Name: Forest strawberries – forest strawberries
Forest strawberries and (Fragaha vesca); red berries, strawberries; the Rose family (Rosaceae); forest strawberry
Fresh strawberries, with milk, with cream, strawberry jam… Kings among berries! And how fragrant! Probably, you will not find people who would not taste strawberries. The use of this wonderful plant is very diverse. It is a valuable food and dietary product, an important medicinal and honey plant.
Wild strawberries are herbaceous perennials with horizontal rhizomes and long creeping shoots (whiskers) that take root in nodes. The stem of the plant is erect or ascending, up to 30 cm high. The leaves are three-lobed, toothed at the edges. The flowers are white, in few-flowered corymbose inflorescences. They bloom in May-June. The fruits are numerous achenes, located on a fleshy inflorescence, ripening in July. Strawberries grow almost throughout the territory of Russia, with the exception of the Far North, steppe and salt marsh areas. The plant avoids heavily waterlogged areas. In Ukraine, it can be found most often in coniferous and mixed forests, thickets, on the sides of field roads, clearings, burnt areas, grassy slopes, in thickets of shrubs in forest areas, in the northern and middle parts of the forest-steppe zone, to the south, strawberries are rare.
The fruits and leaves of the plant contain vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and the leaves have 5 times more than the fruits. Fresh fruits contain a lot of carotene (provitamin A), as well as traces of vitamin B1, various biologically active substances: organic acids, sugars, iron salts, phosphorus, calcium, manganese and cobalt.
Strawberry fruits (berries) and leaves are used as medicine. The leaves are collected during the flowering period, and the fruits – as they ripen. The collected leaves are spread in a thin layer on burlap or paper and dried in the air in the shade or in a well-ventilated room. Store dried raw materials without access to light. The fruits are collected after the dew has gone. They are dried in the sun, and then dried in the air or in special dryers at a temperature of 45-65 °C.
Strawberry fruits stimulate the appetite, improve digestion, have a mild diuretic, diaphoretic and choleretic effect. They also have bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties.
It is useful to use strawberry berries, especially fresh ones, for diabetes and thyroid diseases. They help with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, gastritis with reduced acidity, peptic ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum, colitis, poor intestinal peristalsis (atonic constipation), gallstone and urolithiasis, gout.
Strawberries are contraindicated in case of allergy to them, renal colic, chronic appendicitis and hyperacid gastritis.
Externally, the berries are used in cosmetology and dermatology. With their help, spots and blemishes are removed, ringworm and eczema are treated. Mash from mashed fruits is applied to the skin of the face (mask) or lotion is used – an infusion of berries in 40% alcohol (vodka). After these procedures, the skin becomes clean, elastic, small wrinkles disappear.
Preparations made from strawberry leaves dilate blood vessels, lower blood pressure, normalize the rhythm and amplitude of heart contractions. They also increase the tone of the uterus and increase its contraction; contribute to the removal of salts from the body, have a choleretic, diaphoretic and anti-inflammatory effect. It is useful to use an infusion of leaves for diabetes, edema, insomnia, bronchial asthma, gallstone and urolithiasis, gout and other disorders of salt metabolism, vitamin deficiency and anemia. Externally, this product is used for wetting wounds (compresses) and for rinsing the oral cavity.
Bees collect pollen and nectar from strawberry flowers. 100 flowers secrete nectar, which contains about 20 mg of sugar. Strawberry honey yield is 10-12 kg per hectare.
Infusion of dried fruits. 2 tablespoons of dried fruit per 200 ml of boiling water. Insist for 15-20 minutes, filter. Take 1/2 cup 3-4 times a day.
Infusion of leaves. 20 g of raw material per 200 ml of boiling water. Insist for 15-20 minutes, filter, wring out, bring to the original volume with warm boiled water. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.
Fruit tincture (external). 1 glass of fresh fruit is infused in 300 ml of 40% alcohol (vodka) for a month. Filter and use to wipe the skin of the face (before use, dilute the lotion with water in a ratio of 1:1).