Parsnip

Biennial or annual plant 30-100 cm tall with fusiform fleshy yellow-brown root. Stem erect, glabrous, ribbed-striated, branched at the top. The leaves are pinnate, almost shiny above, lighter below and covered with soft hairs. Stem leaves are sessile, with longish, curved sheaths; basal leaves are long-petiolate; terminal lobes ovate-oblong, apical lobe three-lobed, coarsely dentate at margins. The flowers are collected in complex umbrellas with 8-12 main rays. Instead of a cup, there are 5 inconspicuous cloves; corolla of 5 golden yellow, unfused petals; stamens 5. Pistil 5-7 mm long consists of 2 carpels, with a lower ovary. The fruit splits into 2 valves flattened from above with membranous winged edges and longitudinal ribs on their upper plane. Blooms in summer.

It grows in meadows and grassy places among shrubs, sometimes along roads. The cultivated form of parsnip is grown in vegetable gardens for its thick, fleshy spindle-shaped root, used as a condiment in cooking.

For medicinal purposes, the aerial part of the plant or only the leaves, as well as the root and fruits, are used.

The fruits contain 1.5 – 3.6% essential oil, forucoumarins and glycerides of butyric, heptyl and caproic acids. The leaves and root contain essential oil, but in much smaller quantities. It gives the raw material a specific smell, as a result of which it is used, especially the roots, as a culinary seasoning.

Parsnip is recommended to stimulate appetite and as an antispasmodic for digestive disorders, in the presence of sand and kidney stones and as a diuretic. From it prepare the product (NRB) eupigmine for the treatment of vitiligo.

Decoction: 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of dried crushed leaves, or 2 teaspoons of crushed roots, or 1/2 teaspoon of crushed fruits in 2 cups of water boil for 15 minutes; take during the first week for 3-4 tbsp. spoons, in the second week – 5-6 tbsp. spoons every day, in the 30% week – a quarter cup.

It is used in folk medicine infusion and decoction of herbs as a diuretic for dropsy, as an analgesic for renal, hepatic and gastric colic, cough and fever.

An aqueous infusion of the root is used to improve appetite, as well as a general tonic and sexual stimulant.

Application

1 st. a spoonful of grass (or leaves) is boiled in 2 glasses of water for 10 minutes, insisted for 2 hours. Drink 0.3-0.5 cups 3 times every day 20-30 minutes before meals.

Alcohol tincture of herbs and roots is used for hallucinations and bad mood.

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