Red elder - honeysuckle plant of the family - in the official medicine is not used, but in folk medicine, she found the application. Very convenient red elderberry wash hands when they are very dirty - laundered how ingrained dirt and resin plant.

What it is and where it grows red elderberry

Sambucus racemosa is a small tree or a branched shrub, which often carry decorative features at gardening settlements. The trunk of the red elderberry has a peculiar appearance: it has a gray shade with brown bark, incised elongated grooves. Young twigs and leaves of red elderberry have more intense color with purple hues.

If you break a twig, you can see the greenish wood inside her soft, light, spongy structure reddish core. Leaves consist of several unpaired leaflets, green above, bottom slightly grayish, ovate with pointed edges. Flowers are white, slightly yellowish, with a peculiar smell of elderberry, gathered in inflorescences appear in mid-spring. The fruits (red berries bright brush with inside three bones) appear in July - a tree while looking very picturesque.

Sambucus racemosa is usually planted in the ravines, sprinkle the shores of water bodies with a view to strengthening them, as well as a hedge. It is also often planted near the places of storage of grain (sheds and barns), because the smell frightened rodents.

The chemical composition and properties of the red elderberry - Does it have something useful?

The chemical composition of plants is insufficiently studied. However, it was found that unripened fruit and leaves Elderberry sambunigrin contain toxic substances that the human body breaks down to form hydrogen cyanide. In the flowers, fruits and leaves found tannins, sugars, organic acids, fatty non-drying oil, vitamins, some of the essential oil Essential oils and conception: can help the roses?   - This composition allows the use of this plant in the treatment of certain diseases.

In folk medicine used antipyretics, laxatives, vomiting, pain relievers, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial properties of the red elderberry.

Which diseases using the red elder and what is to be feared in this case,

The main thing - it does not use the young shoots, leaves and fruit of this plant, as there is a risk of poisoning with hydrocyanic acid. In folk medicine, red elder used, however, this is done with great care.

For example, tea from the flowers and the red elderberry juice from berries (only mature!) Is used as an analgesic, diuretic, remedy for colds (both inside and rinse the mouth and throat), pain in joints Joint pain - how to understand what is going on?   and in the spine (rheumatism Rheumatic fever - are possible complications of heart , Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis - permanent debilitating joint pain , Osteochondrosis), pain in various diseases of bones and joints (heel spur, osteomyelitis), as the anti-inflammatory agent in the treatment of gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer.

The fruit and bark of the red elderberry is used as an emetic and purgative. Tea made from elderberry flowers used as an expectorant and anti-inflammatory remedy for colds, bronchitis, bronchial asthma. There is even information that the plant is used to treat cancer patients.

How to cook red elder

In folk medicine, the following recipes are known red elderberry preparation for the treatment of:

• a decoction of the roots of the red elderberry: teaspoon dried crushed roots of the red elderberry pour a glass of water, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for about five minutes, and then insist for an hour, strain, pour the boiled water to the original level and take on a tablespoon 3 times a day half an hour after a meal as an antipyretic, diuretic and laxative;
• decoction of red elderberry branches: teaspoon dried crushed red elderberry branches pour a glass of water to cook the same as the previous decoction and drink a tablespoon 3 times daily after meals as a diaphoretic and diuretic;
• red elderberry infusion of flowers: a tablespoon of dry powdered flowers of the red elderberry pour a glass of boiling water, leave for an hour, strain and take two tablespoons three times a day after meals with asthma and rheumatism.

Red elderberry is not an official medicinal herb, so if there is no experience of its use in the treatment of diseases, it is better not to take risks and rely on proven medications.

Galina Romanenko

How and where to grow coriander

Coriander - is an annual herbaceous plant 30-70 cm, which belongs to the family umbrella. It has a taproot and direct naked highly branched stem. Basal leaves plants dlinnochereshkovye, tripartite. Lower stem leaves are short, upper - sessile, pinnately divided, with linear segments. Flowers have coriander small, white or pink, gathered at the ends of shoots umbrellas, blooms in June - July. Fruit - brown globular dvusemyanka 2-5 mm in diameter, ripen fruits in August - September.

Coriander is found in central and southern parts of the country: in the Caucasus, in central Russia. It grows well in the Crimea and Central Asia. Often it is grown in gardens as a spice (cilantro). Photophilous plant during the flowering period and sensitive to lack of moisture. If the plant is grown for leafy greens, it is often sown several times per season. It grows well next to other vegetable crops (for example, next to cauliflower) and in the shade of apple trees.

Chemical composition

With the purpose of drug use coriander leaves and fruits, which are the starting material for the preparation of essential oil Essential oils and conception: can help the roses? .

The coriander contain essential oils, fatty oils (in its composition there are oleic, linoleic, palmitic, stearic and other fatty acids), alkaloids (organic substance with high biological activity), vitamins (B group, ascorbic acid, rutin, carotene - thereof in the body gets vitamin A), pectin, starch, vegetable proteins, sterols and steroids (fat-like substances necessary for proper metabolism), tannins (they have astringent properties and are used for diseases of the digestive system), organic acids (actively involved in the exchange substances), simple sugars. In fruits greater essential oil than in the leaves.

Essential oil of coriander contained terpenes (hydrocarbons obtained from the resin of conifers and certain other plants), linalool (terpene alcohols with the smell of lily of the valley) and geraniol (terpene alcohols with the smell of roses). Essential oil of coriander has a pungent odor and burning taste, which becomes very pleasant when highly diluted.

For what purpose can be used coriander

The leaves of coriander are used as leafy greens and vitamin supplements to dishes. In perfumes and cosmetics, it is used to make the product smell of rose and lily of the valley.

Herbs and fruits of coriander are raw material medicines. Medicinal products derived from them have antimicrobial, wound healing, protivogemorroynyh, choleretic, laxative, analgesic, expectorant (soften cough, increasing sputum) properties, improve digestion, promote fat burning and treat some mental illnesses Mental illness - ashamed to ask for help? .

Preparations from the fruit of coriander are used as an aphrodisiac appetite, improves digestion and choleretic agent in liver and gallbladder, flatulence, as an expectorant, protivogemorroynyh, wound healing, antihelminthic and analgesic, to improve the taste and smell of drugs. Essential oil of coriander has antimicrobial activity in diluted form it is used in inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity and upper respiratory tract.

Fruits coriander come along with Helichrysum flowers, trefoil leaves and mint Mint and its useful properties: aromatic freshness   in the tea choleretic and laxative and protivogemorroynyh fees. Coriander essential oil citral is prepared, which is indicated for the treatment of inflammatory eye diseases.

How to cook the drug coriander at home

Traditional medicine has long been used coriander to treat various diseases and has accumulated experience in its preparation:

• infusion of coriander fruits: fruit tablespoon coriander pound, pour a glass of boiling water, wrap and infuse for half an hour, then drain and take 2 tablespoons 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• a decoction of the fruit of coriander: a teaspoon of crushed fruits, pour a glass of cold boiled water, bring to a boil and boil for three minutes; to add to the original level once again bring to a boil, cool, strain and take on a third cup three times a day for depression and increased sexual excitability;
• Tincture of the fruits of coriander 4 tablespoons chopped coriander fruit pour a liter of vodka, insist in a dark place at room temperature for three weeks, strain and take 15-20 drops three times a day, drinking water, depression Depression - a little more than a bad mood .