Medicinal primrose: medicinal properties, description and application features

After a long and cold winter, we are all waiting for the appearance of the first messengers of spring - tender and fragrant snowdrops. And not everyone knows that these are not the only envoys of the long-awaited spring, which inform us that the reign of winter has come to an end. At the same time the ground is covered with a luxurious carpet of primroses - medicinal plants, which are also very beautiful.

In ancient Greece the primrose was considered the flower of Olympus, it was called "the flower of twelve gods". The Greeks believed that he came from a body that died from the love of the young man Paralisos. Grieving about it, the gods turned it into a beautiful spring flower.

Ancient healers used the plant to treat various paralysis. In many countries primrose is the flower of marriage. It is believed that the girl who first found the flower of the primrose is sure to meet her betrothed this year and get married. Particularly reverent were the primroses in England, where he was revered as a magical flower and sacredly believed that it housed the old gnomes and tiny fairies from the weather.

Types of primroses

Today there are more than five hundred kinds of primroses (primula), which differ in the flowering time, the shape of the leaves, the color of the flowers. In our country, the most common plants that have medicinal properties:

• Large-scaled;
• Spring primrose (medicinal);
• tall;
• mealy.

In this article, we will introduce you to a medicinal primrose.

Description of the plant

Primula spring drug is a perennial plant, whose height varies from 15 to 30 cm. This species has a leafless stem and a short rhizome with numerous branches.

The leaves are ovate-oblong in shape. They gradually taper into the pterygoid petiole, and the tips of the leaves are slightly blunted. The medicinal primrose has bright yellow flowers, which are collected in a rather long floral arrow, slightly curving to the side. They have a pleasant and delicate honey aroma.

The fruit of the plant is a multicolored box of brown color. The root of the grass, obliquely growing or vertical. Has a bundle of upper roots with several processes. The root system is rather weak.

The plant is compact, small, easily recognizable. The medicinal primrose blossoms from April to mid-July. In more northern areas, flowering may be a bit late, but it is just as long. Fruits ripen in July.

Composition

The leaves of the plant contain:

• Ascorbic acid - up to 5.9%;
• Saponins, carotenes - 2%;
• Flavonoids - 2%.

In the rhizome, about 10% of saponins, essential oils, glycosides (impurity, primuloverin, manganese, alcohols, ascorbic acid, carotene) are found. In flowers - flavonoids and saponins.

Healing properties

Pervotsvet, medicinal properties of which are known since ancient times, exerts an expectorant effect and enhances the activity (secretory) of the bronchi and lungs. This is due to the content of triterpene glycosides in plant roots. In addition, the medicinal primrose has the following healing properties:

• Diuretic;
• Diaphoretic;
• Antispasmodic;
• Restorative;
• Sedative;
• Tonic;
• Soothing.

Spring primrose medicinal: application

Pervotsvet has found wide application both in folk and in traditional medicine. Preparations from rhizomes and roots have a mild diuretic, expectorant and sweating action, accelerate the excretion of sputum from the bronchi and respiratory tracts, significantly increase the activity of the ciliary epithelium.

Drugs based on the primrose drug are used in severe bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia, accompanied by both dry and wet cough, catarrhal gastritis, chronic tracheitis, bronchopneumonia, as a sedative for insomnia, diseases of the nervous system.

Medicinal herb primrose, in particular the primrose leaves, is used in the form of vitamin tea, which is a powerful general restorative for anemia. In addition, the broth and infusion of leaves helps with gout, swelling, problems with the urinary system.

Useful properties of the medicinal primrose are also manifested when fresh leaves are used in the form of salads. This is an excellent tool for preventing spring vitamin deficiency.

Primrose preparations: infusion of roots and rhizomes

10 grams of dry raw material put in a bowl (preferably enameled), pour the herb with 250 ml of boiled hot water, close the container with a lid and set it on a water bath for half an hour.

