Genista tinctoria L.
Legume family — Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
What does it look like? Perennial semi-shrub plant 100-150 gm tall. Its stems are without thorns, sharply ribbed, covered with low fluff with branches pointing upwards. The leaves are alternate, solid, lanceolate or elliptic, mostly downy along the edges and along the veins, and have small stipules. Butterfly flowers, golden yellow, in oblong clusters at the ends of branches and stems; bracts longer than the double-lipped calyx. Fruits are bare linear, slightly bent beans. Blooms in May – June, partly in August.
Where does it grow? Almost throughout the territory of Ukraine, less often in the south – in dry forests, on the edges of forests, on the slopes of hills, among shrubs, along forest roads, on sand.
What and when are collected? During flowering, branches with flowers and leaves are cut with a sickle.
When is it used? As a diuretic, vasoconstrictor, laxative, sedative, blood purifier, in dropsy of the stomach, all types of jaundice, heart failure with low blood pressure, in diseases of the thyroid gland (goiter, hypothyroidism, myxedema). Also for uterine bleeding and skin diseases, due to the content of volatile oil, alkaloids cytisinusparteine, methylcytisine, anagirine, flavone glycosides – luteolin and genistin, tannins and others. Tea made from the green parts (twigs) of gorse is similar in its action to thyroidin, a hormonal product of the thyroid gland. Moreover, the therapeutic effect of gorse is longer, it does not show harmful side effects, if you do not exceed the dose (effect of flavone glycoside luteolin).
As a diuretic for nephritis and edema of cardiac origin, gorse helps to increase the excretion of chlorides.
It is used as a decoction. For 1 glass of water, take 1 tablespoon of chopped plant (leaves) and boil until 1/3 of the liquid remains. When it cools down, strain it and use 2 tablespoons every two hours until it begins to pass and drive urine (for dropsy, constipation). These drugs are taken intermittently, every other day.
With low blood pressure, hypothyroidism, obesity, treatment is individualized, reducing to 1 tablespoon of decoction (with honey), three times a day. With loss of strength, exhaustion, weight loss, the strengthening and soothing property of this plant is observed. In case of inflammation of the kidneys, pour 1 full tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of gorse grass, veronica grass, common sedum grass, lovage grass and white birch buds with 1 cup of boiling water. They drink 2-3 glasses a day. Or 1 tablespoon of a mixture of gorse grass, linseed and juniper cone berries in a ratio of 4:4: and infuse for 6 hours in 1 glass of pods, boil for 15 minutes and drink 1-2 glasses a day for sub-acute nephritis.
For gout, joint arthritis, rheumatism, take 1 tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of gorse grass , birch buds, nettle leaves and tricolor violet grass per 1 glass of boiling water, infuse for 10 minutes, drink 2 glasses a day. A decoction of 4 tablespoons of gorse grass in 1 liter of water is added to a full bath for the treatment of skin diseases (ringworm, boils, scrofula). Fabrics are dyed with a decoction of the flowers themselves, which contain two yellow pigments—luteolin and genistein.