Health, Alternative Medicine
Mandragora officinalis: a description of the properties, contraindications, photo
Among the natural remedies widely used by folk medicine, special attention is drawn to the medicinal mandrake, which belongs to the family of Solanaceae.
Legends of Mandrake
A distinctive feature of this perennial herbaceous plant, called "male root", "cuckoo's boots", "adam's head", "raccoon berries", is a thick straight root resembling a human figure, which has become the subject of many superstitions, fictions and legends. One of them says that the medicinal mandrake during the digging out of it produces a cry that can drive a person mad or kill him. Therefore, in ancient times for the extraction of "witch flower" (so nicknamed mandrake in the people) used a special defensive rite. Only a knowledgeable person could dig a plant. He did this not with his own hand (not to take death from the plant), but tied a hungry dog to him, at a distance from which he threw a bone. The animal struggled to food and, thus, pulled out of the earth the magic root, and then perished.
This magic root
The root of the plant was extracted for various magical rituals, was considered a very strong amulet and was most appreciated if it best conveyed the shape of the human body, especially with the difference in gender: female and male. It is believed that men need to be treated with a male mandrake, and women - with a female one.
Herbalists pounded the roots of the plant with carbuncles, diseased joints, elephantiasis. Shamans used the hallucinogenic properties of mandrake for astral travel to another world.
Description of the plant
Mandragora officinalis (photo can be seen in the article) in natural conditions is found on the territory of Central Asia, the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, the Transcaucasus, the Middle and Middle East.
The flowers are single, composed of a large 5-parted calyx and bell-shaped 5-lobed corolla. At the beginning of flowering (in May) are characterized by a light green color, which is closer to the autumn becomes violet. The fruit looks like a large orange or yellow berry, characterized by a pleasant fruity aroma and looks like a small apple or physalis. It feels like a tomato.
Chemical composition
Traditional medicine has managed to identify in the poisonous mandrake useful for the body properties and in its recipes uses all parts of the plant. In the root and fruits there are psychoactive highly toxic alkaloids:
- atropine,
- Mandragorine,
- Hyoscyamine,
- Scopolamine.
Mandragora officinalis (photo conveys the modest appeal of the plant) is characterized by a soothing, analgesic, cholagic, hypnotic action. According to its pharmacological properties the plant is approximated to belladonna, dope, and bleach.
Alkaloids, which are part of it, suppress the functionality of the central nervous system, so the plant is characterized by a hypnotic effect.
Healing properties of the root
The mandrake root was used to relieve toothache, treat hemorrhoids and complications arising during labor. It was rubbed to a powdery state and added to the beer. The same drink was recommended for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Boiled in milk, the mandrake root helped as a poultice in non-healing chronic ulcers.
Freshly squeezed root juice helps to calm the pain of rheumatism and gout. The great Avicenna advised him as an effective tool for removing freckles and treating bruises. "Mandrake tears" was mixed in a glass with wine and was given as an anesthetic for surgical operations. In conjunction with honey and milk in a crushed form, the root of the plant was applied externally to tumors, edematous areas, compacted glands. In a dried form used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as joint and muscle pain.
Since ancient times, the plant attributed the properties of aphrodisiac: a handful of crushed root was added to the bottle with wine. The drink was infused for a week. To improve the taste, 2-3 cinnamon sticks and a tablespoon of saffron were added to it. It was also thought that the medicinal mandrake, the use of which was proved by the scientific luminaries of antiquity, helps with infertility and inhibits the growth of cancer cells.
Methods of treatment with mandrake
Headaches, ulcers, open wounds, liver and spleen diseases were cured with a medicine that included dried fruits of mandrake, opium poppy, tsiperusa flowers, normal and cinnamon, pre-ground into powder and joined in equal parts.
Decoction of mandrake was used for painful manifestations in the limbs, the sacrum zone, and also for the treatment of fever states. The leaves of the plant in a fresh form helped with toothache. To do this, they had to be thoroughly chewed. Smoke from the burning leaves of the plant helped in the treatment of cough and headache.
