ORDINARY OAK (SUMMER, PETILE) —
Quercus robur L.
The Bukovi family is Fagaxeae
What does it look like? A stout long-lived tree up to 40 m tall. The crown is thick, the root system is strong, the bark is dark gray with gnarled cracks. The leaves are oblong-inverted-ovate with 4-7 rounded blades on each half, with ears at the base, shiny green above, dull below, paler, bare, petiolate. At the end of summer, globular growths – “nuts” or galls – sometimes appear on the leaves. Flowers are male, collected in interrupted thin earrings 2-4 cm long, seeds are acorns, 1.5-3.5 cm long, brownish-brown, with longitudinal stripes, 1-5 each on elongated peduncles, sitting in shallow cups . Blooms in April-May. Acorns ripen in September – October.
Where does it grow? In most of the territory of Ukraine, in the Steppe – occasionally. It does not grow at all, only in the south of the Left Bank Cereal Steppe and Sage Steppe – in deciduous lowland forests; alone – in the fields, meadows; e in mountainous Crimea.
What and when are collected? Bark (from lateral one-year branches) — in late spring and summer, acorns — in autumn, when they ripen and fall, galls — in late summer, roots of young oaks — in autumn. .
When is it used? With indigestion, rickets drink acorn coffee; a decoction of dried leaves, flowers, and roots — for nocturnal urination and against bleeding in women. The bark contains phlobafens, gallic and ellagic acids, tannin, flavonoids quercetin and quercitrin, bitterness and other substances.
Used in the form of tea for gastric bleeding, rickets, excessive menstrual bleeding, kidney disease, when blood appears in the urine, frequent urges to urinate in small doses, gastritis, colitis, diarrhea (large doses can cause vomiting). Take 1 tablespoon of crushed bark for 1 cup of boiling water, boil for 1 minute, infuse for 10 minutes, drink 2 cups a day (for poisoning with mushrooms, alkaloids, copper and tin salts).
In case of eczema, general weakening of the body, a bath is prepared – a full handful of bark is boiled in 2 liters of water for 10 minutes, strained and this decoction is added to a full bath. An undiluted decoction is used to rinse the mouth with stomatitis, gingivitis, to strengthen the gums, with sore throats, and to rinse the throat with bad breath. With dental fluxes (mixed with an infusion of this decoction of sage leaves), warm decoction is used to rinse the mouth several times a day. The same decoction, mixed with starch suspension (jelly) in the ratio of 1 part jelly to 3 parts decoction, is used for diarrhea, dysentery, and for enemas. For douching with baldness in women (with a hot decoction, twice a day), 1 full handful of a mixture (equally) of oak bark, mistletoe branches, white deaf nettle flowers, chamomile flowers, rose petals, yarrow grass is boiled in 2 liters of water for 10 minutes.
For the treatment of rickets, scrofula add to a full bath a decoction of a mixture (equally) of oak bark , motherwort grass, yarrow rhizomes, yarrow flowers, double the amount of pine shoots with gorse, sedum grass, tricolor violet grass (1 full handful of the mixture and 1 kg of wheat bran, germinated rye grains and currant leaves – black currants), boil in a separate bag for 30 minutes in a bucket of water. The contents of the bag after the strained decoction are thrown away. A decoction of galls (a full handful of galls in 2 liters of water) is boiled for 10 minutes and used for lotions on scalded or burned body parts. To lubricate bedsores in seriously ill patients, an ointment is made from 2 parts of thin oak rootsin a mixture with 1 part of black poplar buds, insist on 7 parts of butter in a warm oven (oven) overnight, in the morning boil on low heat for half an hour, squeeze, and pour the broth into a jar. The ointment soothes pain, has a cooling effect and promotes rapid healing of bedsores. You can also make an ointment from a mixture of black poplar buds, St. John’s wort flowers, 95% alcohol and melted unsalted pork lard in a ratio of 1:1.5: 1.5: 4 – take 1 part of black poplar buds and, adding alcohol, rub with St. John’s wort flowers . Leave for 2 hours in a closed vessel, then add 4 parts of melted pork lard and heat in a water bath until the alcohol evaporates. Then it is rubbed through gauze and the finished ointment is placed on bedsores, boils, and also used for hair growth.
And also pay attention to the article Summer Oak