Plakun herb medicinal. Grass grows, magic grass, plakun-grass, loosestrife loosestrife. What an amazing plant

Plakun-grass, or ordinary loosestrife is perennial, which is easy to meet in marshy places. Around him there are a lot of rumors and legends that tell about the magical origin and miraculous properties. For the first time, plakun-grass is mentioned in ancient mythological legends, as well as in the Bible.

Description

Plakun grass is very fond of wet soils, belongs to the Derbennikov family. The plant got its name for a special peculiar way of getting rid of moisture. It flows down the leaves in the form of drops, and it seems that there are tears on the plant. There are several more popular names that are used in relation to loosestrife: tikun grass or grandfather's grass (beard). Each has its own logical explanation.

On a note. The common name "looseberry" is of Greek origin (Lythrum) and translates as "spilled clotted blood." This indicates the ability of the plant to stop bleeding.

A plant in the form of a small bush is found not only in the wild, loosestrife is also grown in flower beds as an ornamental and medicinal plant. This perennial is characterized by unpretentious, dense foliage.

Plakun grass

Plakun-grass has a straight tall stem, which is densely dotted with bright flower formations collected in pyramidal inflorescences. Flowering is long - from June to the end of September. Flowers are collected in whorls and spicate inflorescences. After flowering, fruits are formed - oval boxes with small seeds.

Attention! Mass planting in flower beds allows you to get beautiful compositions. It can act as the central culture of the composition, or it can look great against the background of other colors.

Varieties and varieties

There are several varieties of loosestrife loosestrife. They have differences in color and form of flowering, as well as the height of the bushes. Among the most interesting should be noted:

1. Pink pearls are not tall plant, up to 1.2 m. Stands out among other varieties beautiful flowers having a pink color with a lilac tint.
2. Swiri is a beautiful air bush that is widely used in landscape design due to its excellent combination with other plants. The flowers are pink-lilac.
3. Plakun grass Robert. A compact bush, the height of which does not exceed 60 cm. It stands out among other varieties with a bright salmon-red color of flowers.
4. Lady Sackville loosestrife is a tall shrub that retains its decorative effect for a very long time. It has bright crimson inflorescences.
5. Blush. Pale pink inflorescences of this variety are perfectly combined with other crops in the same colors. Pretty tall plant.

Growing Features

The loosestrife likes most of all sunny areas with good ventilation, but it will also feel comfortable in the shade. Prefers moist nutritious light soil. On dry and heavy soil, bushes may not grow at all or look lethargic and unhealthy.

Important! In order for the bush to develop well, experienced gardeners recommend adding peat to the soil where weed-grass will grow. About 10 buckets are brought in for each square of the plot.

Before planting, organic matter should be added to the pit; after planting, young bushes should be thoroughly watered.

You don’t need to take much care of the loosestrife, if it grows on the shore of a reservoir, then you don’t need to water it. To ensure abundant flowering, a complex fertilizer with a minimum nitrogen content is applied once a season.

In the first year of grass plakunu growth, as a care, it will be enough to regularly loosen the soil and remove weeds.

Interesting fact. The plant is prone to self-sowing after flowering, but shoots with flowers are removed before the seeds ripen.

In the spring, sanitary pruning is carried out, while the entire ground part is removed. You can remove old shoots in the fall, but many leave them for decoration. garden plot in winter time.

If the loosestrife is used as one of the parts of the landscape composition, then during the year it can be cut to give a certain intended shape.

Plakun grass

reproduction

Most varieties can be propagated exclusively by vegetative methods: dividing the bush (in spring) or root cuttings.

Species varieties are allowed to be grown from seeds, but the plant will bloom only 2-3 years after planting.

Important! If there is a desire to propagate the old bush by division, then you should take an ax, since the root system becomes woody over the years. In this case, it is better to use basal cuttings.

Beneficial features

Plakun grass has received wide use in folk medicine. For medicinal purposes, roots, leaves, stems can be used. The plant can help:

• increased blood clotting;
• with bleeding;
• with dysentery and fevers;
• for the treatment of colds;
• with convulsions;
• to combat insomnia;
• with nervous diseases;
• with rheumatism.

The infusion can be used as a pain reliever. If the wound does not heal, it is recommended to apply a gruel of leaves to its surface.

To prepare the solution, dried herbs will need to be poured with boiled water (1 tablespoon per glass of water) and insisted for about half an hour. Take 2-3 tbsp. l. write half an hour before the appointment.

Important! Plakun-grass is not medicine, so you can not buy it in a pharmacy. If you wish to use it in medical purposes, then you should plant it in your area, prepare it in natural conditions or buy it from a herbalist who treats according to old recipes.

