Night blindness flower why is it called that. Night blindness (herbaceous plant)

night blindness, also popularly called gouty or stinging grass and oil flower, and in scientific medicine - caustic buttercup, is a herbaceous plant that blooms with bright yellow flowers, which serve as a source of nectar for insects throughout the summer.

Buttercup caustic - night blindness, application

Buttercup mainly grows in regions with temperate climate. Thickets of plants that can be found in meadows, fields and forest clearings of rare coniferous and deciduous forests can grow to form a dense carpet. ()

Night blindness is categorized as very poisonous plants, so you need to be very careful, because the protoanemonin, which is part of the buttercup, can burn the skin and mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth and nose. For the purpose of treatment, the aerial parts of the plant are harvested, in particular flowers, which are most useful in fresh, although dry raw materials can also be used to prepare infusions and decoctions. ()

What are the unique properties of night blindness?

The plant has been found to contain various chemical substances: cardiac glycosides, carotenoid flavoxanthin, anemolon, flavonoids, alkaloids, fatty oil, saponins and vitamin C. Buttercup-based preparations have a wound-healing, tonic, analgesic and antibacterial effect on the body. ()

Since ancient times, the plant has been widely used to treat diseases of the skin and joints. When used internally, it supports the body in the fight with fungal and intestinal infections, rheumatism, fever, neuralgia, arthritis, staphylococcus and tuberculosis. With the help of infusions and decoctions of burning herbs, you can successfully treat erysipelas, itching, burns, purulent wounds, skin tuberculosis, eczema, urticaria, boils and even scabies. They act destructively on various microorganisms - rods, fungi and bacteria. ()

In addition, ranunculus preparations help to quickly restore damaged tissues, contributing to a more intensive regeneration of healthy skin cells. People suffering oncological diseases, inflammation of the eyes, suffocation, arrhythmia, constipation, internal hemorrhages, diseases of the liver and respiratory organs it is recommended to periodically apply night blindness to maintain health. Fresh leaves have the effect of mustard plaster, so they can be actively used for rubbing with pain in muscles and joints. ()

• Ointment recipe

For treatment colds, as well as with inflammation of the lymph nodes prepare an ointment based on visceral fat, which in equal parts mixed with flowers of burning grass. Every day before going to bed, the ointment must be rubbed into the throat and bronchi light movements and then wrap yourself in a warm scarf. ()

• Treatment with fresh petals and buttercup leaves

Using flower petals, you can carry out effective treatment skin growths (non-cancerous) and warts and reduce pain in arthritis and rheumatism. To do this, the diseased area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe skin is pre-lubricated with petroleum jelly or any vegetable oil, and then for 10 minutes a freshly plucked sheet is applied. ()

• Infusion recipe

Night blindness helps a lot dropsy, edema, dizziness, pleurisy, enteritis, colitis, asthma and pneumonia. To do this, you need to prepare an infusion. Recipe: fresh or dried flowers (5 g) are placed in a thermos and brewed with boiling water (500 ml). After half an hour, the infusion can be taken orally, 15 ml three times a day. With inflammation of the throat, rinsing should be carried out. (

Botanical characteristic

Purple-blue sparrow, translated - Lithospermum purpureo-coeruleum, it is also called chicken blindness, night blindness. The plant is a perennial with a woody and rather short rhizome. flower stalks erect at first, later becoming sloping. Their height ranges from thirty to fifty centimeters.

The stems branch slightly, they are quite densely leafy, with small hairs. Leaves lanceolate, sessile, slightly hairy, with one protruding vein. Flowers are located in apical curls of two, three pieces, much less often singly in the axils of the bract.

Calyx five-parted almost to the very base, with narrowly lanceolate lobes. The corolla is painted blue-violet with a cylindrical and slightly fluffy tube, which is equal to the funnel-shaped limb. The fruits are presented in the form of smooth whitish ovoid nuts. The plant blooms weakly, from late April to June inclusive.

This wild-growing representative grows rather quickly, and is quite capable of covering large stones with its rather big curls. In the purple-blue sparrow, arched shoots lie freely on the soil and begin to take root in their upper part.

It should be noted that as they grow, they form a dense green carpet with beautiful purple-blue flowers, which looks pretty good. Thanks to this, the plant has gained popularity as an ornamental representative, and it is planted with pleasure in gardens.

