Name: Dog’s nettle heart – motherwort
DOG NETTLE HEART (HAIRY HEART) —
Leonurus cardiaca L.
The family of hyacinths is Lamiaceae, or Labiatae
What does it look like? A perennial herbaceous plant 50-150 cm tall, with a straight, branched four-sided stem. The lower leaves are rounded or ovate, opposite, petiolate, finger-five-lobed almost to the middle, the middle ones are oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, three-lobed or three-lobed, all above are large-serrated-serrate, fluffy, sharp, dark green above, light green below . The flowers are collected in thick rings, sit in the axils of the bracts, the bracts are prickly. In corollas, the upper lip is purple, the lower lip is yellow in the middle, with purple spots (there are also white corollas). Blooms in June – August.
Where does it grow? On littered places, on wastelands, on slopes, over cliffs, in abandoned gardens, under mud, in cemeteries – in the southwestern part of Ukraine,
What and when are collected? The whole plant – during flowering, from the place where the leaves begin, or only the largest leaves and flowering tops.
When is it used? With neuroses of the heart, in the initial stage of hypertensive disease, with cardiosclerosis, with increased nervous excitability and mild forms of base disease.
Stinging nettle calms the central nervous system better than valerian and bromides, slows the heart rate and increases the force of heart contractions and lowers blood pressure, regulates the menstrual cycle, acts as a mild diuretic, reduces pain during an attack of renal colic.
It is also useful for gastrointestinal diseases, chronic inflammation of the colon, stomach spasms (action of stachydrine alkaloid; flavone derivatives – scutalairin, volatile oil; leonurine glycoside; triterpene saponins – ursulic acid; tannins; malic, tartaric, phosphoric acid).
Used in the form of tea. Add 1 tablespoon (with the top) of the chopped plant to 1 cup of boiling water and infuse for 10 minutes. Drink twice a day, half a glass – in the morning (on an empty stomach) and before going to bed. With increased excitability, irritability, tea is prepared from a mixture of nettle grass , sweet marjoram, blackberry leaves, dried marsh flower grass and thyme in a ratio of 2:2:2:1.5:1. This tea is also drunk in case of hysteria, chest toad, based’s disease. For the winter, an alcoholic tincture of raw juice squeezed from dog nettle is prepared in a 2:3 ratio of alcohol. If necessary, use 30-40 drops per 2 tablespoons of water, half an hour before meals.
Nervous mothers who breastfeed are recommended to steam 1 tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of nettle , valerian root, caraway seeds and fennel seeds in 1.5 cups of boiling water and, after infusing for half an hour, drink the sugar-sweetened steam slowly in sips. With heart neurosis, take 1 tablespoon of a mixture of nettle , lemon balm, St. John’s wort and valerian root in a ratio of 3:4:2:1 per 1 cup of boiling water, infuse for 20 minutes and drink 1 cup twice a day.
For endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis, insufficiency of the moral valve, mitral stenosis, insufficiency of the aortic valve, stenosis of the aorta, 2 full teaspoons of a mixture (equally) of the grass of dog nettle , viburnum bark and valerian root are boiled for 20 minutes in 1 glass of water and the decoction is drunk in sips during the day. This mixture is also recommended for myocarditis with symptoms of heart failure of the I-II degrees. Some doctors recommend dog nettle for epilepsy, Meniere’s syndrome (dizziness, headache, vomiting), sclerosis of cerebral vessels. A decoction of the root of nettle is used for uterine bleeding.