Nettle
is a plant that contains vitamins C, K, B, carotene, pantothenic acid, chlorophyll, salts of iron, potassium, calcium, sulfur, sugar, proteins.
The most common are nettle( U. dioica L.) and nettles stinging( U. urens L.).
The generic name comes from the Latin verb urere - burn, since the whole plant is covered with burning hairs. Species definition means "dioecious" for the arrangement of same-sex flowers.
Nettle aspiration
Perennial herbaceous plant spread throughout the central part of Russia. It grows everywhere in the forests, near housing, near fences, along roadsides, in kitchen gardens and on wastelands. Folk names - a sting, a jalousie, a stalking, a stalker, a coffin.
A stem with a height of 40-150 cm, straight, tetrahedral. Leaves opposite, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, at the base heart-shaped, coarse toothed along the edges, on long petioles. All the green parts of the plant are densely covered with burning and ordinary hairs. The flowers are small, collected in axillary drooping inflorescences;female inflorescences more dense, green, masculine - thinner than female, yellowish. Fruit is a single-seeded dry nut. Blossoms from June to September. Fruits ripen in July - September.
The plant has found wide application both in folk, and in traditional medicine and cooking. Use as the whole plant, and individual parts - stems, leaves, seeds and root.
Chemical composition. In dense nettle contains formic, pantothenic, coffee, ferulic and n-coumaric acids, histamine, acetylcholine, ascorbic acid, carotene and other carotenoids, vitamins K and group B, glycoside, urticin, phytoncides, chlorophyll, tannins and protein substances, starch,iron, calcium, zinc, etc.
Action. Has hemostatic, choleretic and estrogenic effects, strengthens the digestive system, reduces flatulence, lowers cholesterol in the blood. In addition, it has a diuretic, tonic, anti-inflammatory properties, regulates disorders of carbohydrate metabolism.
Application in medicine. In therapeutic practice is used inside as a hemostatic and blood coagulant agent for menopausal, hemorrhoidal, gastrointestinal and other bleedings, for normalization of the ovarian-menstrual cycle, strengthening of the walls of blood vessels, etc. Nettle can increase uterine contractions, has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system,promotes rapid healing of the affected tissues, as well as an increase in the hemoglobin content in the blood erythrocytes, therefore it is used in the treatment of malocciand I.In addition, it is prescribed for atherosclerosis, rheumatism, inflammatory processes in the kidneys, bladder, liver diseases, hemorrhoids, etc. It is part of the vitamin tea and doses, taken with gastrointestinal diseases, rheumatism, gallbladder and liver diseases, prostatitis, avitaminosis.
In dermatology, dental nettle preparations are used for eczema, psoriasis, vulgar and rosacea, vasculitis, furunculosis, neurodermatitis, alopecia and vitiligo.
Widely used as a food product for preparing various dishes.
Stinging nettle
An annual herbaceous plant 15 to 60 cm high, with a copiously ramified tetrahedral stem. The whole plant is covered with burning hairs. The leaves are small, ovate or elliptical, serrate along the edge. Flowers are small, greenish, collected in axillary dense inflorescences. Blooms from summer to autumn. Chemical composition of .The plant contains vitamins A, B and C, pantothenic acid, iron and calcium salts, tannin, tannins, glycoside, etc.
Action. It has a stimulating, disinfecting, revitalizing, soothing and toning action, it normalizes the processes of cell reproduction and remineralization, regulates water and fat balance, has a strengthening effect on the body, and also acts as a blood cleanser and expectorant.
Application in medicine. The plant is used for hemoptysis, various bleeding, tuberculosis, pertussis, gout. Since nettle has a favorable effect on metabolism, it is used for allergies, atherosclerosis, anemia, liver diseases. In addition, decoction of nettle is used to improve appetite, with nervous disorders, as a diuretic, with urticaria, whooping cough, bronchitis, choking, stomach diseases, rheumatism and acne. The broth of nettle on milk helps with vomiting and pains in the stomach.
Geographical spread of .It grows in shady moist forests, both coniferous and deciduous, on felling areas, among shrubs, along roads, near dwellings, in wasteland and weedy places.
Distributed almost throughout the USSR, except the Far North, north-eastern Siberia, deserts and semi-deserts of Central Asia.
The main areas of blanks - Belarus and Ukraine, the Bashkir ASSR, Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, the Tatar ASSR.
