American Laconos is a dangerous medicinal plant

The American Laconos, whose photo is below, is a large herbaceous plant (grows up to three meters in height), which is often found on abandoned plantations, near fences, near roads, bushes and many other weedy places. His homeland is North America, from where it was brought to the territory of Europe after mastering the continent. Previously, the grass was even grown as decorative. In the southern Russian regions, the plant is wild, so here it is growing arbitrarily.

Laconos American in most cases has several smooth, juicy, thick stems. Most often they are branched in the upper part and have a reddish color. The rhizome of the plant is multi-headed. The leaves are located on short petioles, taper at the base and are pointed at the top. As for flowers, they are small and united in dense brushes. At first, their color is white, but over time it is converted to red. The flowering time is from June to September. The plant begins to bear fruit in August. Its fruit is succulent shiny berries, which turn black when ripe. They can be used to paint wines, but in large doses they can not be consumed, as this leads to serious poisoning.

Despite this, young shoots, leaves and plant roots are eaten both raw and cooked. Soup, salads and other dishes are prepared from them. At the same time, one should not forget about the important nuance - they are eaten in very limited quantities. In Asia and America, there are varieties of plants that are cultivated as vegetables, but in our country they can only be found in greenhouses.

All parts of such plants, as American lakonos, have an emetic and laxative effect. Previously, intensive dark red juice was used in the food industry as a dye. In the eighteenth century, as noted earlier, in European states it was added to wine to give them the color of the necessary shade. Lakonos juice is also used for confectionery products. However, once the damage to the plant was proved for human health, the product for cooking use was discontinued.

Now in some countries of Europe, American lakonos can be used for medical purposes. The fruits and roots of the plant are used in preparations that have anthelminthic, laxative or emetic action, and also contribute to the improvement of metabolism and cure for skin diseases. In folk medicine on the rhizome of the American lakonos make tinctures. Harvesting of roots for it is made in the autumn. They are dug out and washed with cold water. Then you should make a break, the color of the inner part on which should be yellowish-white. Otherwise, the use of the root is prohibited. Further the drug is infused, and it can be used for rheumatism, angina, laryngitis and other diseases.

In no case must we forget that overdose with drugs, which include American lakonos, leads to headache, vomiting, convulsions, paralysis of nerve centers and can make breathing more difficult. In the worst case, there is a stop of the heart and breathing, in other words - death.