Spreading

The sparrow grows in the European part of our country, is found in the Crimea, the Caucasus, as well as in Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia. The plant prefers to be localized in oak forests, among shrubs, on forest edges and in mountainous areas.

Cultivation and reproduction

The plant is quite resistant to climate change, and without any complications for itself tolerates drought and small frosts. But, despite its unpretentiousness, it still prefers to grow in fertile and loose soil, which retains moisture well.

As for the location, the plant feels better in a sunny area. When landing on suburban area it is advisable to add a special mixture to the soil, consisting of peat and some organic fertilizers. Despite this, it can grow well in calcareous soils.

It should be noted that growing in shady area, the purple-blue sparrow begins to bloom not as actively as with direct sunlight, and the aroma of its flowers becomes less saturated.

As for caring for the plant, there are no special features whatsoever. The only thing it needs timely watering, loosening the soil, and it is also recommended to carry out autumn pruning old stems.

If we talk about his reproduction, then he prefers the division of the bush, which must be carried out in spring time, or this procedure can be carried out by rooting cuttings when flowering has passed, that is, approximately in the month of September.

When planting cuttings, they are usually planted at a distance of thirty centimeters from each other, but a thick cover is not created immediately, but after about one or two years, then the plant is like green carpet covers the soil.

The purple-blue sparrow loves to grow alone, without neighboring plants, therefore, this feature is taken into account when it is planted on garden plot with decorative purpose.

The vegetation of the plant ends with the onset of the first frosty days, when its leaves begin to gradually dry out, but at the same time they do not lose their green color, but simply fall off in a slightly withered state around the end of October or early November.

This plant belongs to decorative representatives, it can be planted in rock gardens or rockeries, between trees or simply along the edge of plantings, it blooms very beautifully, and will certainly decorate with its appearance any household plot. The dense green foliage gives it a decorative effect.

Application

Unlike other sparrows, this purplish-blue species does not apply official medicine, but folk healers use it as an ingredient for the preparation of a drug for baldness, the recipe of which I will now give.

Recipe for baldness

With the onset of hair loss, you can prepare an external remedy that will prevent further baldness. You will need a kilogram of sesame oil, which you only need to bring to a boil, and then add four hundred grams to it beeswax and a tablespoon of melted lard.

All of the above components must be thoroughly mixed in order to give the mass a homogeneous mass, and then pour one hundred grams of powder of crushed purple-blue sparrow grass and the same amount of forest angelica.

The whole mass should be darkened on fire, while it must be constantly stirred until it turns red-violet. Then it is recommended to cool it down to room temperature, and can be applied by treating with this ointment problem areas in the head area.

It is not recommended to wash off the ointment, but simply rub everything thoroughly until the components are completely absorbed. For three weeks, this treatment must be carried out daily, and after about ten days, hair will gradually grow back. Here is such a miracle remedy offered by traditional medicine.

Conclusion

Consult your doctor before using this ointment.

This plant with yellow flowers is a honey plant. In addition, it has long been used by healers in folk medicine. As mustard plasters, its leaves were used to treat lung diseases. Due to the antiseptic and antimycotic properties of protoanemonin, the main active ingredient contained in the plant, ranunculus was used externally for burns, cuts and abscesses in the form of compresses.

AT medieval Europe night blindness was traditional means from warts, and its disinfecting and warming effect helped in the treatment of gout and rheumatism. The detrimental effect of the plant on the scabies mite was also established.

A decoction of dried leaves and stems of ranunculus was used to relieve headache and stomach pain, which are of a neuralgic nature. Due to the high content of ascorbic acid, glycosides, saponins, tannins and asparagine, the plant stimulates the work of the central nervous system, and also helps to increase the number of erythrocytes in the blood, which led to the effective use of buttercup caustic in the treatment of all kinds of anemia.

The toxic effect of small doses of night blindness grass is expressed as a mild form of poisoning, in an upset stomach. This property of buttercup has been used to solve the problem of severe constipation.

Later, doctors found that this poisonous plant can be effectively used as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of tuberculosis.

The poisonous effect of night blindness

Despite the outward harmlessness and presence medicinal properties, ranunculus caustic - a poisonous plant and extremely dangerous. Thus, accidental ingestion of fresh leaves and flowers often leads to illness and even the fall of cattle.

