Composition of stinging nettle. Stinging nettle: contraindications
Stinging nettle
Name: Dioecious nettle - so named because it has male and female flowers.
Latin name: Urtica dioica L.
Family: Nettles (Urticaceae)
Kinds: Nettle family - usually herbaceous plants, flowers - with a simple perianth, ovary upper, unilocular, fruits - nuts.
Species are especially rich in various vitamins, there are glycosides. The family is characterized by deposits of calcium carbonate in the leaves in the form of cystoliths or in the form of accumulations at the base of the hairs and increased content silicic acid. Cystoliths and clusters are also present in the nearest family Moraceae. There are formic and other acids, in some species - burning hairs. Tannins are contained in small quantities. In medicine, types of genera of nettle and wall are used.
Lifespan: Perennial.
plant type: Herbaceous plant covered with stinging hairs.
Roots: Creeping rhizome.
Trunk (stem): Stem erect, with blunt edges, 50-150 cm tall, branched.
Height: 60-170 cm.
Leaves: Leaves opposite, ovate, coarsely serrated along the edge. The whole plant is covered with hairs containing formic acid. The hairs end in a brittle, silica-impregnated point. When touched, the heads of the hairs break off, pierce the skin, forming a wound into which acid enters, causing a burning sensation.
Flowers, inflorescences: Flowers inconspicuous, light green, collected in axillary catkins.
flowering time: Blossoms in June - August.
Fruit: The fruit is an ovoid small nut.
ripening time: Ripens in July.
collection time: Leaves are harvested during flowering, roots - in late autumn.
Features of collection, drying and storage: The leaves are harvested during the flowering of the plant, separating them from the stem, and dried as quickly as possible, but not in the sun. Drying is stopped when the central vein becomes brittle. The yield of dry raw materials is 18%. Store in rooms where there is no access to direct sunlight. Shelf life - 2 years.
The roots are dug up in autumn. After washing and separating them from the above-ground part, they spread them on open areas and dry them. With unfavorable weather conditions drying is carried out under awnings or in well-ventilated areas. The yield of dry roots is 25%.
Seeds are harvested in the period of full ripeness, cutting off whole plants, which, after drying, are threshed, and the seeds are sifted through a sieve.
Spreading: In Russia and Ukraine, stinging nettle is found throughout the territory.
habitats: Grows in fertile, moist soils, in shady places, ravines, along roadsides, near farms and dwellings, in wastelands and wasty places. Divorced in culture.
Culinary use: Young shoots in spring are an inexhaustible basis for the hostess' fantasy of preparing healthy and nutritious food. They are put in green cabbage soup, borscht, salads, scrambled eggs, omelettes (to eliminate the burning, shoots should be doused with boiling water). Summer, coarsened plants can be used for fermentation and salting. Sauerkraut is just as delicious as cabbage. Moreover, in terms of nutrition, it is not inferior to the best legumes. Nettle dishes have a tonic effect, relieve mental and physical fatigue, stimulate appetite, and last longer.
Use in cosmetics: Nettle preparations are used in dermatology and cosmetics. An infusion of nettle leaves is drunk in the complex treatment of acne. A decoction of the leaves in vinegar diluted with water is used to wash the head with circular and nested baldness, seborrhea, baldness, and premature graying.
Interesting Facts: Among the flora, it is difficult to find a plant that, by its biological activity, could have such an impact on the human body as the dioecious nettle!
medicinal parts: Medicinal raw materials are leaves and roots.
Useful content: Leaves contain vitamins C, K, B2, carotenes, pantothenic acid, chlorophyll, tannins and proteins, as well as iron salts, calcium, sulfur, tannins, sugars, fats. It must be borne in mind that vitamins C, K, group B, iron salts are found in nettles in such proportions that they perfectly normalize the basic metabolism and contribute to an increase in hemoglobin in the blood, which is accompanied by an increase in the tone of the cardiovascular, respiratory and other systems.
Nettle leaves in terms of protein content are not inferior to beans and peas; twice as much ascorbic acid as in blackcurrant, and there is more carotene than in carrots and sea buckthorn!