Contraindications

Not only this herbaceous culture can provide benefits. For certain diseases, it is strictly forbidden to take:

• in old age;
• with high blood clotting (use can lead to the formation of blood clots);
• with senile constipation;
• with atony of the stomach.

Also, with caution, the plant should be used in treatment for people with high blood pressure - plakun-grass has the ability to constrict blood vessels.

Plakun grass

Diseases and pests

At its core, loosestrife belongs to very strong and hardy cultures, yet it is very afraid of aphid invasions. It is able to destroy young shoots and inflorescences. To avoid the dangerous enemy of this plant, the bushes should be treated with infusion. It is prepared on the basis of onion peel, tobacco leaves, tomato or garlic, or from special preparations that are sold in a large assortment in stores.

Harvesting methods

For medicinal purposes, you can use the leaves, stems, flowers and roots. The herbal part of the plant should be harvested for future use during the period of active flowering. For drying, cut off the top of the plant. Then the stems with leaves are laid out in a well-ventilated area and left to dry completely. You can also hang to dry in a dark room.

The root part is harvested in autumn. The roots are dug out, cut into pieces and dried at a temperature of 50 degrees.

As you can see, plakun grass is a beautiful ornamental plant that is found in nature. It is quite simple to grow it in your own flower bed, decorating it not only with an incredibly beautiful plant, but also with a useful one. Plakun grass is used in folk medicine in the treatment of many diseases.

“... Speak, calculate, what kind of magical herbs are there? Speak, wizard! - ... There are all sorts of herbs. There is thorn-grass, going to Petrov post. You smoke an arrow with it, you will not miss. There is tirlich grass, it grows on Bald Mountain near Kiev. Whoever wears it on himself, there will be no royal wrath for ever. There is also a plakun-grass, if you cut a cross out of the root and hang it around your neck, everyone will be afraid of you like fire! There is a pigeon marsh; if you want to go after a bear, drink a boil of stuffed cabbage, and no bear will touch you. There is rhubarb-grass; when you start pulling it out of the ground, it groans and roars like a man, but if you put it on yourself, you will never drown in water.
- Are there no others?
- How not to be, father, there is also a kochedyzhnik, or a fern; Whoever manages to pluck its flower owns all the treasures. There is Ivan da Marya; who knows how to take it on, he will run away from the best horse on the first nag.
- Do you know such grass that a young woman will fall in love with a hateful one? The miller hesitated.
- I don’t know, father, don’t be angry, dear, God knows, I don’t know!
- And one to overcome your love, don't you know?
- And I don’t know such, father; but there is a gap-grass: when you touch it to the lock, or to the iron door, it will tear to pieces!
- Get lost with your herbs! - Vyazemsky said angrily and fixed his gloomy gaze on the miller.
A. K. Tolstoy. "Prince Silver"

Legends about good and evil plants came to us from hoary antiquity. How many legends, songs and stories about them! Good herbs were affectionately called grass-ant, silk grass, and evil ones were called dashing, fierce roots, demonic poisons. Healing plants were especially revered, with the help of which they healed from various ailments and ailments. Healers were considered special people, sorcerers who knew secrets that were inaccessible to ordinary people and could communicate with "strangers". The sorcerers-healers kept their medical secrets tightly, by word of mouth they passed on their knowledge only to trusted persons, dedicating them to the secrets of communication with otherworldly forces, which, supposedly, helped them in the treatment with herbs.

Narrations about nine magical herbs have survived to this day, with the help of which miracles can be performed. These are plakun-grass, flowering fern, gap-grass, tirlich, overpowered-grass, Adam's head, orlikhin, cover and nechuy-wind.

Plakun-grass has long enjoyed respect and fear in all villages. It was believed that this herb has amazing power: it leads to the humility of unclean spirits, casts out sorcerers and kikimors, makes demons and demons cry. Wizards collect plakun-grass on Midsummer's Day at dawn and only with their hands, without using any tools. It was important to find the root and flowers. The one who finds the grass must cast a spell: "Cryer, cryer! You cried for a long time and a lot, but you cried a little, don't roll your tears on open field, do not spread your howl across the blue sea. Be afraid of evil demons, old witches. And they won’t give you submission, drown them in tears, but they will run away from your disgrace, shut them up in the pits of the underworld. Be my word strong and firm. Age of Ages!"

The modern name of plakun-grass loosestrife willow. It grows along the banks of rivers and lakes and has no special medicinal properties. But in the beliefs, plakun-grass is the mother of all herbs. Healers made powders and tinctures from it, which helped with many diseases. They even took grass for melancholy and depression, in modern terms. And it did help! An old herbalist says: "Plakun-grass of goodness, keep it clean, give it to the cattle that are spinning or that the guys are not sleeping, put it in their heads, and cut a cross out of it and carry it very good with you."