Caustic juice, getting on the skin, can cause severe burns - up to the formation of blisters and cell death.
Buttercup has a strong irritating effect on the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines. Acute poisoning is accompanied by severe pain and heart failure.

Official modern medicine categorically against the use of caustic buttercup in therapeutic practice, therefore, recommending night blindness for the treatment of a particular disease means endangering human health and life.

Summer is the time for flowers. Some of them are beautiful and deadly at the same time. Here is a rating of beautiful, but deadly flowers, which definitely should not be given to loved ones and relatives.

10. May lily of the valley

In May, grandmothers often sell lilies of the valley near the metro, despite the fact that this flower is listed in the Red Book. But this cute plant, whose flowers resemble white bells on a long stem, is poisonous in its entirety, its juice contains convallatoxin.

Moreover, if you put lilies of the valley in the water at home, the water can also become poisonous.

In small doses, the substances contained in lily of the valley can help the heart, but even a small overdose causes the opposite effect - the patient begins to arrhythmia and blockade of the electrical conduction of the heart. With them comes shortness of breath, possibly damage to the nervous system.

9. Buttercup is caustic

In Russia, caustic buttercup is also widely known as night blindness. Everyone saw small, as if smooth yellow flowers along roadsides and in fields.

You should not touch this cute plant, because it emits pungent volatile substances with a pungent odor, which irritate the eyes, cause pain, tears, and sometimes temporary blindness.

It will be worse if a person swallows a piece of the stem of this flower. In this case, he will be provided with gastric colic, nausea, vomiting and severe spasms. Tumors and abscesses may appear on the skin.

Self-medication in case of poisoning is not worth it - it is better to immediately consult a doctor. Night blindness is especially dangerous for nursing mothers - once in the body, the poison can be excreted along with milk and harm the baby.

8. Hydrangea

Hydrangea is a beautiful flower that gardeners love for its unpretentiousness. It blooms from spring to autumn, loves moisture, hydrangea inflorescences are like balls made up of small flowers.

In Japan, this flower is called "Ajisai", which can be translated as "a flower that looks like a purple sun."

Unfortunately, this wonderful flower is poisonous, all of its parts contain hydrocyanic acid. The use of this flower in food, in a good scenario, can cause weakness, nausea and increased sweating. If it is bad, the activity of the central nervous system is disrupted, oppressed breathing and shortness of breath appear. In exceptional cases, death may occur.

7. Autumn saffron

Autumn saffron has many names - autumn colchicum, lousy flower, meadow saffron, autumn flower, spider flower, dog onion, damn bread, poisonous crocus. He looks very nice - gentle purple flowers, similar to a glass, with a yellow core. Its natural habitat is the whole of Europe.

But this beautiful flower is extremely poisonous, its juice contains the toxin colchicine.

Symptoms of autumn saffron poisoning are hematemesis, bone marrow damage, shock, diarrhea, and irritation of the oral mucosa. Unfortunately, there is no antidote. Only the timely intervention of a doctor and gastric lavage can save a person who has tasted this flower.

6. Delphinium

The Greeks believed that these flowers grew from the body of Ajax, noble hero antiquity, and symbolize sorrow. The plant got its name because of the shape of the flowers, which resemble the back of a dolphin, but perhaps the name was given in honor of the city of Delphi, where the temple of Apollo and the famous Delphic oracle were located.

Initially, this flower was used as a remedy for wearable insects, but soon research began on the poison contained in the roots and leaves of the delphinium.

It turned out that it is similar to curare poison, delphinium juice contains elatin, methyllicaconitin, con-dolphin and eldenin. This toxin acts similar to that contained in aconite - a large dose of poison causes respiratory paralysis, accompanied by damage to the heart.

5. Aconite

The name aconite comes from the ancient Greek language. It meant "arrow", because the aconite inflorescences resembled an arrowhead, made up of small blue-violet flowers.

According to legend, the first aconite appeared at the place where Hercules captured Cerberus. From the drops of saliva that the hellish dog dropped on the ground, slender, beautiful, but poisonous flowers grew.

The roots and leaves of aconite contain aconitine, it causes burning, colic, difficulty breathing, and then death of a person.

You can get poisoned by aconite if you eat it. There are cases when the leaves of this plant were added to the salad.

