Mother and stepmother
Tussilago farfara
Perennial herbaceous plant, common in Russia everywhere, except in the Far North and the Far East.
Description: rhizome long creeping, straight stem, low, densely covered with scaly brownish leaves, unbranched, ends with a flower basket. Radical leaves are round-heart-shaped, emarginate-tooth at the edges, green on top, blue, below white, sitting on long petioles.
Leaves develop in late May-June, after the flowering stems have faded and faded. Flower baskets are yellow, consist of two types of flowers: on the edge of several rows of reeds, in the middle - tubular flowers. Fruits are cylindrical achenes provided with tufts. Blossoms in early spring, in March-April, fruits ripen in May-June.
Ingredients: radical leaves contain up to 2.6 % bitter glycosides, including glycoside, tus silyagin, mucus, organic acids, tannins, inulin, sitosterol, saponins, coumarin derivatives, traces of essential oil, up to 5.7 mgcarotene and 44 mg of ascorbic acid. The flowers of mother-and-stepmother contain routine.
Cultivation: loves sunny and semi-dark areas, calcareous, light enough soils.
Sowing in spring with subsequent planting at a distance of 20 cm. Vegetative multiplication by division is also possible.
Collection: Collect leaves in the first half of summer, manually cutting off leaf plates with a piece of petiole( no longer than 5 cm).Dry in the open air or in ventilated areas, laying out a thin layer on paper. Dried and spotted leaves are discarded, the dried leaves are stored in closed boxes or cans in a dry place for up to 3 years.
Medicinal properties: external application - mashed leaves are applied in abscesses, inflammations of veins and sprains, internal - to facilitate the condition with dry cough and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat as an expectorant. Internal application is limited and possible only for a short time, since the plant contains substances harmful to the liver. Shredded dry leaves are ignited and smoke from
smoldering leaves is inhaled with dyspnea and shortness of breath.
Application: Young leaves are used in boiled form as a vegetable dish or for the preparation of casseroles and soups, however, it is necessary to apply leaves of mother-and-stepmother in cookery to a limited extent. Eau de toilette, prepared from mother-and-stepmother, is used for acne, porous, oily and inflamed skin for rubbing, a decoction of flowers is used for oily hair and dandruff.