In small doses of mandrake, the drug helps with phobias, melancholy and depression. Homer also described in his works, the smoke from the burning roots of the plant was used to fumigate epileptics. To quickly fall asleep, it was enough to hold the mandrake apple in your hand or drink a glass of wine containing dried mandrake, ivy, white and licorice powder in one pinch before going to bed.
Mandrake Against Disease
In ancient times the medicinal mandrake, the description of which was well known even to ancient healers, was considered a universal medicine and helped in the treatment of:
- Depressive states,
- Abscesses,
- Inflammation of the eyes,
- Tumors,
- Ulcers,
- Gout,
- Skin inflammation,
- Hemorrhoids,
- Impotence,
- Headaches,
- Seizures,
- Snake bites,
- Food poisoning,
- Corns,
- Worms,
- Loss of speech,
- Open wounds and so on.
Also mandrake was used to normalize the menstrual cycle.
Mandragora officinalis: the action of the plant
In modern medicine, root extract is a part of painkillers, hypnotics and antispasmodics. Drug mandrake, the use of which was widely claimed several centuries ago, helps with violations of the gastrointestinal tract, pains of a different nature, in the treatment of vitiligo and other skin pathologies. The leaves of the plant have a cooling effect, so the extract on their basis is added to the gels and ointments for the treatment of external wounds.
Today, in traditional medicine, the preparation of mandrake is made without the use of mystical rituals. The roots are excavated manually in late August - early September, after the mandrake has faded. The alkaloids contained in it are well studied by modern medicine and are used narrowly, to lower internal secretion, acidity, intestinal and gastric activity, and to relieve spasms.
Collect the leaves of the plant better to produce before the ripening of the fruit. Dry raw materials are recommended in a well-ventilated place, without direct sunlight. In ready form it can be used for smoking instead of ordinary tobacco, as part of smoking mixtures or as incense and incense.
Prescription of tincture and ointment
To prepare the tincture, it is required to pour the purified and crushed root of the plant in a ratio of 1 to 4 with alcohol. Let it brew for 15 days. In the finished form, the drug is recommended for insomnia, gout and rheumatism 3-8 drops, diluted with water.
To prepare a medicinal ointment based on mandrake, it is required to tincture the plant with the interior fat in the proportion of 1 to 5 and apply externally to quench the pain.
To treat bruises and injuries, use of lotions from fresh juice, connected with water in a ratio of 1 to 5, is effective. Alternatively, an alcoholic tincture diluted with water at a rate of 1 to 10 can be used.
Mandragora officinalis: a contraindication to the use
Mandragora is very poisonous. The main damage to the brain causes the substance scopolamine. Its uncontrolled independent use can lead to brain disorders, hallucinations, loss of memory, coma, stopping breathing and lethal outcome. Signs of poisoning with mandrake are nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, staggering when walking, dilated pupils, dry mouth, attacks of suffocation. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and children mandrake can not be used.
Fresh fruits of the plant contain a small amount of alkaloids, so their consumption does not bring health any danger.
Modern medicine can offer a wide range of drugs of a similar action, more safe for health. Therefore, when choosing between medications based on mandrake or other means with an appropriate curative effect, it is better to prefer the second option.
Signs associated with mandrake
Since ancient times it is known that medicinal mandrake, the properties of which found their main application in the medical field, helps in carrying out financial transactions, so knowledgeable people used it as a talisman. This was especially true of illegal, clandestine transactions, which saved them from disclosure. If the root is put in the same place as the money, then their number will be doubled.
The root of the plant is able to give its owner wealth, power, wealth, provided that the owner will never part with it: neither at night, nor during the day. The use of mandrake as a household mascot requires a special attitude to it. The figure needs to be dressed in clothes and stored at home in a secret place, away from extraneous views. During home meals, you should put the little man in a place of honor, treat him first, and then yourself. On Saturdays, the mascot is recommended to bathe in wine, and on the first day of the new moon to dress in new clothes. It is believed that the medicinal mandrake can help in the search for treasure, can predict the future.
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