Collection and drying. Collect nettle leaves during flowering in gloves or plants mow and, when not only the leaves wither, but also the stems that lose stinging, the leaves are cut off with bare hands.
Dry in the shade, in the attics, under the awnings.
Medicinal raw materials .Finished raw materials - a leaf of nettle( Folium Urticae) consists of dark green, oblong, pointed leaves with a rounded base, which often have a heart-shaped groove. Edge of leaf is large-serrate. The surface of the leaf with light, sparse hairs. The odor is peculiar, the taste is bitter-herbaceous.
GOST 12529-67 allows: moisture content not more than 14%;blackened and browned leaves not more than 5%;other parts of nettle not more than 5%;crushed parts passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 3 mm, not more than 10%;organic impurity not more than 2%;mineral - no more than 1%.
Inexperienced collectors instead of a nettle nettle leaf collect a leaf of a nettle burning - Urtica urens L. In raw materials they differ on a wedge-shaped or wide-wedged base and a notched edge. The leaves of the white cloak - Lamium album L., called in the people by the deaf nettle, have the same shape as the leaves of the dioecious nettle, but are covered with soft and colorless hairs. Chemical composition of .The leaves contain glycoside urtisin, up to 5% chlorophyll, carotenoids( carotene, xanthophyll, xanthophyll epoxide, violaxanthin), more than 2% tannins, vitamin C, pantothenic acid, chlorophyll precursors - protoporphyrin and coproporphyrin-1, etc.
Fresh leaves of nettle and juiceof them contain phylloquinone - vitamin K, but in dry form it is absent.
Action and application. Fresh leaves of nettle have a hemostatic effect. As shown by Professor IE Akopov, dry leaves do not exert such an effect, but, on the contrary, slow down the process of blood coagulation by about 2 times.
Despite this, the nettle leaf has versatile applications. It is used as an anti-inflammatory, anti-anemic, diuretic and antiplatelet agent. In combination with other drugs it is used for the treatment of rheumatism, arthrosis, gastric diseases, etc. We have observed good results in the treatment of psoriasis with a collection containing nettle leaf and pochechuyu grass in the smallest powder. Use the mixture for 1 teaspoon before eating.
Alcohol extract from a nettle leaf containing chlorophyll is used to tint the alcohol solution of mint oil, known as tinctura minthae piperitae.
Fresh nettle in agriculture, especially for fattening of birds, is of great importance, since it prevents the development of hemorrhagic diathesis in chickens. Fresh leaves blanch after blanching and they are used in cooking for the preparation of useful spring salads, cabbage soup and other dishes.
Nettle increases blood clotting, increases the amount of hemoglobin, platelets and erythrocytes, lowers the concentration of sugar in the blood, has a diuretic, wound-healing and restorative effect. It is useful in bleeding, anemia, atherosclerosis, kidney, bladder, liver and gallbladder diseases, hemorrhoids, tuberculosis, metabolic disorders, during recovery.
Nettle is a valuable food product. From young shoots and leaves, delicious and nutritious soup is brewed, salads are prepared from leaves. In addition, leaves and shoots of nettle can be salted and used as it is done, for example, in the Caucasus, as a seasoning for meat dishes.
Widely used as a medicinal plant, as well as in cooking. Gather the youngest shoots in early spring, later - only young leaves and tops. In food, you can use a smaller nettle stinging( Urtica urens L.).
Nettle leaves contain a lot of chlorophyll, tannins, glucokinins( cause a decrease in blood sugar), organic acids, acetylcholine, amines, vitamins C, B2, B6, carotene, pantothenic acid, phytoncides, from minerals - iron, magnesium, calcium, manganese. Nettle promotes the normal course of digestion, the activity of the intestine, has a choleretic and diuretic effect, affects hemopoiesis.
Freshly squeezed juice from leaves is an integral part of the "spring treatment".Fresh herbs of nettle as a folk remedy are used in the fight against rheumatism, the sore spots are better supplied with blood if they are whipped with nettles. From fresh and dried herbs prepare tinctures for health improvement of hair. Dried nettle herbs are used in pharmacology, it serves as an element of antirheumatic, diuretic, metabolic mixtures, tinctures for expectoration and teas. Before cooking, nettles are pre-washed well.
Nettle stinging disappears after treatment with hot( + 85 °) water or boiling. From nettle you can prepare soups, spinach, omelets, additives for salad, scrambled eggs, minced meat, filling, meat gache( dish from the brains of animals, eggs), chopped meat dishes, pates.