Actions: Stinging nettle has hemostatic, diuretic and tonic properties, has a slight choleretic effect.
According to its chemical composition, nettle belongs to vitamin preparations. Nettle is used primarily as a hemostatic agent (for pulmonary, intestinal, hemorrhoidal and other bleeding).
In addition, preparations from nettle leaves are an effective remedy for iron deficiency anemia, cholecystitis, gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, digestive disorders, diabetes mellitus, hypovitaminosis and hypogalactia.
Stinging nettle is a part of gastric preparations, laxative preparations and vitamin preparations, in the composition of the drug Allahol, used for hepatitis, cholecystitis and chronic constipation.
Salads from young leaves of stinging nettle are included in the therapeutic and prophylactic diet.
Use restrictions: REMEMBER, NETTLE IS CONTRAINDICATED TO PEOPLE WITH INCREASED BLOOD COAGULATION, WITH ATHEROSCLEROSIS, HYPERTENSION, POLYPACH, TUMORS OF THE ADDITIONS AND UTERUS , DURING PREGNANCY . IT SHOULD BE LIMITED IN OLDER AGE TO AVOID A CLOT!
Dosage forms:
leaf infusion . 10 grams or 2 tablespoons of nettle leaves per 200 ml of boiling water. Take 1/4 - 1/2 cup 3-5 times a day before meals.
Juice sv hedgehog. Take 1 teaspoon 3 times a day.
Decoction of roots and seeds . 40-50 grams of a mixture of equally divided roots and nettle seeds per 400 ml of boiling water, boil until half the volume of liquid remains. take 3 tablespoons 4-5 times a day.
Fresh nettle sting diseased parts of the body with muscular and articular rheumatism.
Profuse menses. Hemorrhoidal bleeding. Cervical erosion . Beli.fresh leaf juice 1 teaspoon per 1/4 cup of water 20 minutes before meals 3 times a day is taken with excessive menstruation, with hemorrhoidal bleeding. A cotton swab moistened with juice, or a slurry of leaves on a swab, is inserted into the vagina with erosion of the cervix. It is especially recommended to take with abundant whites.
Urticaceae
Family - Nettles - Urticaceae.
The parts used are grass, seeds and rhizome.
vernacular name- chewed, zhigalka, strakiva, strekava, strech, zhigachka, zhguchka, goad.
Pharmacy name - nettle herb - Urticae heiba, nettle seed - Urticae semen, nettle root - Urticae radix.
Botanical description
perennial herbaceous plant, up to 2 meters high, with a powerful root and long horizontal branched rhizomes.
Nettle stalk is hollow, straight or ascending, the surface of which is covered with simple and stinging hairs.
The leaves are opposite, long-petiolate, entire, oblong, ovate or elliptical in shape, dark green in color, up to 17 cm long. The top of the leaves is pointed, drawn, the edge is coarsely serrated or coarsely serrated. The leaves are covered a large number stinging hairs. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells that contain a caustic liquid of complex chemical composition. When the skin is touched, the end of the hair breaks off, the skin is pierced and the liquid from the full hair enters the wound, causing itching and mild inflammation on the skin.
The flowers of the plant are yellow-green, collected in inflorescences - spikelets, and are located in the axils of the leaves, rather small. Stinging nettle blooms from May to October.
The fruits are greenish-gray ovoid nuts.
Stinging nettle is distributed everywhere - in Europe, Asia Minor and Asia Minor, in the Transcaucasus, China, on the Indian subcontinent, is found in North Africa from Libya to Morocco, in North America and Australia. In Russia, it grows in the European part and Western Siberia, listed in Eastern Siberia and on Far East. It prevails in the forest and forest-steppe zones.
Collection and preparation
In May, June and July (August), wild nettle leaves are collected, which are carefully (with gloves) torn from the stem, and then dried in the air. The whole herb is used to make nettle juice. The rhizome is dug up in spring or autumn, freed from the earth adhering to it and dried in air or under artificial heating (up to 40 ° C).
Active ingredients
Flavonoids, chlorophyll, carotenoids, vitamins, mineral salts, beta-sitosterol, vegetable acids, sterol and steryl glycosides, as well as lignans and tannins.
