Useful and medicinal properties of angelica officinalis

Biennial large herbaceous plant, 1-2 m high. Rhizome thick, short, with numerous furrowed subordinate roots. Stem is round, thick, erect, hollow. Leaves alternate with large inflated vaginas and twice or thrice-a-plate, lower - petiolate, upper - sessile;Leaflets are rounded, oblong or elliptical, 2-3-lobed, large-serrate, from below gray-green. Flowers are white or yellowish-green in complex umbels. Umbrellas are large, multi-beam, with fluffy rays. Fruit is a two-seeded. Blossoms from May to September.

grows in the marshes, off the banks of rivers, lakes, in forest ravines, in flooded meadows and in damp places.

You should not mix angelica officinalis with a forest doe. The latter roots are woody, the vagina of the leaves is flattened, the odor is unpleasant.

Medicinal raw material is a rhizome together with roots. The rhizomes are excavated in the autumn of the first year of vegetation or in the spring of the second( preferably in the spring), washed with water, cleaned of stems and dried in a ventilated place or under a canopy. Finished raw materials - rhizomes reddish-brown or gray, ringed, with a smooth fracture and tuberous or wrinkled roots, the smell is fragrant.

The roots and rhizome of Angelica contain tar( up to 6%), essential oil( up to 1%), wax, tannins, etc.

In medical practice, the roots and rhizomes of angelica are applied as infusion( 1:10)bile and other digestive juices, and also as a diuretic. The roots and rhizomes of Angelica are part of the diuretic collection. There are indications of the tonic effect of angelica on the cardiovascular and central nervous system.

In folk medicine, Angelica is recommended for digestive disorders, lack of appetite, intestinal atony, flatulence. In addition, it is used as a diuretic, diaphoretic and expectorant, and also as a general tonic for neurasthenia and other diseases of the nervous system( hysteria, epilepsy, insomnia), with indigestion( with root of the aura and oak bark).Decoction of the root is drunk with gastritis, diarrhea;decoction of blossoming grass is taken with inflammation of the respiratory tract, with epidemic diseases( typhus, scarlet fever, cholera, measles), rubbed against them with rheumatism. External recommended tincture on alcohol for rubbing with gout, rheumatism, low back pain.

In addition, Angelica is used in alcoholic beverage production in the production of liqueurs.

Application of

Infusion: 15 g per 200 ml;take 1 tbsp.spoon every three hours( choleretic).1 tbsp. Spoon boil a glass of boiling water, insist 20 minutes, strain through gauze. Take 1 tbsp.spoon 3-4 times a day( diuretic) or 1/2 cup 3-4 times a day.

Baths with angelica are used for nervous excitement and hysteria.