Fern or Perunov fireflower perhaps the most famous plant, shrouded in secrets and legends. In Rus', medicinal plants were always collected on the day of Agrafena-bathing (July 6, according to a new style), when hot weather sets in. The soothsayers called this day "Agrofeny - evil roots", since these roots were used to make potent drugs, from which the sick often died. Healers revered this day also because it was followed by the feast of Ivan Kupala - the time of collecting magical herbs. Midsummer Night is special, only at midnight the most incredible miracles happen. Sorcerers and fortune tellers at that time collected many different wonderful herbs. But the most important miracle is the flowering of the fern or Perun's fireflower.

It happens like this. First, a holy light rises between the leaves. It moves, jumps and even chirps. At midnight, the fern bud opens with a crack and a fiery flower appears, which illuminates everything around. At the same time, thunder is heard and the earth trembles.

The one who was lucky enough to find and pick a flower should run home without looking back, despite the fact that devils and demons pursue him with howling and whooping. If you turn around, you'll be lost. Demons will catch up, dragged into the swamp and drowned there. The one who overcame all adversity and safely carried the flower to the house will have all the secrets and charms. fern, by popular belief, is very useful for those who wish to be smart, rich and lucky. The owner of a flower can quickly find treasures with its help, become invisible, have power over devils and brownies. Belief in the miraculous power of the fern is still alive, especially in rural areas.

gap-grass is said to be extremely rare. Thieves and treasure hunters have always dreamed of her, because she has the ability to break locks and bars of prisons, to break any locks. They called her both a horse and a jumper-grass, as if a flower jumps and jumps on Midsummer Night.

It was said that in the old days robbers buried their treasures underground and locked them with huge iron locks, and threw the keys into the rivers. Even the one who found such a treasure could not open it, as the treasures were guarded by an unclean force that did not allow them to cope with iron locks. And only the owner of the gap-grass can unlock the charmed treasures.

It is believed that the gap-grass was called ordinary balsam, but this is not entirely correct, since not every balsam that grows in nature will be the same gap-grass.

Finding a gap-grass is difficult, but you can do it by accident. If you mow the grass on Midsummer Night and the scythe breaks, it means that you have stumbled upon a gap-grass. But there is another way to find grass. To do this, they look for the turtle's nest and wait for the turtle to leave the nest and crawl to the side. Immediately, without hesitation, the nest is fenced with iron nails, hammering them into the ground so that the turtle cannot enter its dwelling. Then you have to hide and wait. When the turtle returns and sees that the nest is closed, then it leaves for a while, and then comes back. You can see bits of grass in her mouth. The turtle comes up to the iron fence, touches it with grass, and a miracle happens. All iron nails break and fly away. Thus, the passage becomes free. Now you need to take the grass from the turtle and quickly run away from this place. And then everyone uses the gap-grass at their discretion, and the properties of the grass are only valid for one season. Next year, fresh grass should be found again.

The spirits of the night produced a miraculous gap-grass. Its power destroys the strongest iron. Touching it to the sword will break it into pieces. She hides from the human eye in the depths of impenetrable forests: she is always guarded by two snakes, which alternate day and night.
N.I. Lazhechnikov "Basurman"

The ancient Slavs had a myth associated with gap-grass. According to him, the young warrior, lagging behind his rati, walked tired along the edge of the forest. It was autumn outside. Suddenly, the young man's attention was attracted by the hiss of many snakes that crawled towards the mountain, took a blade of grass on their tongue, touched the rock with it - it opened and crawled inside. Then the surprised warrior also plucked this blade of grass. He felt a sharp pain in his finger, but endured and touched the stone. The rock parted, and the young man was inside the cave. There was gold and silver everywhere, jewels sparkled. In the very center of the cave stood a golden throne, on which a huge snake sat. Around her, curled up in balls, the snakes were sound asleep. Then the young man began to walk around the cave, putting aside his sword, bow and shield, touched gold ingots, poured coins and gems completely forgetting about time. Suddenly he heard that the snakes woke up and started talking. They asked each other: "Isn't it time for us?" Then the main snake said: "Now is the time!"– slipped off the throne, and everyone crawled out of the cave. The warrior, afraid that he would remain here forever, rushed after them. As soon as he had time to jump out, he was taken aback by surprise - spring was on the edge. The young man realized that he had spent the whole winter inside the cave and began to scold himself for not taking any coins, gold, or stones with him, and even leaving his weapons there. Frustrated, he wandered along the edge of the forest and suddenly saw a crowd of horsemen galloping towards him, raising their swords over the young man's head. He had only to put his hands forward, and suddenly a flame burst out of his finger, which hit the enemy. The rider fell to the ground without breathing. The rest, seeing this outcome of events, were frightened, turned their horses around and rushed away.

