CAT’S FOOT
Perennial herbaceous white or grayish-pubescent plant 10-30 cm tall. The stem is simple. The leaves are alternate, whole, green; basal – wide, heart-shaped or kidney-shaped at the base; stem – narrow scaly. The flowers are small, collected in a few baskets at the top of the stems, imbricate wrappers, multi-row, of red, pink or white leaves. Baskets are collected in umbellate inflorescences. The plant is dicotyledonous. Male and female plants are found together. Blooms in May-June.
For medicinal purposes, grass and flower baskets are used, collected during the flowering period. Flower baskets are harvested when they are not fully open. It should be remembered that small, too early collected baskets, and baskets, collected late, with crumbling flowers, are unsuitable for use. Drying is carried out in well-ventilated rooms, in attics, etc.
The chemical composition of cat’s paws has been studied; they contain tannins, resin, saponin, vitamin K and phytosterol.
In its property to give blood the ability to clot, also to stop bleeding, the cat’s paw is superior to adrenaline (an animal hormone) and calcium chloride.
A 5% infusion (and sometimes thicker) is taken orally, it helps with bleeding: from wounds, pulmonary (hemoptysis), gastric, intestinal, nasal, hemorrhoidal and uterine.
Cat’s paw grass is used mainly as a hemostatic agent for all kinds of bleeding. The dosage can be varied due to the non-toxicity of the plant.
In folk medicine, the cat’s paw is successfully used more widely. No wonder the people consider her “from forty ailments.” A decoction or powder from the grass of the cat’s paw – especially with postpartum hemorrhages, also with hematemesis, pulmonary tuberculosis, convulsions as a sedative, with hypertension, female diseases; wash with a decoction of herbs for jaundice; with diathesis, childhood eczema, tuberculosis of the skin, they drink decoction and bathe babies in decoction.
Application
For gastric and intestinal bleeding, it is recommended to prescribe infusions prepared at the rate of 1:200 or 1:100 for 1 tbsp. spoon after 10-30 minutes until the bleeding stops. With hemoptysis and uterine bleeding: 10-20 g per 200 ml; 1 st. spoon after 30 minutes or 1 hour until the bleeding stops. With bleeding gums and nosebleeds, as well as hemorrhoidal bleeding, sterile infusions are prescribed in the form of tampons or lotions until the bleeding stops.
Baskets of cat’s paws have a choleretic effect and are used in the form of decoctions (1:20-1:50) as a choleretic for hepatitis and cholecystitis, the same as immortelle (cumin) sandy, so it is sometimes added to the aftermath.
Infusion: 10 g per 200 ml; 1 st. spoon in an hour – an hour and a half – hemostatic.
Infusions or decoction: 8 g per 200 ml, 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times every day – choleretic.
Powders from this plant are consumed in a dose of 1-3 g (at the tip of a penknife) every hour until the bleeding stops.