3 hours of St. John's wort, 2 hours of knotweed herb, 2 hours of licorice root, 1 hour of burnet root. To prepare the infusion, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of the crushed mixture with 1 glass of boiling water, insist in a thermos for 2 hours, strain. Take 1 glass 4 times a day 30 minutes before meals. The course of treatment is long - every 2 months of treatment - 10 days off.
And for gastric bleeding, a collection consisting of 2 hours of lungwort herb, 2 hours of yarrow herb, 2 hours of nettle leaves, 1 hour of meadow geranium herb is used. To prepare the infusion, you need 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of collection with 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes, drain. Take 0.25 glasses 4 times a day.
Traditional healers use lungwort for nervous diseases, headaches, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, for goiter, for increasing the body's defenses, for hemorrhoids, etc.
Culinary uses of lungwort
To a much lesser extent, lungwort is known as a vegetable plant. Young basal leaves of lungwort are used to prepare vitamin salads, soups, mashed potatoes, side dishes for meat and fish dishes. With a weakened thyroid gland, freshly harvested lungwort herb should be eaten daily in the form of salads.
Cm. culinary recipes with medicinal lungwort:
- Vinegar with herbs "Czech"
- Lungwort salad with lemon balm
- Lungwort soup with stew
- Pies with lungwort
- Lungwort salad with green onions and eggs
- Green caviar from lungwort, wild garlic and celery
- Lungwort salad with potatoes and spicy tomato sauce
- Broth with lungwort and meatballs
Lungwort is one of the few plants that, when dried, salted and pickled, retains vitamin C. That is why in England, lungwort is bred on special plantations as a valuable vegetable crop.
In addition, it is very easily cultivated, multiplying by parts of rhizomes, dividing the bush, and also by seeds. And for its cultivation, shady and semi-shady places with loose, nutritious and moderately moist soil are suitable. It is especially important that the plants are shaded during the hottest part of the day. Let it be even a translucent shadow from other plants growing nearby.
Harvesting of medicinal lungwort
It is recommended to collect lungwort during its flowering period or when the flowers have not yet opened and are in buds. Young shoots with flowers are cut almost to the very root, damaged leaves are removed.
Then the stems of the plant are tied in small bunches and hung to dry in the shade under a canopy, avoiding getting wet in the rain. The prepared raw materials can also be dried in the oven at a temperature of no more than 40 ° C. Finished raw materials should be stored in a cool dry place.
Read also the article Lungwort is a living forest grass.
"Ural gardener" No. 37, 2017
