Useful and medicinal properties of medicinal sage
Perennial herbaceous plant up to 75 cm tall. The root is woody, branched, with a thick lobe of thin roots in the lower part. Stems are numerous, tetrahedral, densely leafy, at the roots rusty. Leaves opposite, petiolate, whole, oblong ovate or oblong, young - white-felt with a crenate on the edge of the plate. The flowers are irregular, bilabiate, blue-violet, pink or white, collected in whorls, forming on the ends of branches racemose inflorescences. The fruit is a four-legged school, remaining in the cup. Blossoms in the second year of vegetation from late May to July.
The plant is cultivated in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Comes from the Mediterranean countries.
Medicinal raw materials are leaves collected in the first year of vegetation in September, and in subsequent years 2-3 times from the beginning of flowering through September inclusive. Drying of leaves is done in the air in the shade, in attics or in dryers at a temperature of 35-40 ° C.
The smell of dried raw materials is fragrant, especially when grated, the taste is bitterish-spicy, slightly astringent. Shelf life 1 year.
Sage leaves contain starch, gum, gum, protein, tannins, mineral salts and essential oil( up to 2.5%).Sage oil contains cineole, thujone, pinene and other terpenes. Fresh leaves contain phytoncides and have a strong bactericidal effect.
Sage leaves have a disinfectant, anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, emollient and sweating-limiting action.
It is used in the form of infusion or tincture of mouthwash leaves with stomatitis, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, various catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes, tonsillitis, gum disease and gynecological diseases in the form of medical douching.
Sage is preferable to St. John's wort in cases of suppuration of gums and mucous membranes of the mouth. The astringent and anti-microbial action of sage is used to suppress coccal infection, mainly associated with staphylococci.
Since ancient times, doctors have noticed the counter-effect of this plant, which occurs relatively quickly after taking sage tea or tincture and reaches a maximum after 2 hours. The inhibition of sweating lasts a whole day. The most effective sage is considered for night sweats in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Inside, tea leaves are prescribed for chronic bronchitis, inflammation of the renal pelvis. In its pure form and in a mixture with other herbs, sage is used to treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and gall bladder, as a diuretic, carminative, choleretic and astringent. With bronchial asthma, sage leaves are smoked along with datura leaves. He can also provide valuable help to women during lactation. Sage tea or tincture, used for several days as directed by a doctor, stops lactation.
In folk medicine, sage is highly valued as a remedy, leaves are used for gastritis, colitis, liver disease, kidneys, bronchitis, as an expectorant, emollient and diuretic;at a trembling paralysis( at this disease an infusion of a sage it is recommended to torment longly, accept inside and to do or make sage baths).Green leaves without stems, dried, are considered useful for poor memory, night sweats and dropsy. The most widely used sage in the form of rinses in angina, gingivitis, ulcers in the angular region of the mouth( especially in children), with mumps, etc. It is used as a decoction, infusion, tincture, powder. Fresh grass is used topically for tumors.
People have long used sage tincture from flowers: 3 ounces of flowers, 800 ml of alcohol and 400 ml of water to insist for 40 days in the sun in a closed glass vessel. Take 1 tbsp.spoon in half with water in the morning and on an empty stomach. This tincture is recommended for the elderly to prolong life and stimulate the nervous system( the shelf life of the tincture is 1 year).
Sage is used as an expectorant;decoction, tincture on wine or powder is drunk with inflammation of the renal pelvis and gall bladder( for more effect, add powder wormwood - 3 parts of sage 1 part of Poland).
As an external remedy, sage preparations are used for suppurating wounds( in the form of infusion), for thrush in children( with vinegar).With flux, toothache, gum disease and throat, a mixture of two decoctions is good: from sage( 5 g to 1 glass of water) and oak bark( 5 g per 1 glass of water).Decoctions filter and mix. The resulting mixture is used for hot rinses.
Ancient physicians( Hippocrates, Dioscorides, etc.) considered sage to be "sacred grass" and the most useful medicine, especially when women are infertile. In Egypt, after epidemics, women were forced to use sage to multiply the people more. Infertility recommended sage juice with a small amount of salt.
In Chinese medicine, sage is used as a general restorative, it is also prescribed for dysmenorrhea, articular rheumatism, externally for chronic skin diseases.
Sage is used for hypertension, atherosclerosis( especially in the menopausal period in women), tremor paralysis, as well as for therapeutic baths, rinses and douching.
Application
Infusion 1: 1 st.spoon of crushed leaves of sage fill with a glass of boiling water, insist 20 minutes, filter, store in a cool place for no more than 2-3 days, sometimes the number of leaves for cooking infusion is increased to 20 grams of a glass of boiling water.1 tbsp. A spoon of
is bred in a glass of rinse water for gingivitis and stomatitis. Sometimes the leaves are used together with boric acid, which is added in an amount of 2 g per glass of infusion. Dilute 1 tbsp.a spoonful of this infusion in a glass of warm boiled water and rinse your mouth after eating.
Tincture: 20%;20 drops 3 times a day.
Mixture of drugs for thrush: 1 part of vinegar and 3 parts of broth( 20 grams per 200 ml) of sage;apply as a lotion.
Infusion 2: 5 g shredded herbs brew 400 ml of boiling water, take 20-30 ml every 3-4 hours for gastritis, stomach ulcer, flatulence, inflammation of the liver and gall bladder.
In case of nervous system disease, the following recipe is recommended: sage leaves - 5 g, leaves of Dubrovnik - 5 t, boiling water - 50 ml. Take 3 times daily before meals.
Sage wine is also used for medicinal purposes: sage leaves - 80 g, wine - 1 l. Infuse 8 days, take 20-30 ml after meals.
Powder: 1 pinch or 1-3 g 3 times a day.
This plant can not be taken in elevated doses, for a long time and without the doctor's instructions, as poisoning and irritation of the mucous membranes can occur.
During asthmatic seizures, a few small puffs from a cigarette made from dry leaves of datura and sage give a good effect. Mixture: take equally small sheet of dope and the same piece of sage, twist the cigarette, tighten several times not very much smoke. The attack passes. This, of course, does not treat asthma, but it brings relief.
Other varieties of sage are less effective.