Blue screech balls can brighten or clog the area. Therefore, the plant must be strictly monitored. However, it will not be superfluous to have it in the garden, because the culture is famous for its healing properties.
Ball-headed mordovnik (Echinops sphaerocephalus) in its properties is no different from ordinary (Echinops ritro) (see Mordovnik ordinary), only significantly exceeds the latter in growth. Its peduncles sometimes rise up to two meters. I grow it as a biennial. I sow seeds in open ground in early spring, as soon as the soil warms up. I put 3-4 seeds in the hole, and after germination I choose the most powerful plant (I remove the weak ones).
Mordovnik is unpretentious, grows on any soil, but develops better on fertile soil, giving a richer harvest of medicinal seeds. In the first year, it forms only a rosette of leaves. It hibernates well, and in the spring it quickly starts to grow. Blooms in July.
The seeds ripen unevenly, so you have to pick them selectively. Mordovnik gives self-seeding throughout the site and can become a malicious weed.
The mature seeds of all types of scabbard contain fatty oil, the alkaloid echinopsin and nitric acid salt, which is used in medicine for lesions of the central and peripheral nervous system. Echinopsin is similar in properties to strychnine, but less toxic, in small doses it has an exciting effect, increases the reflex excitability of the spinal cord, tones up the systemic muscles. In addition, it is effective in normalizing blood pressure: small doses increase it, and large doses lower it.
In folk medicine, muzzle seeds are used to treat patients with hypertension, atherosclerosis, muscle atrophy, and heart failure.
Infusion: 3 tsp seeds, pour a glass of boiling water, insist overnight in a dark place. Strain through several layers of gauze lined with cotton wool. Drink 1/4 tbsp. in a day.
Tincture: Pour 20 g of seeds with 0.5 l of 70% alcohol. Insist for 20 days in a dark place at room temperature, shaking daily. Drink at elevated pressure up to 20 drops 3 times a day, dissolving in 50 ml of water, half an hour before meals for two months. Under reduced pressure - 10 drops, 2 times a day.
Seeds of scabbard in composition with herbs of a string, calamus, St. John's wort and celandine are used to treat psoriasis.
"Ural gardener", No. 7, 2020