The young warrior guessed that he hit the enemy with the very finger that cut himself on a blade of grass. It was then that the young man realized that he had taken away the most important treasure that made him invincible.

Overcome-grass was respected and revered by the people. She has the gift of protecting people on the road from different troubles and satanic slanders. They carried it around like an amulet. Before the road they always said: "I'm riding in an open field, and in an open field grass-grass grows. Grass-overcome! I didn't water you, I didn't give birth to you, mother earth gave birth to you, simple-haired girls watered you, women - cigarettes. Overcome evil people "You wouldn't think badly of us, you wouldn't think badly. Drive away the sorcerer, the sneak. Overcome the high mountains, the low valleys, the blue lakes, the steep banks, the dark forests. I'll hide you, overpowered grass, at the zealous heart, all the way and all over the road."

Odolen-grass is a water lily, a water lily. She also had another name - a mermaid flower.

Witch doctors used this plant as a remedy for toothache and to calm the nerves. It was believed that if you give the root of the grass to your enemy, then he will not be able to do anything against you. And if the shepherd chews on such a root, then his flock will never be lost and will find the shepherd itself in case of his disappearance or absence. Young guys in the village, when they went on a date with a girl, always took with them a grass that gave great masculine strength and the ability to charm their beloved.

"King of all herbs" - so respectfully called a plant called Adam's head or mandrake, as it was called in Western Europe. They told that "whoever wants to see a heretic or the devil, take the root of the mandrake, sanctify it and put it on the throne in the temple. After forty days, take it and carry it with you - you will recognize water and air demons. And when someone is wounded, put it on the wound, and immediately everything will heal" .

Hunters believed in the magical effect of Adam's head in Rus'. Before going to the forest to hunt, it was supposed to fumigate hunting equipment with the leaves of the plant, and it gained strength and luck. And on this day the hunting was always good, especially for wild ducks.
According to popular beliefs, you need to look for the mandrake with extreme caution. It was necessary to turn your face to the west, outline three times with a knife the place where you are looking for a plant. Then tie Adam's head to the tail of a black dog and force him to pull out the root. At the same time, at the moment of pulling out, a terrible scream was heard. If you try to pull out the plant yourself without a dog, then death is inevitable.

Tirlich or Witch's Potion- This is a herb that is considered demonic. On the eve of the holiday of Ivan Kupala, witches and sorceresses go to the Bald Mountains to collect tirlich grass. The juice is squeezed out of the grass, with which the witches lubricate their hands and feet. It helps with enchantment. Whoever is completely rubbed with grass becomes a werewolf and can turn into anyone. If a simple peasant finds this herb and does the same, he will be able to communicate with witches and ghouls. Knowing this, the sorceresses try to protect the places where tirlich grows from ordinary people, knocking them astray in every possible way.

Centaury, or Tirlich

Grass Cover collected by magicians at the end of summer. It is used against wedding slander. When the bride is brought from the church to the house, then the healer puts a cover under the threshold of the house of the newlyweds. The bride, having learned about this, must jump over the threshold at the entrance to the house. If she accidentally steps on the grass, then all the malicious slander of the sorcerers will fall on the girl.

The covering grass was also called wolf-killer, omeg, bleck, tar, underripe, penny chistyak, sheep's fleece, black potion, one-month-old. Scientifically, it is a woolly-mouthed wrestler from the buttercup family.

Pro nechuy-grass They say that you need to tear it only with your mouth. Only then does it transfer the ability to stop the wind and catch fish without rods and nets.

Nechuy-grass, nechuy-wind, or immortelle

Thistle, according to the peasants, drives away devils and all evil spirits in general. If you are being pursued by devils, then you must stand among the thistles and throw cones of this grass at the demons. All sorcerers and demons will immediately disappear. And if you bend the thistle to the ground, while saying: "Drive the worms from my cattle - I'll let you go," the attack from the cattle will come down.