There are cases in history similar deaths. AT Ancient Greece and Rome poisoned those sentenced to death with aconite. According to one of the legends, Tamerlane was killed with aconite poison.

4. Azalea

Azalea, aka rhododendron, is a very popular houseplant. The beauty of the flowers and the ease of care of the plant does not negate the fact that it is extremely poisonous.

All parts of the rhododendron contain andromedotoxin, which, when ingested, first excites the human nervous system, and then begins to depress. Without contacting a specialist, such intoxication can lead to death.

It should be borne in mind that poisoning develops very quickly. Convulsions and profuse salivation are quickly replaced by a weakening of the pulse, possibly paralysis. On average, a person poisoned by rhododendron has about 2 hours to get the necessary help.

3. Ash

Yasenets - tall plant with narrow leaves. Pale pink flowers appear in June and have a delicate lemon scent. But the inhabitants of the Crimea, the Caucasus and the lower reaches of the Volga know perfectly well that to approach this beautiful flower not worth it, especially during the day. Even the smell of ash can cause poisoning. Flowers and seed pods are especially dangerous.

For the first 12 hours, a person does not feel any symptoms, but then blisters appear, as with second-degree burns, and if not immediately treated, they will soon turn into very painful ulcers. These wounds take a very, very long time to heal. When defeated large area skin may be fatal.

An interesting fact is that if you light a fire near an ash tree, the air will flare up. It's burning down essential oils, which highlights the ash tree.

2. Oleander

Oleander - evergreen shrub which grows in the subtropics. Because the oleander blooms beautifully and smells like a mixture of vanilla and almonds, the shrub is often used as a landscape plant as well as a houseplant.

But you should not be deceived by such beauty - even oleander pollen is terribly poisonous.

The juice of this plant, taken orally, causes poisoning, nausea, and then heart failure. This is due to oleandrin, cornerin and other cardiac glycosides that are contained in the oleander. In ancient times, poison for arrows was prepared from oleander juice, and a case was recorded in history when 12 people were poisoned by frying meat on an oleander skewer. 8 of them died.

1.Cycuta

Cicuta, despite its harmless appearance, is one of the most poisonous plants on earth. The smell of hemlock is pleasant, somewhat reminiscent of carrots, the rhizome tastes similar to radish. Having tasted such a “radish”, a person runs the risk of not trying anything else in his life. 200 grams of hemlock root is enough to kill a cow, and 100 grams is enough for a sheep.

It is worth noting that not only the root is poisonous in hemlock. The whole plant contains cicutoxin, which is deadly for both animals and humans.

Signs of poisoning appear within a few minutes after hemlock enters the body. The consequences of such a "dinner" are nausea, foam at the mouth, dilated pupils, convulsions and paralysis.

It was the tincture of hemlock, according to legend, that Socrates was poisoned.

Other plant names:

night blindness, burning grass, oil flower, gouty grass.

Brief Description of Buttercup:

Buttercup caustic (night blindness) - it's perennial herbaceous plant with a very short (0.5–1.8 cm) rhizome, from which roots extend, forming dense lobes. Stem 30–80 cm high, solitary, erect, branched.

Basal and lower stem leaves on petioles 5–20 cm long, expanded at the bottom, blades 3–5 cm long, 4–6 cm wide, rounded pentagonal in outline, palmately dissected almost to the base into 5 oblong-rhombic or oblong-lanceolate segments, which, in turn, are deeply incised into linear-lanceolate or linear, sharp, entire, or more often at the end of two-, three-toothed lobules 2–4 mm wide. The upper stem leaves are sessile or almost sessile, three-, five-parted into linear, entire or serrated segments. Flowers with a diameter of 10–20 mm are located on rather long pedicels, regular, with a double perianth. The calyx consists of 5 ovate sepals 4–7 mm long, 2–3 mm wide. Petals 5, golden yellow, glossy, broadly obovate, 7–10 mm long, 6–10 mm wide. There are many stamens and pistils. At night, this flower folds its petals to protect itself from excess moisture and hypothermia.

The fruit is a spherical polynutlet. Nutlets are oblique-ovate, 2.5–3 mm long, laterally compressed, narrowly bordered, with a short, straight, rarely recurved nose, glabrous, smooth.

Blooms in May - August.

Places of growth:

It grows in forest and floodplain meadows, in sparse forests, like a weed in the fields, along the banks of streams and rivers, on the outskirts of swamps. It is found almost throughout the European part of Russia, Western Siberia, in the Caucasus.

