Large celandine is a long-lived plant, a perennial grass. It grows in both Europe and Asia. In our country, it is found everywhere, except for the Far Eastern regions (beyond the Amur) and northern (Arctic). Celandine grows in abundance in the Siberian regions and the European part of the country. For a long time, great celandine has been known for its medicinal qualities and properties, due to which it is used in the treatment of various diseases.
Biology: flora and its features
The celandine reaches a height of 80 cm. It has a scattered branched stem and alternately arranged foliage of an unpaired pinnate type. The leaves below are larger than the upper ones, they have petioles, while those located on top are sessile. The foliage at the top of the plant has a green color, at the bottom - a bluish tint. The leaves are covered with a waxy layer. The flowers of the great celandine are painted in bright yellow, form umbrella inflorescences,located at the end of the stem. The corolla of the flower contains 4 petals in the reverse shape of an egg, has the correct type. The flower has many stamens and one pistil. After flowering, pollinated inflorescences ripen into fruits in the form of bivalve pods-boxes. The plant is characterized by an abundance of small black seeds.
Juice of large celandine, the most interesting for traditional medicine, has a bright orange color. This substance is poisonous and is found throughout the plant. It is on it that most of the recipes for the use of celandine are based. The plant is covered with flowers from May to September, fruiting from July to September.
Where to find it?
Distribution of greater celandine - the Eurasian region. This plant does not grow in our country south of the Amur. In the Siberian part of the country, it is not found only in the coldest territories.
Usually celandine is found as a weed. It grows near human habitation, often on heaps of garbage or under fences. It can be seen in most parks and gardens. Often fills gardens. More often the plant is found in small clumps, but the formation of thickets is not inherent in it. Cultivation possible.
Celandine: chemistry and biology
The chemical composition of great celandine is usually considered from alkaloids. They are rich in all parts of the grass. The set is quite large, the most significant are chelidonin, protropin. In the grassy part of the celandine, the concentration of alkaloids reaches 2%, and in the rhizomes - twice as high. Alkaloids have a complex chemical structure. These substances belong toisoquinoline products.
In the composition of celandine there are saponins and carotene, vitamin C. The plant is rich in various organic acids, flavonoids. There are various oils and resins, tannins and bitter compounds, acids and microscopic elements. Celandine juice is a source of copper and calcium, barium and potassium. Celandine contains selenium, coumarins, histamine and molybdenum.
Celandine in medicine
Celandine grass, due to such a wide variety of active ingredients, when used correctly, can stop spasms and activate the separation of urine and bile. The plant helps to reduce pressure, improve stools for constipation. The herb has a calming effect and a strengthening effect. Celandine is used as a tonic and inhibitory activity of inflammatory foci. For a long time, celandine has been known for its wound healing abilities.
Large celandine has established itself as a reliable and high-quality natural antiseptic. Remedies based on this herb help to curb the development of abnormal cells. They have a bactericidal effect. It is believed that celandine is effective in fungal invasion. Alkaloids isolated from the plant are known for their increased pharmacological activity.
Chelidonin is somewhat similar to morphine. In high dosage, it can paralyze the nervous system, inhibiting vital processes. Homochelidonin is a strong local anesthetic. Belongs to the category of convulsive poisons. Sanguinarine is close to narcotic substances, activates intestinal motility and the generation of salivarysecret. Protropin reduces the reactive reaction of the autonomic NS.
How to use?
The use of large celandine is recommended in the form of an infusion made on the greenery of the plant. In our country, the herb is classified as a medicinal raw material. The juice obtained from it has been used for a long time as an effective method for removing warts. The infusion can be used to cauterize such formations, as well as fight long-term healing skin lesions and diseases. Healers recommend drinking an infusion of celandine in a small dosage if the liver hurts or a gastric ulcer is established, if the functionality of the gallbladder is disturbed.
In any of the forms of celandine, great use only after consultation with a qualified doctor. The doctor will choose the best option and method of use, dosage and frequency of use. It is unacceptable to use medicines on this herb during pregnancy and before reaching the age of majority.
What are medicines made of?
Above it was indicated where the celandine grows - it can be found on the territory of our country in almost any area, near human habitation. However, not every plant is suitable for harvesting and subsequent use for medicinal purposes - it is necessary to choose strictly specimens that grow in clean conditions.