From time immemorial, there has been a belief that if someone wants to be safe on the road, then stock up for this wax flasks in which the thistle was boiled. In the Great Russian provinces, old women-transitioners work as wax women, who went all the ways and paths from the Moscow River to the Jordan. To perform the ceremony, the thistle is first placed for seven days and nights under the pillow. No one should see or touch him. On the eighth night, the last one at Christmas time, they bring thistles to the old woman-adapter. She cooks it, with special rituals, with wax and palm. Boiled wax wax is sewn into the palm.
Tales of the Russian people collected by Ivan Petrovich Sakharov

Nettle, according to popular tradition, has the ability to determine whether the patient will live or die. To do this, put nettles in the fresh urine of the patient and let stand for a while. If, after a day, the nettle dries up, shrinks and loses color, then the patient will die. When the nettle remains green and does not lose freshness, then recovery will soon come. And nettle is also used for aches, rheumatism and colds.

love apples- through them you can get the love of the desired girl. To do this, you need to cut the apple in half, put a note with the name of your beloved in the middle and put it in the sun. As the apple dries up, the girlfriend will also suffer. When the apple is completely dry, the girl herself will come running to her admirer.

Petunia- it's famous garden plant. He was credited with the ability to protect a person from intoxication. If you are going to a feast or an important meeting where you need to drink a lot, but at the same time keep a clear head, then only petunia will help here. It is necessary to take two tablespoons of the powder of this herb an hour before drinking and drink it with a spoonful of olive oil. Now you can safely drink as much as you like and remain completely sober.

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Plakun-grass is a plant surrounded by secrets and legends. It is mentioned in the Bible and ancient herbalists. The plant can "cry", heal and protect. A truly magical herb.

What a wonderful plant.

Its real name is loosestrife loosestrife. It occurs quite often, sometimes it even forms thickets that look very picturesque. This is a tall plant (50-150 cm) with a powerful root system and a thick stem, on which narrow willow-like leaves sit in whorls or are arranged oppositely. Small crimson flowers collected in a brush appear in July-August. You can meet this plant on the banks of rivers and in damp forests on the edges. It is very fond of swampy meadows and drained peat bogs. Plakun-grass is similar to twig-shaped loosestrife. But they can be distinguished. Plakun-grass leaves are not pubescent. In addition, the twig-shaped loosestrife at the stem has wedge-shaped leaves, not heart-shaped ones.

The plant is used both in official medicine and in folk medicine. The roots of loosestrife contain tannins, while the stem and leaves contain resin, traces of essential oils, and the glycoside salikarin. The flowers are rich in flavones, while the seeds contain alkaloids and the glycoside lytrarin.

Useful properties of a plant such as loosestrife

Plakun-grass has an astringent, anti-inflammatory and tonic effect. Effective treatment of her dysentery and diarrhea of ​​various etiologies. It helps with chronic enterocolitis and gastritis. Gruel from fresh leaves is applied to bleeding wounds, as the plant also has a strong hemostatic effect.

In folk medicine, the whole plant is used: roots, grass with flowers and seeds. Raw materials are harvested at different times. The ground part of the plant - only during the flowering period, when the grass is most useful, and the roots are dug up in the fall. But, according to legend, there is one day a year when you can harvest the plant completely - early in the morning on Ivan Kupala.

A decoction of the roots is used to treat stomach pains, women's diseases and uterine bleeding, and they are also used as a diuretic. Decoctions from flowers help with diarrhea, and from leaves - with epilepsy, nervous disorders, insomnia, hemorrhoids and rheumatism. A good therapeutic effect is observed in the treatment of diseases of cardio-vascular system and some skin diseases such as eczema. Weakened children are bathed in a decoction of grass. The raw root is believed to help with snake bites and restore the body after physical exertion. To do this, you need to eat it with bread or drink sour milk. With stomach pains, colds, headaches, root tincture on vodka helps. And it is used externally for bruises. Dry grass powder is sprinkled on wounds that do not heal for a long time. The most common recipe: pour one tablespoon of fresh herbs with water in a volume of 200 ml, bring to a boil and turn off. Infuse for 15 minutes, then strain and drink ¼ cup 3 times a day.

Derbennik is an excellent honey plant. Its flowers contain a lot of nectar and pollen, thus attracting a huge number of bees and colorful butterflies. Plakun-grass honey is dark yellow, fragrant and has healing properties. In the old days, loosestrife flowers were used as a food coloring, and due to its tannic properties, the plant is still used to this day to impregnate fishing gear to protect it from decay. This grass is fed even to cattle, if it is restless.

Why was the plant named that way?

Plakun-grass got its name for a reason. In pagan myths, it is said that she herself cried so much when she saw how the Slavic people were suffering. The Bible did not bypass this plant. It is believed that it was from the tears shed by the Mother of God that the plakun-grass grew.

Although everything is explained quite simply. In the integumentary tissues of the plant there are special organs with which it tries to get rid of excess moisture accumulated during the night. Its droplets flow down the edges of the leaves and look like tears. Most often, this phenomenon can be observed early in the morning or before rain.

