Coltsfoot officinalis

This plant with an inconsistent name must appear in your first-aid kit for the next winter, since coltsfoot drugs are famous for expectorant, anti-inflammatory and disinfectant actions. They form a kind of film that protects the epithelial layer from the irritating effects of cold, viruses, bacterial toxins, food ingredients that cause irritation.. Under such a protective film, the inflammatory process is reduced. In addition, from the coltsfoot you can prepare a lot of cosmetics.

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Coltsfoot is a perennial herb from the Astra family, or Compositae. In height it can reach 10-25 cm. Rhizome has a creeping, powerful, branching with thin roots. At the very beginning of spring, the mother-and-stepmother will grow a lot of flowering stems, which are covered with underdeveloped scaly leaves, carrying one basket at the tops. Coltsfoot flowers are collected in baskets of golden-yellow color. The fruit is a tetrahedral berry with seeds and a white oblong crest. The leaves of coltsfoot are basal, developing after the fruits have ripened.

The leaf of mother and stepmother leaves is rather dense, juicy, rounded-heart-shaped, unevenly toothed along the edges. On top of the sheets are dark green in color, and on the underside are whitish, as they are thickly covered with felted hairs. Veins on sheets palmate with three prominent tufts of veins. The plant blooms from April to May, until the leaves bloom, the fruits ripen in May and June.

Where to look for a coltsfoot?

Coltsfoot grows in forests and forest-steppe zones. It can be found on the shores of various reservoirs, in fields and gardens, on flood plains, near roads, on open-pit dumps. In some places you can find thick thickets of coltsfoot.

Features of coltsfoot collection

As a medicinal raw materials used leaves coltsfoot. It is necessary to collect them in the summer, in the period of their full development up to the moment when they are covered with "orange rust". Leaves can be cut or mowed, leaving petioles about 5 cm high. From the freshly cut sheets of a coltsfoot, the affected leaves should be selected, loosely and not crushed. Put in a basket or paper bag and thus transport to the place of drying. To dry raw materials should be indoors in the shade with good ventilation.

You can also dry the raw materials in the oven at a temperature of 40-50 ° C. To do this, carefully lay out 1 sheet on the felt side down and turn the raw material regularly, several times a day. Understand that the raw materials can be dried by the characteristic fragility of leaf petioles. Storage of ready-made raw material coltsfoot in places protected from moisture, pre-expanded in paper bags. Shelf life - 2-3 years.

Contraindications: idiosyncrasy.

Side effects

More recently, scientists conducted a series of studies of coltsfoot, as a result of which the probability of a negative effect of its drugs on the liver was discovered. With prolonged use of coltsfoot drugs, carcinogenic effects are also possible.

Coltsfoot treatment recipes

Cough tea

2 teaspoons of dried and crushed leaves of mother and stepmother, pour 400 ml of boiling water, leave for 5-10 minutes, then strain. For the treatment of cough, you need to drink 1 cup of this tea 3 times a day (after each meal). This tea is especially indicated for chronic bronchitis, pneumoconiosis and pulmonary emphysema, as it facilitates coughing and thins the viscous bronchial mucus. This tea can be sweetened with honey, but only if you are not sick with diabetes.

With diathesis in children

1 tablespoon of dry crushed leaves of mother and stepmother, pour 200 ml of boiling water, wrap well with a towel and leave for 1 hour, then strain. Take this infusion should be 1 tablespoon 3-5 times daily before meals. Inflamed skin can also be powdered with powder from the leaves of coltsfoot, which can be obtained by grinding the leaves in a coffee grinder.

Natural cosmetics with a coltsfoot

To strengthen hair

3 tablespoons of dried (or fresh) and crushed leaves of coltsfoot and nettle pour 1 liter of boiling water in a jar, tightly close the lid, put in a dark place and leave for 1 hour, then strain and immediately wash the infusion head. If you prepare a decoction stronger (6 tablespoons of dry and crushed leaves of a mother-and-stepmother and nettle pour 1 liter of boiling water and insist, as indicated above), it is also suitable for strengthening the hair. They need to soak the roots of clean hair, at least 1-2 times a week.

Infusion coltsfoot

2 tablespoons of dry crushed leaves of mother and stepmother, pour 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 15-20 minutes, strain. Rub 1-2 times a week into the scalp and rinse dry hair to strengthen, improve hair growth and eliminate dandruff.

Mask for the face

2 tablespoons of the dry crushed leaves of the mother-and-stepmother pour boiling water so as to obtain a mushy mass. Heat this mass on low heat to 60-70 degrees, and then cool at room temperature. The mask is suitable for oily skin, it has an anti-inflammatory effect, regulates the function of the sebaceous glands.

Infusion of the collection for the scalp

Take 1 tablespoon of dried and crushed nettle leaves and coltsfoot, cover with 1 cup of boiling water, leave for 15-20 minutes, then strain. Rinse the infusion head 1 time in 2 days to combat hair loss, dandruff and itching of the head.

See also: Coltsfoot: description of the plant

Mask assembled with other plants

Take 1 tablespoon of dried and crushed leaves of coltsfoot, herbs of St. John's wort and calendula flowers and cover with hot water so that you get a pasty mass. Heat over low heat to 60-70 degrees, and then cool the resulting mass at room temperature. The mask has anti-inflammatory and disinfectant action, designed for oily skin.

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