After this, the composition should be cooled in vivo and filtered. The remaining raw materials should not be discarded: it can be used one more time. The volume of the composition is brought to 200 ml with cooled boiled water. The product is used two spoons (table) three times a day, about half an hour before meals with chronic diseases of the bronchi and lungs.

Decoction of the roots

20 grams of raw material, pour 500 ml of water and boil over low heat for fifteen minutes. Then the mixture should be infused. This will take no more than forty minutes. Strain the remedy and take 100 ml before each meal. The broth is recommended for diseases of the bronchi and lungs, kidneys and severe forms of rheumatism.

Decoction of grass

20 grams of dry crushed leaves boil in 250 ml of water for half an hour on low heat. After this, the resulting composition, strain and bring the volume boiled to the original volume.

Take this drug one spoon (canteen) at least four times a day with whooping cough, acute and chronic bronchitis, pneumonia.

Infusion of the flowers of primroses

25 grams of dry raw pour a glass of steep boiling water and let it brew for half an hour. Raw squeeze, take 100 ml four times a day. Infusion normalizes metabolism, improves gastric secretion.

Primrose juice

From the blossoming grass (aboveground part) squeeze out the juice. Take it by a third of the glass, adding a spoonful (tea) of honey three times a day before eating.

Syrup of primrose

Syrup of primrose is an excellent expectorant that is effective in ARI, tracheitis, bronchitis accompanied by dry cough. Syrup, has a brown color and a thin specific smell. It can be purchased at the pharmacy.

General Restorative Drink

250 grams of fresh flowers of the primrose are well washed and poured with a liter of cold water, leave to infuse before fermentation. Then add to your choice: sugar, honey or jam to taste. Store the drink in a cool dark place. It is taken 150 ml four times a day before meals.

Tea

Dry leaves or roots chop and mix with St. John's wort (grass) in equal parts. Cut the herbal mixture and brew it like tea. You can improve the taste with honey or jam.

Collection and storage of raw materials

For medicinal purposes, both the roots and the aerial part of the plant are used: stems, leaves and flowers. The aerial part of the primrose is harvested when the plant starts to bloom. Raw materials are dried after collection in the open sun or in dryers. The maximum temperature is +50 ° C. This is due to the fact that during slow drying the content of vitamin C in the plant is significantly reduced.

Leaves are carefully torn off, while half of them should be left on the stem. This will allow the plant to grow and develop normally. We must not forget that the medicinal primrose is listed in the Red Book, so its mass collection is prohibited.

The dried leaves have a greyish-green color, a honey smell and a sweetish taste, which quickly gives way to a burning bitter taste.

Flowers are harvested without cups from April to May. Dry them in the fresh air under a canopy, or in a well-ventilated shaded place. The medicinal primrose, or rather, its flowers dried correctly, are the blossoming yellow corollas with a tender smell and sweet taste.

The roots of the plant should be excavated in the fall, immediately after the above-ground part of the plant fades. You can do this in the early spring, but before the flowering primrose. Roots are carefully shaken off the ground, then washed in running cold water, slightly air dried, and then completely dried in a dryer at a temperature of no higher than +60 ° C. Correctly dried rhizomes have a reddish-brown color. Inside the roots are whitish in color with a bitter astringent taste and subtle odors.

The dried raw materials are stored either in paper multilayer bags or in canvas bags, in a ventilated room.

Contraindications, side effects

Rarely, but there are people with an allergic reaction to the medicinal primrose. The use of any medication or even a touch of grass can cause them to itch and a burning sensation on the skin. Affected areas are covered with bubbles that fill with liquid. Later on the places where the vesicles were and began to heal, the skin begins to peel, and when combing, ulcers can form. Pollen in the upper respiratory tract or in the mouth can cause inflammation of the mucous membranes.

When allergic reactions occur, taking medications should be stopped immediately. Medicinal primrose is not recommended for pregnant women and nursing mothers, as well as children under three years of age.