Use in homeopathy
In homeopathy, only stinging nettle is used. The homeopathic remedy Urtica urens is prepared from leaves, stems and rhizomes collected at the time of flowering.
Healing action and application
It has hemostatic, anti-inflammatory, multivitamin, antipruritic, immunotropic, choleretic, diuretic, hepatoprotective, blood-purifying, expectorant, analgesic, antiseptic and anticonvulsant effects.
Nettle has been widely used by ancient healers since ancient times. Avicenna in his "Canon of Medicine" noted numerous medicinal properties nettles.
It has long been believed that nettle - good remedy for the elderly, it is very useful as a tonic for the elderly, it activates and enhances the body's own defenses.
AT medicinal purposes leaves, flowers, roots and seeds are used. Nettle is used for uterine, pulmonary and intestinal bleeding, sleep disorders, rheumatic pains, physical and mental fatigue, loss of appetite, cholecystitis, duodenal ulcer and stomach ulcer, gastritis.
Outwardly, decoctions and infusions of a medicinal plant are used as lotions for seborrheic dermatitis, trophic ulcers, and eczema.
In this article, you can get answers to many questions about stinging nettle. What kind of plant is this, when is it used, and does it have any contraindications?
The content of the article:
Very often when we hear about medicinal herbs, with which you can quickly and much easier to cure any disease, we think that collecting them will take a lot of time, and besides, few people know where to look for them. Especially for city dwellers who either don't have the time or the inclination to travel far out of town to pick up those very medicinal plants. But many of us are mistaken, because most medicinal and so useful plants grows under our feet, we are just very little aware of their properties, and the possibility of practical application. One of these simple and at the same time complex plants is stinging nettle.
Stinging nettle is a widespread "weed", as many are accustomed to consider it. It's herbaceous and perennial, which appears in early spring and is fragrant until late autumn, can even turn green on the soil surface until the first frost and snow. This plant has a fairly powerful root with a branched and horizontal rhizome, an upright stem with opposite, dark green, large and heart-shaped leaves. The average plant height is 60–80 cm, but with good conditions and support from other plants, can reach 2 meters. A feature of the nettle is that it is completely covered with burning hairs, from the ground to the tips of the leaves.
Among the people, stinging nettle has many synonyms for its literary name: “zhigalka” or “zhalyuga”, “healing nettle”, “stinging nettle”, “zhyachka”, “strekava”, “strekalka”, “screech” and many others.
Distribution of stinging nettle
Stinging nettle takes root very easily and germinates on new soil. Thanks to this “life-loving” and non-selectiveness in the composition of the soil, nettle is a widespread plant in our area.
It can often be found:
- in the wastelands;
- in parks and gardens;
- in forests and forest clearings;
- in ravines and on the banks of rivers;
- near housing and in vegetable gardens;
- almost throughout the forest-steppe and forest zones.
The composition of the blind
The composition of the shooter contains a huge amount of:
- tannins, flavone and alkaloid substances;
- pantothenic, formic, silicic, galsic acid;
- chlorophyll and phylloquinone;
- urticin;
- glycoside;
- ascorbic acid, even twice as much as in the composition of blackcurrant berries;
- starch;
- histamines;
- proteins;
- macro- and microelements: copper, magnesium, iron, chromium, manganese, etc.
Collection and harvesting of stinging nettle
With a therapeutic purpose, the leaves of the Zhigalka are mainly collected, less often the rhizomes, and even more rarely the seeds.
It is best to collect leaves in May or June, but it is also possible in July (August), just with aging healing properties the plant is slowly decreasing. Having previously put on gloves, carefully tear off the leaves from the plant, and spread them on a fabric or paper. It is necessary to dry raw materials, like all medicinal plants, under an attic or some kind of shed, but not in direct sunlight, from them the nettle becomes discolored and loses 50% of its useful properties. When the petioles and midribs begin to break, this is the first sign that the plant is ready. Stinging nettle should be stored for no more than 2 years, in a warm and dark room, in boxes or cloth bags.
For medicinal purposes, nettle juice is also used, for this the plant is completely torn off, then the nettle juice is squeezed out under strong pressure.
