Useful and medicinal properties of capers of spiny( capers of prickly)

A semi-shrub with a woody main stalk, from which long, long branches up to 2 m long extend in all directions. Numerous small leaves of round or elliptical shape with a point on the top of the

ke, on short petioles, at the base of the petioles there are stipules in the form of thorns. Flowers single, large( 5-8 cm in diameter), white, sometimes with a cream or pinkish tinge( against the background of dark foliage quite spectacular).The plant blooms in May-June, sometimes twice( in September-October).Fruits are oblong-oval, fleshy, berry-like, up to 2 cm long, green in color. At ripening, four swirling leaves of bright red color are revealed on the inside, on which are numerous brown seeds. The root is thick, powerful, 10-12 m long, burning;Fresh roots cause burns and irritation of the mucous membranes.

Capers spiny grow on loess, stony-gravelly slopes and screes, less often - shallow-landed slopes and plains, usually in the foothills of the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Western Pamirs at an altitude of 400-1000 m.

Medicinal raw materials are the roots or bark of roots, branches, leavesand seeds.

Powder from the bark of the roots, infusion or decoction is taken internally with brucellosis, jaundice, liver diseases, weakness of the nerves, especially with hysteria, sciatica, rheumatism and other diseases.

Fruits of capers are eaten with pains in the joints, radiculitis and neuroses. It is believed that the fruits strengthen the liver, heart, spleen and lungs, and also help in goiter, diabetes, angina and poor digestion. Powder from buds of capers improves appetite and is useful in diseases of the liver and spleen.

When limb paralysis, radiculitis and rheumatism take a bath from the bark of the roots. Fresh bark roots are chewed with toothache. Dry powder from the bark of the roots or decoctions from the roots are used externally for the treatment of wounds and ulcers.

Juice from the leaves is drunk as a vermifuge. Application of

Infusion of the bark of the roots: 20 g it is insisted 1-2 hours in 0.5 liters of boiling water and drink 1/2 cup infusion 3 times daily before meals.