Name: annual immortelles – annual dry flowers
Annual immortelles (Xeranthemum annuum); dry annual
An annual herbaceous plant of the asteraceae (complex-flowered) family. The stem is erect, branched, 20-70 cm high. The leaves are alternate, narrow-lanceolate, whole. Flower in single baskets on tops of stems and branches. Marginal flowers pistillate, barren; middle ones are tubular, bisexual, fertile. The fruit is an achene with a clove of 5 membranes. Blooms in June – September.
Spread. It grows in fields, near roads, on slopes and outcrops in the Steppe and Crimea, occasionally in the south of the Forest Steppe.
Procurement and storage . They use grass that is collected during the flowering of the plant. Dry under a tent or in an attic with good ventilation. The shelf life is 3 years. Raw materials are not released by pharmacies.
Chemical composition. Annual immortelles are poorly studied. It is known that the plant contains flavones.
Pharmacological properties and use . Annual immortelles are used in folk medicine. They have choleretic, hemostatic and sedative properties, help increase gastric secretion. One-year-old immortelles were used for heart, stomach, and nervous diseases, cholecystitis, toothache, uterine bleeding, and painful menstruation. Annual immortelles are used both individually and in combination with other medicinal plants. The plant is part of the mixture according to the prescription of M. N. Zdrenko.
Medicinal forms and applications.
Internally – from a mixture of St. John’s wort, yarrow, yarrow, annual immortelle, 20 g of plantain with roots each and 10-25 g of horsetail grass are prepared as an infusion (3 tablespoons of the mixture per 1 liter of boiling water, infuse for 30 minutes) and drink half a glass three times a day for stomach ulcers;
infusion of annual Immortelle flowers (10-20 g of flowers per 2 cups of boiling water) for a third of a cup three times a day for uterine and other bleeding;
infusion (15 g of annual Immortelle grass and 10 g of horsetail per 1 liter of boiling water, infuse for 30 minutes) 50 g three times a day during painful menstruation.