The rhizome of the zhigalki is dug up, before drying, shake off the ground and dry it in the open air, but not under open sky. You can also dry the rhizome by artificial heating, for example, using an oven, but with a temperature not exceeding 40 degrees. Then the raw material is mixed into fabric pouches, hang in a dry and warm place. Keep for about two years.
Useful properties of stinging nettle
Due to the natural components of this plant, it is widely used in traditional medicine and in the production of pharmacological preparations.
The healing properties that this plant has:
- hemostatic;
- painkiller;
- blood-purifying:
- multivitamin;
- anti-inflammatory;
- antiseptic;
- expectorant;
- hematopoietic;
- immunotropic;
- anticonvulsant;
- hepatoprotective;
- antipruritic;
- healing property, in other words, stimulating skin regeneration;
- normalizing metabolism;
- choleretic and diuretic property.
The use of stinging nettle in folk medicine
There is a proverb that young parents very often use to reassure a baby who has received a nettle burn: “The place where the nettle has bitten will be healthier, so she gave you her vitamins.” Nettle is also used:
- Prevention of hypovitaminosis. To provide the body with a supply of vitamins after a long winter, you do not need to wait for the end of Maya or June, you need to turn to stinging nettle for help. Recipe: 2 tbsp. l. chopped leaves of young nettle pour 0.5 cups of boiling water, and leave under closed lid for 2 hours, then strain. It is necessary to take a decoction of 90-100 ml. every time before meals.
- Prevention of sclerosis, increase the body's defenses and revitalize vital organs in the elderly. In early spring, as soon as nettle sprouts appeared from the ground by 3-5 cm, they must be collected. Wash these sprouts well, grind and fill a glass container with them, then pour this raw material with vodka. Tie the neck with gauze, in several layers and insist for the first day on the windowsill, then 7-8 days in a dark and cool place. Strain, squeeze raw materials well and drink every day, and drink 1 tsp. 2 times a day, 30 minutes after breakfast, and 1 hour in the evening, before going to bed.
- The use of a hemostatic property plants for: uterine, pulmonary, hemorrhoidal, nasal and gastrointestinal bleeding. Excellent folk remedy to eliminate menstrual pain, and various disorders menstrual cycle.
- diuretic property stinging nettle is often used by people who have problems with puffiness, and the slow removal of fluid from the body.
- Anti-inflammatory and firming property Stinging nettle helps people who have problems with functional disorders of the stomach, as well as intestinal disorders: frequent diarrhea, diarrhea or dyspepsia (painful and difficult digestion).
- Due to its property normalize and even increase metabolism Stinging nettle is often used to improve well-being and burn calories. Zhigalka, often used as part of spring herbal preparations, for healing and strengthening the body from the inside.
- For young mothers who are breastfeeding, nettles also provide a huge service. Teas from this plant are capable of increase the amount of milk, which will allow the baby to feed natural food for a longer time, and not artificial mixtures. And about how breast-feeding more useful than artificial, everyone already knows, especially its effect on the immune system of the crumbs.
- Antipruritic and antiseptic nettle properties can help you cope with allergic rashes, severe skin irritations, as well as serious diseases such as acne, small ulcers on the surface of the skin and furunculosis. Lotions from fresh juice of the burner can eliminate diaper rash and bedsores.
- If you have low hemoglobin, it's not scary at all. Just add stinger leaves to your daily meals, if possible, and after 1-2 weeks the result will surprise you. After all, thanks to a large number micro and macro elements, vitamins, and tannins that are part of the nettle, it is able to have a beneficial effect on the composition of the blood, and even purify it.
- Blood purifying property given plant can relieve you of the symptoms of dropsy or scrofula.
Sometimes nettle leaves are used in the form of infusions, from which compresses are made for first-degree burns or to accelerate the healing of external wounds. - Return male power nettle seeds will help. During the day, you need to eat 1 tbsp. l. well-ground seeds of this plant with a ripe banana until smooth.
- 3 art. l. crushed fresh or dry leaves of a zhigalka;
- 250–300 ml. boiling water (pour nettles);
- Leave for 30-40 minutes, strain and rinse your hair.
