Useful and healing properties of sunflower
Annual herbaceous plant from 1 to 1.25 m in height. Root stem, branching. The stem is simple, like the leaves, rough. Leaves alternate, petiolate, cordate-ovate, upper - elliptical. Flowers in large single baskets, outer - reed, yellow, internal - tubular, dark yellow. Baskets with a skull wrap, drooping. Fruit - seed of tetrahedral. Blossoms in August-September.
It is cultivated in the forest-steppe, steppe and partly in semi-desert regions of the South-East.
For medicinal purposes, flowers( marginal, 4-6 cm long) and leaves with petioles not longer than 3 cm or without them are used. Collection of raw materials is made in the initial period of flowering, it is quickly dried outdoors, always in the shade, spreading on a litter a thin layer. When collecting, you should not collect faded flowers from discolored baskets, as they drill during drying. Sunflower leaves are cut off from the petioles, thus it is not necessary to collect too large leaves, damaged by rust and eaten by insects. Leaves do not smell, the taste is bitter, with a sensation of mucus. Shelf life of raw materials is 2 years.
Sunflower leaves contain rubber, various resins and provitamin A( carotene - over 100 mg%), and in flowers - the coloring substance quercimorithrin, consisting of glycosides of quercetin and anthocyanin, as well as choline and betaine. The fruit contains a significant amount of fatty oil.
Sunflower preparations: tincture, extract( liquid extract) from a mixture of flowers and leaves( for extract
collect small axillary sunflower baskets) - used as bitterness to improve appetite.
Versatile antidot properties of sunflower pectin are established for cobalt and strontium poisoning.
In medical practice, in addition to flowers and leaves, achene oil is used as a base for ointments, patches and some preparations( white oil, volatile ointment, etc.), and also replaces expensive oils. In addition, sunflower oil is used as a laxative and is recommended for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis( contains unsaturated fatty acids), as well as its treatment.
In folk medicine, decoction of lingual flowers is drunk with jaundice, heart disease, bronchial spasms and gastrointestinal colic, with malaria, influenza, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract. Alcohol tincture of lingual flowers( and sometimes leaves) is effective in fever and neuralgia( especially colds).If there is no tincture, you can use a decoction;The broth is useful for diarrhea and as a diuretic.
Application
Tincture of flowers 20%: 20 drops 3 times a day.
Tincture of dry stalk on vodka: 1 part of stalk to 8 parts of vodka;insist 9 days;to use 3 tbsp.spoon on an empty stomach for 3 days - with malaria, tincture of the stem core - with fever.
Tincture of baskets on vodka: cut the whole basket when the achenes begin to ripen, cut into small pieces, pour vodka, add slices of soap, put in the sun for 9 days. This mixture is rubbed with rheumatism.
Decoction: 20 g per 200 ml;1 tbsp.spoon 3 times a day.
Infusion: 3-4 g per 200 ml - daily dose for malaria, bronchial spasms and gastrointestinal colic.
Sunflower oil overfried is recommended in the form of oil dressings for the treatment of wounds and burns.