Useful and medicinal properties of cassia( hay) narrow-leafed
and STUDY( Alexandrian leaf)
is cultivated in South India. Motherland - Africa. Senna is a tree or shrub plant. Leaves are complex, parodipery, from 5-7 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets are quadrangular, broadly lanceolate, unequal, short-coquetted. The flowers are rather large, golden yellow, less often white or pink, with 5 cups and 5 petals, there are a lot of stamens. Fruit - bob mesh, wide and short, very flat and membranous, multi-seeded( pod).
Both species differ in leaf shape and in size of the beans. The first species has leaves longer and narrower, 2.5-6 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, leaves of another species - about 2-3 cm long and about 1 cm wide. In the first species, the beans are somewhat larger.
Grows in countries located on the shores of the Red Sea and in East Africa.
Medicinal raw materials are leaves, known as the Alexandrian leaf, and rarely beans;Alexandrian leaves are sold in pharmacies.
Leaves and fruits contain a mixture of derivatives of oxy-methylanthraquinone and their glycosides, in the total amount of 0.8-1.2%.There is kempferol and some other flavonoides, as well as resins. Resins have an undesirable side effect and cause painful spasms in the intestine, so the preparation "des-resinized leaves" is prepared. There are no pitches in the fruits.
In scientific medicine, plant preparations are used as a laxative. The laxative effect of the senna
is due to anthraglikosides, which, under the influence of digestive enzymes and bacterial flora of the small intestine, decay to form an emerphone and a chromosophanic acid. The latter somewhat irritate the mucosa of the large intestine and, without increasing the secretion, increase its motor activity. The action occurs( depending on the concentration of infusion or tincture) after about 6-12 hours.
In medical practice, the Alexandrian leaf is of great importance as a laxative, analgesic for gastrointestinal diseases, for regulating intestinal function( chronic atonic constipation, constipation during pregnancy, and also for softening the stool with anus fractures) and is very convenient whenit is necessary to cleanse the intestines without pain.
With long-term use of Alexandrian leaf preparations, habituation to them develops, which weakens their therapeutic effect. Therefore, it is advisable to alternate senna preparations with other laxatives.
Assign an Alexandrian leaf in the form of infusion of leaves( 1:10), Viennese drink. The Alexandrian leaf is a part of a complex licorice powder, prescribed by a patient with hemorrhoids. Its composition: Alexandrian leaf - 2 parts, licorice root - 2 parts, dill seeds( in powder) - 1 part, purified sulfur - 1 part and granulated sugar( better crushed in the form of flour) - 4 parts. The powder is greenish-yellow in color. Use as a laxative diluted with water: an adult for a spoon, and children - a quarter of a spoonful in the morning on an empty stomach.
For sale in pharmacies laxative tea No. 2. There are 3 parts of of Alexandrian sheet, 2 parts of buckthorn bark, 2 parts of jostler fruit, 1 part of anise seed and 1 part of licorice root.1 tbsp. Spoon this tea is brewed on a glass of boiling water, insist 30 minutes and take at night in one go.
Chinese doctors prescribe senna preparations in small doses in the form of decoctions and infusions as a means of improving appetite and digestion, with edema, oligomenorrhea, glaucoma. Outer - with conjunctivitis and some skin diseases.
Application of
Infusion: 10 g for 150 ml, hold for 6 hours. Sometimes a syrup of rhubarb root - 30 g( 2 tablespoons) is added to the infusion. Take infusion or a mixture of 1 tbsp.spoon in the morning and at night.
Tincture of 30%: 1 tbsp.spoon.
Decoction: 1 tbsp.spoon on a glass, brew like tea, insist 30 minutes, strain. Take at night 1 / 2-1 cup( laxative).