Contraindications to the use of stinging nettle
Like all medicines, natural origin or pharmacological enterprises have their pros and cons.
Contraindications for taking a burner:
- It is strictly forbidden to take this plant or preparations containing it for women with severe bleeding, which were caused by diseases of the appendages or uterus.
- Sometimes it happens that people have an allergic reaction to a drug, vitamin or trace element - this affects the individual intolerance of a particular product.
- Due to its ability to increase blood clotting, nettle preparations are contraindicated in people prone to thrombophlebitis, atherosclerosis and thrombosis.
- Women during childbearing, especially in the first and second trimester. Nettle can provoke premature contractions and even “wake up” labor.
- With caution, it is necessary to use the burner for people who have problems with the kidneys, gallbladder, and also for people over 70 years old.
More about useful properties nettle see here:
The perennial herb stinging nettle grows in almost every vegetable garden, but not everyone knows that it is one of those early multivitamin-rich foods.
Nettles can be seen immediately after the snow melts, and in early April you can already eat them.
A few, but the most common, nettle dioecious, in Russia was often used: its tops, fed to chickens, made it possible to get more eggs from them, young shoots of nettles increased milk yield, borscht, cabbage soup, salads, scrambled eggs, etc. d.
Nettle has been known as medicinal for a long time, Avicenna wrote about its miraculous properties. If you crush its leaves, you can get excellent. Since the 16th century, the hemostatic properties of this miraculous plant have caused doctors to prescribe nettle decoctions for diseases such as uterine, intestinal and pulmonary bleeding, as well as abscesses.
The raw materials for the medicine are both the leaves and the seeds of the plant. It is harvested from June to August, when the flowering process takes place. Knowing the pungency of the nettle, it must be cut off with gloves, although traditional medicine believes that even a nettle burn is very useful.
Then the plant is spread out in a dry, ventilated place, dried under a canopy or in the attic, making sure that there is no direct sunlight on the raw material, otherwise the vitamins will be destroyed.
The leaves of the plant are very useful to eat, since the stinging nettle is not inferior to many in terms of calories and nutritional value. legumes. It contains vitamins K, B1, C, potassium, protein, iron, calcium, formic and fats, glycoside and much more. By the amount of carotene content, nettle surpasses even carrots, and ascorbic acid - blackcurrant.
The miraculous hemostatic property of nettle is due to the content of vitamin K in it, which is found in such quantities in a very small number of plants.
Nettle infusion is effective remedy in the treatment of various bleeding, with a decrease in resistance human body to external factors. He's getting ready in the following way: a tablespoon of dried crushed leaves is poured into a glass of boiling water, infused for ten minutes and after straining, one spoon is taken three times a day.
Many doctors and healers believe that nettle - excellent tool in case of violation metabolic processes, so they prescribe an infusion for anemia, rheumatism, constipation, atherosclerosis and indigestion.
Stinging nettle is no less popular in cosmetology. It helps to strengthen the hair roots, reduces the greasiness of the fatty layer of the scalp, fights dandruff. At home, for this purpose, you can simply rinse your hair with a decoction or rub it into the scalp.
If you eat dried leaves along with yogurt at the rate of two tablespoons of nettle per glass, you can lower the level of sugar in the blood, as well as relieve inflammation in the small intestine.
Dioecious is very helpful with various male problems, increasing potency and libido. To do this, they are brewed as tea, and also poured with red wine at the rate of 20 grams of seeds per two glasses, insist for a week and drink a spoonful a day.
Today in pharmacies you can find briquettes of crushed nettle leaves, the slices of which are conveniently poured with boiling water and drunk infusion.
However, we must not forget that the use of nettle has its limitations. It should not be taken by those people who have increased blood clotting, have gastritis, ulcers, hypertension, as well as pregnant women in the last term.
Stinging nettle is a herbaceous plant of the Nettle family (lat. Urticaceae).
The botanical name is Urtica dióica.
The popular name is zhegala, zhigalka, strakiva, strekava, strekuchka, zhigachka, zhguchka, goad.