Magic

Plakun-grass in magic has tremendous power. She helps in the fight against evil spirits and spells that are sent by sorcerers and witches. carved from the root, protects its owner from intentional death (murder). It can be used to cast demons out of people. Children who sleep restlessly are placed at the head of a loosestrife. Plakun-grass helps to search for treasures and protects from evil spirits in the swamps. When collecting others medicinal herbs be sure to have a sprig of loosestrife with you, otherwise the collected plants will not have power.

Contraindications

Plakun-grass, medicinal properties which are huge, is not poisonous plant. But it cannot be used if a person has increased blood clotting or suffers from senile constipation.

It is another contraindication. People with high blood pressure should drink decoctions of loosestrife with caution, as it has the property of constricting blood vessels.

Conclusion

Plakun-grass is a plant not officially recognized by medicine. That's why given plant not found in regular pharmacies. In this case, it is better to prepare it yourself or turn to people involved in such fishing.

That is what the people call loosestrife, in another way - plakun-grass. Surely many of you have seen this plant, but simply did not know that it was a loosestrife. On its tall stems are crimson long brushes. And from the tips of the leaves, similar to willow leaves, droplets of moisture flow down, their dripping intensifies before the rain. They can fall quietly, like teardrops, even on sunny days.

By, plakun-grass relieves diseases, frightens evil spirits, making demons and witches cry. In the old days, there was a special prayer for digging up the root of the plakun-grass. He possessed special power if he was dug up at the dawn of Ivanov's day. It was necessary to dig with a bone spatula, because any metal object reduced magic power no root. It was also believed that plakun grass helps to find treasures, drives away kikimore. And if you put the root of the house, then he will drive out the unfriendly bannik and brownie. If they suit the owners, then the root should not be placed in the bathhouse and at home, but stored, for example, in a barn. They also believed that the loosestrife grass, worn with oneself, conquers all spirits.

And according to the biblical legend, the weeping grass grew out of the tears of the Mother of God when she sobbed, looking at her son on the cross: “When ... Christ was crucified, his pure blood was shed. Then Holy Mother of God for her son, she shed tears on mother cheese earth ... And from those tears Plakun-grass was born ... Demons and sorcerers cry from Plakun-grass, she subdues the power of the enemy, destroys evil sorcery, drives lessons and influx from a person.

And according to another legend, the loosestrife grew out of abandoned Cossack torches. These torches were in the hands of free Volga and Don Cossacks, who walked along the rivers on skiffs and plows. Sailing far into the sea, the Cossacks often returned to the shore at night. With a clear, cloudless sky, the Cossacks were guided by the stars, but when the stars were not visible in the sky, they lit torches to attract the attention of the lighthouse on duty and avoid collision with reefs. With these torches in their hands, the Cossacks went ashore and threw them right there on the ground. And the torches sprouted purple flowers. Flowers mourn the parting with the Cossacks, therefore, during the abundant dew, transparent tears drip from the flowers.

The scientific name of loosestrife is Lythrum, which means "coagulated blood". Folk names: wild cornflowers, shag, recruitment, willow-grass, water creeper, hardwood, troychak, oak tree, boletus.

loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria - perennial herbaceous plant from the derbennikov family. The loosestrife has a thick woody root. The stem is straight, ribbed, 50-100 cm high, covered with stiff hairs. The leaves of the loosestrife are divided into the lower ones, arranged three in a whorl, the middle ones are oval, with a blunt apex, and the apical leaves with an elongated apex. All leaves are covered, like the stem, with stiff hairs.

Deep lilac or purple petals consist of six petals and are collected in long inflorescences at the ends of stems and branches. The loosestrife blooms in July-August. Bees and butterflies always circle above it, as the plakun-grass is an excellent honey plant. On fine summer days, loosestrife produces abundant nectar from morning to evening, 100 flowers of the plant produce nectar containing 18 mg of sugar per day. Looseberry has a peculiar pleasant taste with a slight astringency, a delicate aroma and a dark amber or golden green color. Some beekeepers specially transport beehives closer to places where loosestrife blooms en masse.

The fruits of loosestrife are oblong-oval, are two-celled capsules 3-4 cm long, ripen in August-September.

There are more than 15 species of loosestrife in Russia, but the most famous and most often seen is the loosestrife. It grows almost throughout Russia, including Siberia, Far East, in the Caucasus along the banks of rivers, lakes, in ravines, in swampy meadows, on the edges of forests, among shrubs in damp places, in alder thickets, in crops and on drained peat bogs. Often grows in whole curtains and has a very beautiful view. In general, loosestrife is an ornamental plant, so summer residents began to plant it quite often on their plots in humid places.