Harvesting is done during the period when the plants bloom. Immediately after cutting, the specimens are dried. The optimum temperature is up to 60 degrees. At home, it is better to dry in the attic, placingstand directly under the iron roof. An alternative option is a canopy with good air exchange with the environment. It is necessary to lay out the celandine loosely and thinly, constantly turn over. If the grass lies thick or dries slowly, in inappropriate conditions, the color changes to brown, rotting begins.
Being dried, celandine grass is very dusty. Separate components can settle on the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, causing severe irritation. To prevent undesirable consequences, before collecting dried grass, it is necessary to wear a protective moistened mask. After unpacking, dry grass should be stored in a ventilated area with a low level of humidity for no more than three years.
Environment and safety
To avoid a shortage of celandine, it is necessary to collect the grass carefully, leaving developed specimens for further propagation of the culture.
From the description of the greater celandine, it follows that natural reserves are currently greater than the need for grass. Previously, procurement for the entire Soviet Union was carried out in Ukraine, and this was enough to meet the needs of the state. Currently, mainly celandine is harvested in the European regions of the Russian Federation, as well as in Siberia and the Far East. Bashkiria, Altai, especially mountainous places are rich in celandine. Celandine productivity is high in Tuva.
Folk wisdom to fight disease
The celandine has long been known to healers in our country. In different areas it is called differently: warthog, chistyak. FromNames show that the grass is primarily associated with purity. Some even say that celandine is the Russian analogue of ginseng. But in Greece, celandine is called chelidonium, which literally means “heavenly gift.”
In the Great Encyclopedia, published in the USSR, there was a place to describe the method of using celandine: it is necessary to lubricate flat warts with fresh plant juice. The encyclopedia recommends that only single formations be fought in this way. It is indicated that often this method is sufficient to completely get rid of the neoplasm. You need to process the site no more than four times. Modern doctors agree with the conclusions of the Soviet ones: up to 80% of cases end in a cure for the patient. This is due to the pronounced antiviral effect. The juice of the plant affects the root cause of the formation of warts.
What helps?
The distribution of celandine in folk medicine received due to the abundance of positive qualities. The most pronounced choleretic effects are provided by the presence of alkaloids. They also show an analgesic result and stop the activity of inflammatory processes.
Due to the wide variety of beneficial compounds, the plant stimulates the male reproductive system, has desensitizing properties and astringents. It is used as an immune stimulating drug.
Celandine is used both as an independent medicine and as an element of herbal preparations to combat various diseases.
Diagnosis and use of herbs: fees andcombinations
It is difficult to enumerate the diseases for which large celandine preparations are used: there are too many such diagnoses. This includes warts, pyoderma, dermatitis, menstrual problems. Celandine is used as one of the means of alleviating the condition of women in menopause. Preparations based on celandine are effective in chronic female diseases, neuritis and neurosis.
For example, with pyoderma, it is recommended to mix celandine with pine needles, clover grass, plantain, with burdock rhizomes and heather shoots. A decoction prepared at such a collection (a ready-made mixture for it can be bought at a pharmacy) is used externally for about three weeks. But a mixture of celandine with elderberry and poplar buds, dandelion rhizomes and rose petals, geranium is used to prepare an infusion, which is used for food in small doses for a month.
Variants and combinations
In menopause, the healing properties of celandine are most pronounced in combination with wormwood and string, valerian roots, flaxseeds, blueberry shoots, ripe viburnum berries and calendula inflorescences. Treatment with drugs on such an herbal mixture takes about four weeks.
In chronic female inflammatory pathologies, celandine is used in combination with violet, tansy inflorescences, flaxseeds, yarrow leaves and St. John's wort. The herbs make a decoction used for small enemas for at least four consecutive weeks. For douching for the same period, a combination of the plant in question with clover, alder, roots is more suitable.soapwort, greens of horsetail and viburnum.
The healing properties of celandine, which help fight male impotence, are enhanced in combination with sage, licorice, chamomile inflorescences, hawthorn berries and anise fruits. The duration of treatment is up to five months.
How to use?
In folk medicine, celandine is used as a dried herb. For the recipes listed above (and the recipes below), all components are taken in equal amounts. Infusions are prepared in the following proportions: for 10 g of dry raw materials - a third of a liter of boiled water. The mixture is infused for about four hours, then the liquid is carefully drained. The resulting drug is intended to be eaten before a meal in one day in four divided doses.
Variants and recipes
For prostatitis, celandine can be used as an infusion, prepared according to the above recipe, mixing the herb with wintergreen, plantain and juniper fruits, as well as St. John's wort and bearberry. The duration of the course is seven weeks.
