Crataegus oxyacantha L.
The rose family is Rosaceae
What does it look like? A shrub, rarely a tree up to 5 m tall. Thin, thick, straight, 2.5-4 cm long spines on strong purple-brown shoots. The leaves are 2-6 cm long, broad-rhombic, with bare petioles, short-hairy on both sides, serrated at the edges, pinnately three- or five-lobed. The flowers are bisexual, with white (or red) petals, collected in thyroid inflorescences. The smell of flowers is specific, pleasant. Fruits are red, rarely red-yellowish, with floury flesh and 2-5 stones. It blooms in May-June, the fruits ripen in August.
Where does it grow? As a decorative bush – in parks, in hedges; as a wild plant – on the edges of deciduous forests, among shrubs, on steep river banks in Transcarpathia.
What and when are collected? Flowers in May, fruits in August.
When is it used? In case of functional disorders of cardiac activity (with strong nervous disturbances, with dizziness), in case of heart failure after recovery from debilitating diseases, in case of angioneurosis of the climacteric period (flushes of blood to the head), in the initial stage of hypertensive disease, in case of insomnia in patients with impaired cardiac activity and in hyperthyroidism with tachycardia. Hawthornlowers the excitability of the central nervous system, tones the heart muscle, increases blood circulation in the coronary vessels of the heart and brain vessels, eliminates tachycardia and arrhythmia, relieves discomfort in the area of the heart, lowers blood pressure and improves the general condition. (Vinca minor L., rich in rutin and the alkaloid vinine, which lowers blood pressure, is more effective). Hawthorn also helps with atrial fibrillation. With atherosclerosis, it reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood (active: choline, organic acids, flavonoids).
It is used as a tea. Take 1 tablespoon of flowers for 1 cup of boiling water and infuse for 10 minutes. Drink 1 glass three times a day. How to prepare drops like this. Infuse a full handful of fresh flowers or ripe fruits in 0.25 l of alcohol or strong vodka (1:2) for 14 days, strain and use 40 drops three times a day on a spoonful of water (as well as juice squeezed from fresh flowers, preserved in the ratio 4:1 90% alcohol). People who are irritable, nervous, especially with hysterical attacks, climacteric (in women) prepare tea from 1 tablespoon topped with a mixture of nettle grass, sweet marjoram, blackberry leaves, dried marsh flower grass and hawthorn flowers in a ratio of 2:2:2.5: 1.5:1, taken for 1 cup of boiling water, infuse for 10 minutes. They drink 3 glasses a day.
The herb Asperula odorata L. from the Rubiaceae family, due to the content of coumarin with a pleasant smell of hay, improves the taste of medicines, has a somewhat narcotic, sedative effect, eliminates blood rushes to the head (angioneurosis), has a positive effect on metabolism, has antispasmodic, antiseptic, diuretic and choleretic
For high blood pressure (hypertension), 1 tablespoon of a mixture of hawthorn flowers, hawthorn fruits, horsetail grass, white mistletoe grass, garlic cloves, mountain arnica flowers and yarrow grass in a ratio of 3:3:3:3:3:1:4 infuse in 1 cup of boiling water and drink 0.25 cups 4 times a day.
In case of cardiac neurosis with indigestion, insomnia, take 2 full teaspoons of a mixture of hawthorn flowers, common horsetail grass, and horsetail grass in a ratio of 5:3:2, infuse for half an hour in 1 cup of boiling water.
Tincture of hawthorn flowers and leaves in 70% alcohol in a ratio of 1:10 (50 drops or 1 teaspoon three times a day in a glass of water) or their water vapor is recommended as an excellent tonic, antispasmodic and sedative. In very high doses (4-5 times larger than usually prescribed) and with their long-term and systematic use, hawthorn not only stops, but often stops the appearance of angina attacks for several years. And in anginal conditions, myocardial infarction, decompensation, hawthorn has an advantage over nitro compounds and opiate products, because it does not have side toxic effects and does not show an inhibitory effect on the function of the intestines (does not cause constipation). By increasing the force of heart contractions, hawthornestablishes a balance between it and blood pressure. Increased pressure reduces, decreased – increases and thereby reduces the excitability of the sympathetic nervous system. In case of insomnia associated with nervous excitement, it provides a calm, restful and long sleep, without causing states of mental depression after waking up. Hawthorn gives good results in various allergic diseases. In some cases of acute articular rheumatism, severe pain subsides a few days after the appointment of hawthorn. With hypertension of renal origin, hawthorn has no beneficial effects
For gallstone disease with jaundice, the use of a decoction of a mixture of crushed dry bark from one-year hawthorn shoots , 1 tablespoon of bark, boiled for 20 minutes in 1 glass of boiled soft water, to which (hot) 1 teaspoon of grass is added gives good results of cold mint and infuse for another half hour (glycoside esculin works). They drink 3 glasses a day.