Derbennik is also a medicinal plant. For medicinal purposes, the loosestrife herb (stems, leaves, flowers) is used, which is harvested during flowering, and the roots that are dug up in the fall. The roots of loosestrife contain: saponins and tannins. The aerial part of the plant contains: vitamin C, carotene, glucose, glycosides salikarin, lythrin, tannins, essential oil, mucus, resin. The seeds are found: alkaloids, glycoside litrerin.

Preparations from loosestrife have: anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, analgesic, wound healing, diuretic, astringent properties.

In folk medicine, decoctions and infusions of loosestrife are used for dysentery, chronic catarrh of the stomach and intestines, fever, gastralgia, colic, gastroptosis, colds, headache, general weakness, as an antidote for bites of rabid animals and snakes, for venereal diseases. Looseberry is used in homeopathy. By the way, herbal tea is effective for bad mood, hysteria, depression. In case of nervous diseases, a decoction of plakun-grass is added to baths, and children are bathed in it with convulsions and various external bleeding. Fresh crushed leaves of plakun-grass are applied to cuts and wounds.

For weakness and nervousness

Brew ½ teaspoon of chopped dry loosestrife grass with 1 cup of boiling water, insist in a thermos for 3 hours, cool, strain, take ¼ cup 3 times a day before meals.

For diarrhea and stomach pain

1 st. pour a spoonful of dry chopped grass with 1 cup of boiling water, leave for 1 hour, strain, take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day before meals.

For headache

1 st. pour a spoonful of grass with 2 cups of boiling water, leave for 4 hours in a thermos, strain. Take 2 tbsp. spoons 3 times a day before meals.

You can not use preparations of loosestrife for hypertension, high blood clotting, a tendency to thrombosis, for gastrointestinal diseases with atonic constipation.

In the old days, fishermen soaked the nets with a decoction of grass and plakuna roots so that they would not rot for a long time and serve reliably.

Animals do not eat loosestrife, but confectioners stained baked goods with juice from plakun-grass.

It is recommended to put grass at the head of the bed for capricious children who often cry and sleep poorly. For adults, magicians recommend carrying grass plakun with them in the form of an amulet, it protects against accidents, slander, unkind people and negative energy. Looseflower flowers on the site and in a vase bring peace and trust between households to the house.

In ancient Slavic legends, miraculous properties were attributed to many herbs. The most “important” were considered “plakun-grass”, “gap-grass” and, of course, a fern flower (Perunov or fire-color).

Tears of a mother and sadness of the earth

They rose from the earth like a plakunu-flower.
Silently tears pour over the arable land
Over dashing misfortune over yesterday.

There is a grass named Plakun, grows near rivers and lakes, high in hemp, the color of crimson ... Its flowers are like a torch, and in the morning it cries with bright tears.

Tall, slender, beautiful, with willow-like leaves. They have stomata that secrete excess water in high humidity. The grass is crying! This property of the plant was the reason for its deification. Plakun not only cries, but also makes evil spirits cry.

Plakun mother of all herbs - they say about him wild cornflower, and oak forest, and coastline, and bloodweed, and willow-grass. He opens access to the cursed treasure, overcomes evil spirits, makes evil spirits cry. Gather plakun-grass at the morning dawn on Midsummer's Day. And no metal! As you dig, take off everything iron from yourself, otherwise the root will not be given to your hands and you will not have the strength. We dug with a special bone stick.

And when you start digging, say: "Cryer! Plakun! You cried for a long time and a lot, but you cried a little, do not roll your tears across the open field, do not carry your howl across the blue sea. Be afraid of evil demons, semi-demons, old Kyiv witches. And they won’t give you submission, drown them in tears, but they will run away from your disgrace, shut them up in the pits of the underworld. May my word be with you firmly and firmly. A century of a century!

Not a single healer went to the field and forest for herbs without a talisman from the root of the plakuna around his neck. Not a single treasure hunter went out without him, because he might not have returned, because he did not have protection from evil spirits guarding treasures.

The mother of all herbs, she saved the ancient Slavs not only from the bite of snakes and rabid animals, but also from the machinations of kikimor, goblin and other evil spirits. The root was especially valued.

loosestrife loosestrife, plakun-grass - a perennial herbaceous plant with a thick, woody root. Stem 50-150 cm tall, erect, as opposite, or in whorls of 3, less often 4, the upper ones are alternate; all leaves are sessile, almost heart-shaped at the base, and pointed at the top. The flowers are crimson, on pedicels, collected in whorls at the top of the stem and lateral branches in long discontinuous racemose-spike inflorescences. The fruit is an oval box, 1.5-2 times shorter than the calyx. It blooms in July-August.