Stinging nettle is a perennial with a strong root and long horizontal branched rhizomes, reaching a height of 60-200 cm (under ideal climatic conditions and under high density and height of plants at the place of growth). The whole plant is densely covered with burning hairs.
Escape is extended. Stinging nettle stalk is hollow, herbaceous in consistency, straight or ascending. The surface is covered with simple and burning hairs. Transverse section ribbed (tetrahedral). The leaf arrangement is opposite.
At the beginning of the growing season, the stem is simple, and axillary shoots usually develop in the second half of summer.
The leaves are opposite, equilateral, long-petiolate, simple, entire, dark green. The shape of the leaf blade is oblong ovate-cordate or ovate-lanceolate, less often elliptical - the length of the leaf exceeds the width by no more than twice: 8-17 cm long, 2-8 cm wide. The bases of the leaves are deep heart-shaped (notch depth up to 5 mm).
The apex is pointed, retracted. The edge is coarsely serrated or coarsely serrated. The leaf venation is palmately pinnate. Stipules are stem, free, oblong or narrowly triangular, up to 4 mm wide.
Leaf blades with pronounced punctate cystoliths. Nettle leaves are covered with stinging and simple hairs, but forms without stinging and with relatively few simple hairs (located in this case mainly along the veins) and plants with bare leaf blades are known.
Stinging nettle blooms from May to October. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells containing a caustic liquid of complex chemical composition. When the skin is touched, the end of the hair breaks off, the skin is pierced and the liquid from the full hair enters the wound, causing itching and mild inflammation on the skin.
Stinging nettle should be distinguished from stinging nettle. Stinging nettles are commonly referred to as stinging nettles by non-specialists to distinguish them from so-called dead nettles or white stinging nettles.
Distributed throughout the temperate zone of both hemispheres: in Europe, Asia Minor and Asia Minor, in the Transcaucasus, China, on the Indian subcontinent (and in the mountains of Nepal it climbs to a height of up to 3500 - 4000 m above sea level), occurs in North Africa from Libya to Morocco , has been introduced and naturalized in North America and Australia.
In Russia, it grows in the European part and Western Siberia, it is brought to Eastern Siberia and the Far East. It prevails in the forest and forest-steppe zones.
Collection and harvesting of nettles
In May, June and July (August), wild nettle leaves are collected, which are carefully (with gloves) torn from the stem, and then dried in the air. The whole herb is used to make nettle juice. The rhizome is dug up in spring or autumn, freed from the earth adhering to it and dried on 
air or under artificial heating (up to 40 ° C).
More often they mow the plant with braids and tear off the leaves after withering, when they stop stinging. They dry the raw materials in attics under an iron roof or under canopies with good ventilation, spreading thin layer(3-5 cm) on paper or fabric.
Do not dry the leaves in the sun, as they discolor. When overdried, they are easily crushed. Drying is completed when the central veins and petioles begin to break. Dry leaves, pressing, are packed into bales of 50, and cut into bags of 20 kg.
Store in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks without direct sunlight. Shelf life up to 2 years. Seeds are harvested at their full maturity.
Pharmaceutical properties of nettle
The medicinal properties of stinging nettle are due to its chemical composition: the leaves contain vitamins K, C, B2, B6, carotene, a lot of chlorophyll, urticin glycoside, tannins, etc. As a result, nettle has the following properties:
- hemostatic;
- anti-inflammatory;
- multivitamin;
- antipruritic;
- immunotropic;
- stimulating regeneration (healing);
- normalizing metabolism;
- choleretic;
- diuretic;
- hepatoprotective;
- blood-purifying;
- expectorant;
- painkillers;
- antiseptic;
- anticonvulsant;
- enhancing hematopoiesis (hematopoiesis).
Nettle is included in the composition of the Allohol medical preparation, which is used for diseases of the biliary tract. It is part of many herbal preparations, and as an independent drug is used for radiation injuries.
Stinging nettle is used in cooking, it contains silicon, iron, calcium, magnesium, as well as vitamins A, B, C, chlorophyll used in medicine and cosmetology.
Stinging nettle contains protein, so it is used in agriculture, it increases the egg production of birds and milk yield of cows.
