Solanum tuberosum L
The nightshade family is Solanaceae
What does it look like? An annual herbaceous plant, 50-100 cm tall, with creeping underground shoots that form tubers. Above-ground stems are branched, fluffy from hairs pressed to the stem. The leaves are intermittently pinnately dissected, with 7-11 larger and smaller leaflets, ovate, pointed, with a non-equilateral base, glabrous above, fluffy below. The flowers are collected at the top in a panicled inflorescence, the corolla is wheel-shaped, white, reddish, purple or bluish. The fruit is a spherical green berry 1.5-2 cm in diameter. Blooms in June – July.
Where does it grow? Cultivated throughout the territory of Ukraine. Planted as a field crop. A food product that is popular in every home for almost a whole year. Comes from South America.
What and when are collected? In autumn, tubers of red varieties.
When is it used? As a dietary remedy. The potato contains many organic and inorganic compounds, and they are contained in it in the most useful proportions for the human body; in addition to hydrocarbons (starch), protein substances and various salts — calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium, chlorine — potatoes contain vitamins necessary for humans — A, B, B 1 B 2 , B 6. an important role in metabolism. Glycoalkaloid solanine, poisonous in high concentrations (in flowers, sprouts and green areas of tubers, 1500-3500 mg%), in low concentrations – 6-40 mg% – has a beneficial effect on the function of the stomach and intestines. Potato proteins contain 14 of the 20 amino acids needed to build cells in our body. Since the cultivation of potatoes spread in Europe, scurvy epidemics, which once claimed many lives, disappeared here; potato nutrition covered almost 50% of the body’s need for vitamin C.
Potatoes as a remedyused for stomach and duodenal ulcers, namely: raw juice from red varieties. Well-washed and dried tubers, without sprouts and green areas, together with the husks are rubbed on a grater or ground in a meat grinder, and the juice with starch is squeezed through cheesecloth in two layers. Raw juice is drunk 1/3 cup (100 ml) three times a day: on an empty stomach, before lunch and before dinner, for 2-3 weeks. After a week’s break, the course of treatment is repeated. A total of 5-15 liters of raw juice is needed per course. At the same time, they follow a gentle diet; drug treatment and physiotherapeutic procedures are stopped at that time. Ulcer patients are recommended (for prevention) in autumn and spring (from half of September to half of November and from half of March to half of April) to consume raw juice for 2 weeks (half the dose is possible) – pain, belching, heartburn, nausea disappear, stomach acidity is normalized, patients gain weight, constipation and intestinal bloating disappear. Raw treatmentpotatoes with neem juice do not cause adverse reactions in the body (acetylcholine reduces headaches). Compresses made of grated raw potatoes treat impetigo eczema (pus), pyoderma, dermatitis, burns. Baked unsalted potatoes are introduced into the diet of patients with kidney and cardiovascular diseases with edema (potassium acts as a diuretic). Steam of hot boiled potatoes is also inhaled for respiratory tract diseases.
And also pay attention to the article Potatoes