For diseased kidneys, the plant in question will help in mixing with flaxseeds and nettles, veronica leaves, podbel, cornflower inflorescences, lingonberry and strawberry foliage. The duration of taking the decoction is a little over a month.
With cystitis, you can use a combination of celandine and hop cones, rhizomes of harrow, coriander fruits, as well as the greens of tribulus, orthosiphon. The decoction is used for about 35 days.
Celandine collection with strawberries is effective against pancreatitis,mint, dandelion rhizomes, elecampane, chicory, as well as Potentilla grass, woodruff. The duration of treatment is at least six months.
With hepatitis, healers recommend taking decoctions with celandine, supplemented with horsetail and initial letter, ash leaves, dill seeds, dandelion rhizomes, valerian, calendula inflorescences, viburnum. Here you can add dried thistle, watch, lemon balm.
Diagnoses and decoctions
With vegetative-vascular dystonia, celandine is recommended to be prepared according to the above recipe in combination with lavender, motherwort and calendula inflorescences. Strawberries, St. John's wort are included in the mixture of herbs for greater efficiency. The duration of treatment is about seven weeks.
In case of asthma, celandine is indicated in combination with primroses, violets and caraway fruits, pine buds, greens, rose hips. The infusion is used for food every day for a quarter of the year.
Insufficiency of lung function can be eliminated by using celandine infusion with lemon balm, hawthorn, wild rose, cumin fruits, rosemary and heather shoots, plantain, willow-herb, cuff, meadowsweet, motherwort. The duration of the course is up to six months.
Celandine: self-use
You can use this plant not only in combination with others, but also by itself. When taken orally, there is a slowdown in the pulse, a decrease in pressure, and the excretion of bile is activated. Celandine has established itself as a means of combating angina pectoris, hypertension and pathological conditions that provoke muscle spasms. For gastric cancerused as a method of pain relief. Helps with pathologies of the gallbladder, liver.
There are cases of successful use of celandine for polyps in the colon. Experts attribute this to a cauterizing, keratolytic effect.
The plant is mixed with water: one part of the herb is ten times more liquid. For one procedure, it is desirable to have 15-60 g of greens. The exact amounts depend on the weight, diagnosis, general condition of the patient - it is better to leave their choice to the doctor. The drug is administered for an hour with an enema. Three hours before the procedure, it is necessary to give an enema to cleanse the body. It is known that the elimination of polyps could be achieved in 6-10 procedures.
Options and opportunities
The preparations based on celandine have a pronounced bactericidal effect, due to which they are effective in diseases provoked by a wide range of pathological microscopic life forms. The effectiveness of plant juice against Koch's bacillus, which causes tuberculosis, has been proven. Ointment from crushed leaves, juice are effective in the skin form of the disease. Clinical trials have proven that topical use of the juice obtained from greens, rhizomes, can also get rid of polyps localized in the bladder.
Externally, the juice is used to cauterize warts, condylomas. The drug will help with papillomas in the larynx, with lupus erythematosus at the initial stage.
The plant is poisonous, so at first it is used only in small dosages. For greater safety, the celandine standsuse in combination with other medicinal herbs.
Juice is considered an analgesic, therefore it is used to relieve pain in the pathologies of the gallbladder, stones in it, in liver diseases, including jaundice. Milky juice is effective for colitis, sand, gastritis. In addition to the analgesic effect, it relieves muscle spasms. It is used in the form of water and alcohol infusion, for the preparation of which a fresh plant is taken. Alcohol tincture is considered to be the most effective.
Traditional medicine: celandine is indispensable
In our country, healers have long used celandine to treat rheumatism and gout. External use allows you to quickly get rid of calluses, depriving, alleviate the condition of the patient with oncology of the skin, eczema. The affected areas must be lubricated with fresh juice or an ointment made with its inclusion. Every day, diseased areas are treated three times with equal time intervals between procedures. With scrofula and skin diseases of children, celandine juice is used to prepare baths in which the baby is bathed, carefully making sure that the child does not swallow the medicinal water.
In Bulgaria, a collection of folk recipes contains a mention of the effectiveness of celandine in dropsy. The drug is used as a diuretic and improves menstruation, effective in malaria and syphilis. You can use it for jaundice and liver pathologies, scrofula. It is recommended to use a decoction of celandine in these conditions. Externally, the juice is used when it is necessary to remove warts.