The use of stinging nettle in folk medicine
The fact that nettle has been used by man since ancient times is beyond doubt. Dioscrides, for example, points out that nettles were widely used by the ancients as medicinal plant with amazing properties against many ailments. Avicenna dedicated quite a lot of space to nettles in his Canon of Medicine. He notes the numerous medicinal properties of nettle.
He also testifies that the ancients used nettle in food: they boiled it with meat, ate it with onions and eggs, drank a decoction of nettle leaves with bee honey, prepared a drink - a nettle decoction in barley water.
It has long been believed that nettle is a good tonic for the elderly. It seems to activate all vital organs and increase the body's own defenses.
Nettle leaves are used to increase overall metabolism. They are indispensable integral part fees (teas) of spring and autumn health courses.
Nettle leaves and young shoots serve primarily for the prevention and treatment of beriberi, which are most often observed at the end of winter and early spring. The method of application is the simplest - powder from dry leaves is added to the first and second courses.
In folk medicine, nettle is very widely used not only as a hemostatic agent for uterine, hemorrhoidal, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal and nasal bleeding, but also as a diuretic, anti-inflammatory, regulating functional activity stomach and strengthening it (for dyspepsia, diarrhea).
In addition, stinging nettle has a blood-purifying effect, for example, in dropsy and scrofula. For medicinal purposes, leaves, flowers, roots, seeds are used. Root preparations are often more effective than leaf preparations.
Nettle root tincture. 2 tablespoons of dry crushed root pour 0.5 liters of vodka. Insist in a warm and dark place for 7-10 days. Take 30-40 drops three times a day. To enhance the action, 1/2 head of peeled minced garlic is often added to the tincture. The tincture is used as a hemostatic and regulating agent for menstrual irregularities, gastrointestinal diseases, diarrhea, and fever.
With radiculitis, pain in the joints, rheumatism, furunculosis, rub sore spots with tincture.
Nettle leaf infusion. 10 g (2 tablespoons) of the leaves of the plant are placed in enamelware, pour 200 ml (1 cup) hot boiled water, heated in a boiling water bath for 15 min, cooled at room temperature for 45 minutes, filter, squeeze, add water to 200 ml.
The prepared nettle infusion is stored in a cool place for no more than 2 days.
Take an infusion of 1/2-1/4 cup before meals 3-5 times a day as a hemostatic agent.
Such an infusion is best prepared using melt water.
With myositis, neuralgic pains, articular rheumatism, fresh nettles sting sore spots.
nettle juice drink 1 tablespoon for furunculosis; acne, various rashes.
To strengthen the hair, with baldness, rinse the hair after washing the head with a decoction of nettle leaves.
In case of hair loss, a decoction of nettle leaves and burdock roots, taken equally, is rubbed into the scalp. 1 tablespoon pour a glass of boiling water, boil for 5 minutes on low heat, leave for 45 minutes, strain.
Nettle for impotence: potency is well stimulated by 1 tablespoon of nettle seeds taken during the day, ground into a homogeneous mass with a ripe banana.
To enhance sexual desire, mix 1 teaspoon of crushed nettle with egg yolk and onions. Eat this mixture 1 teaspoon 3 times a day.
To prevent ectopic pregnancy, it is recommended to take orally 1 - Zg of nettle seeds (nettle seeds help expand the lumen of the fallopian tubes, along which the egg moves).
Nettle in cooking
Like a multivitamin edible plant nettle is especially valuable in spring: young leaves are added to vegetable salads as the main green mass, cabbage soup, borscht, pickles are cooked. Phytoncidal, that is, antimicrobial, properties of nettle have long been used to lengthen the shelf life of perishable foods.
nettle salads
150 g nettle, 1 egg, 20 g sour cream, vinegar, salt.
Leaves of young nettle are boiled for 5 minutes, crushed, seasoned with vinegar, boiled egg slices and sour cream are placed on top.
Nettle contraindications
Nettle, and all other plants that increase blood clotting, people with a tendency to thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, as well as with an increased prothrombin index of blood, should be consumed in limited quantities. Nettle is also contraindicated during pregnancy and persons suffering from hypertension.