The Old Russian "derba", which gave the name to the plant, denotes a damp deposit covered with moss. So it is: loosestrife loosestrife prefers moist, but bright places. Most often it can be found along the banks of water bodies or in swampy meadows, among shrubs, in damp forests and on their edges, in crops on drained peat bogs. It occurs quite often, in places it forms thickets.
Distributed in the European part, Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia.

In the people, loosestrife is called plakun-grass. And there is an explanation for that. The plant is characterized by unusual behavior: during a period of heavy dew or rain, large drops collect on the tips of the leaves, which then drain like tears. So it seems that a flower is crying and cannot calm down.

Preparation and collection.

The aerial part of the plant should be harvested before the flowering of the plant, and the roots - in the fall. But there is a special day when it is allowed to do both - on Ivan Kupala in the morning dawn.

However, since the root is mainly harvested, when planning large harvests, it is necessary to take measures to preserve the natural thickets, as well as to cultivate this plant. All parts of the loosestrife are used for medicinal purposes. The roots are carefully dug up, and the tops of the stems with flowers are cut off with scissors.
Raw materials are dried in the attic, spread out in a thin layer or hung in small bundles, crushed and stored in paper bags.

Beneficial features loosestrife.

The loosestrife contains flavonoids, polyfinol, glucosides, tannins (tannins), phenolcarboxylic acids, essential oil, and vitamins. In the roots there are tannins and saponins, in the seeds - an alkaloid, glycoside lytrarin; in the grass - the glycoside salikarin, traces essential oil, resin, tannins, but in smaller quantities than in the roots; flowers contain flavones and anthocyanins.

Looseberry has an antiseptic, hemostatic, tonic, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and soothing effect. If you fill the pillow with the leaves and flowers of the plant, then the dream will be deep and calm.

The use of loosestrife

For medicinal purposes, leaves, roots, seeds and flowers of loosestrife are used.
Used for colds, general weakness, diseases nervous system And gastrointestinal tract, with bleeding, ulcers, indigestion, noise in the head, epilepsy. For this, decoctions, infusions and tea are used. Dry inflorescences and leaves are added to herbal teas. The loosestrife gives them a pleasant astringent (tea) taste.

The polyphenols contained in the plant help in the treatment of venous insufficiency, tannins weaken the action of alkaloids and salts of heavy metals, temporarily precipitating and binding them. Further medical intervention is required to completely remove the formed poisonous sediment.

A decoction of the roots is good for diseases of the upper respiratory tract, convulsions, headaches and toxicosis in pregnant women.
An aqueous decoction is drunk for stomach pains, female diseases, uterine bleeding, as a diuretic, for diseases caused by weight lifting; bathe emaciated children in a decoction; they drink a decoction or eat a root with bread, sour milk when bitten by rabid animals and snakes;

Infusions from the aerial part improve the patient's condition in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, prostatitis, hemorrhoids, rheumatism, epilepsy, nervousness.
Infusions can also be used externally for varicose ulcers and eczema, bruises and wounds. Tea from the roots and flowers of loosestrife relieves headaches.

Decoction loosestrife: 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh grass is required to pour a glass of boiled water and put on a "steam bath" for 10-15 minutes. The mixture should be infused for 45 minutes and only after that the broth is filtered. A decoction is taken in a warm form, 1/4 cup (50 mg) 3 times a day.
Another decoction recipe: 1 tbsp. l. Pour 200 ml of fresh loosestrife herb with water, bring to a boil, let stand for 15 minutes, strain, take 1/4 cup 3 times a day. Helps with uterine bleeding, fibroids.

Infusion: 2-3 tablespoons of dry chopped loosestrife grass is poured with a glass of boiling water, insisted for four hours and filtered. The resulting infusion is consumed 50 mg (1/4 cup) 3 times a day. Helps with colds, prostatitis, colitis.

The use of loosestrife in folk medicine.

Looseberry acts astringently and anti-inflammatory in diarrhea, dysentery, chronic catarrh of the stomach and intestines. IN medical practice used as an astringent. The gruel from the fresh plant is used as a poultice for bleeding wounds.

In folk medicine, the root is also used, in its absence, grass is used. tincture of roots on vodka is drunk with stomach pains, colds, headaches; make lotions for bruises, drink a decoction of the whole herb with a noise in the head; epilepsy.

Like every remedy, loosestrife has its contraindications. It can not be used in patients with increased blood clotting, it is contraindicated in atherosclerosis and a tendency to thrombosis. With great care and only after consulting a doctor, you can use the plant for hypertensive patients, since the herb leads to vasoconstriction. As a result, the pressure may rise even more. (c)