Buttercup preparation:

Medicinal raw material is a herb collected during flowering. dried in the usual way- in the air, under a canopy or in the attic. Used parts: above-ground part plants (apparently effective only when freshly picked, since the plant is not poisonous when dry).

The chemical composition of buttercup caustic:

Fresh herb contains saponins, tannins, ranunculin glycoside, which, when hydrolyzed, breaks down into glucose and protoanemonin, which is unstable and polymerizes into anemonin. Ascorbic acid, carotene were found in the leaves, carotenoids (carotene-epoxide, xanthophyll-epoxide, flavoxanthin, taraxanthin, chrysanthemaxanthin) were found in the flowers; in fruits - fatty oil (23%).

All these active ingredients form the basis of the chemical composition of buttercup caustic (night blindness).

Protoanemonin is highly toxic. It is a volatile substance with a pungent odor and a burning taste. When the ranunculus dries, it gradually disappears, and the hay from them is not poisonous to animals. When protoanemonin vapors are inhaled, severe irritation of the respiratory tract and eyes, runny nose, lacrimation, suffocation and spasms of the muscles of the larynx are observed.

In the people, all buttercups are called "night blindness" due to the action of protoanemonin on the mucous membranes of the eyes, which causes severe pain, lacrimation and temporary loss of vision.

These substances are found in almost all buttercups.

Pharmacological properties of buttercup caustic:

The pharmacological properties of buttercup are determined by its chemical composition.

Protoanemonin at topical application causes irritation and necrosis.

In small doses, it stimulates the activity of the central nervous system, increases the number of red blood cells, increases the content of hemoglobin, has antimicrobial (against staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, white mold) and fungistatic action.

Anemonin is pharmacologically inactive.

In optimal doses, buttercup has a tonic, analgesic, antimicrobial and wound healing effect. Received good results in the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin.

The use of buttercup in medicine, buttercup treatment:

With gastric, headache and neuralgic pains, rheumatism, gout, for the treatment of burns, wounds, furunculosis, hydrophobia, hernia, tuberculosis, and also as a tonic, buttercup herb is used in folk medicine.

For gout and neuralgia, fresh ranunculus herb is used. If you rub the greens of a freshly picked caustic buttercup in your hands, it will act like a mustard plaster - the skin will turn red and a burning sensation will be felt.

Buttercup leaves contain a large number of carotene. They have been successfully tested in the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin, crushed leaves reduce warts.

For hernia, pulmonary tuberculosis, gastric diseases, a decoction of flowers is prescribed.

Also used as an insecticide. Buttercup caustic successfully passed clinical trials for the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin.

Dosage forms, method of application and doses of caustic buttercup preparations:

Buttercup herb is used to make effective medications and forms used in the treatment of many diseases. Let's consider the main ones.

Fresh branches of caustic buttercup are used for rabies and as a remedy for malaria: 9–10 hours before the onset of an attack of malaria, the crushed flowers are applied to the hands, at the place where the pulse is felt.

Buttercup flower ointment:

Ointment from flowers pork fat in a ratio of 1:4 is applied externally for colds.

buttercup juice:

Cotton wool moistened with plant juice is applied to aching teeth.

Buttercup contraindications:

The plant is poisonous. With the careless use of buttercup, poisoning is possible, which is very difficult, with sharp pains in the esophagus, stomach and intestines and accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea, and a decline in cardiac activity.

The use of buttercup in the household:

Buttercup water infusions are used in veterinary medicine as a means of promoting tissue repair and healing of festering wounds.

The caustic substances of the plant become ineffective only when the plant is dried. Therefore, hay is safe for livestock.

A bit of history:

The internal and external (for warts) use of buttercup is known from P.A. Matgiolus, court physician of Emperor Ferdinand I. In his work “Strength and Action various kinds buttercups, or yellow flowers" (1563), he wrote the following: "Ranunculus acts as a laxative: if you eat 5 or 6 leaves with raisins, it causes repeated stools. If the leaves are applied externally, they remove thickenings from the nails, warts and other growths. For ailments in the region of the thighs, grind and put them on the thighs, let them lie there for about five or six hours, until they cause blisters, in this way they draw the internal evil and painful dampness to the surface of the skin.