Krasolya is great (Tropaeolum majus); capuchin, nasturka; the birthplace of the Krasolevihs (Tgorajoiaceae); big nasturtium
This wonderful ornamental plant is known to many. She is so familiar that even the thought of her foreign origin does not arise. All over Europe, in the middle zone of Russia and in Ukraine, in July and August, the flowers of krasoli are on fire. Many different forms and varieties of this plant have been bred. And its homeland is distant South America: Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador. Sometimes the flower is called a capuchin – because of the pointed shape of the flower, which resembles the hood of a Catholic monk. The plant is used in garden compositions – in flower beds, for landscaping gazebos, creating hedges. But not only for that.
Krasola large is an annual herb 10-50 cm tall, with a creeping, branched, twisted and tenacious stem, which sometimes grows up to 2 m long. The leaves of the plant are alternate, whole, long-stalked, rounded-shield-shaped, unequal-sided, with 10 veins. The flowers are single, on long peduncles, a cup with a spur and colored in yellow, orange or red-brown color with five separate petals. They bloom in July-August. The fruit splits into 3 one-seeded ribbed carpels.
Krasola is not only beautiful, but also healing, the plant is also used for food needs. Medicinal properties of krasoli are used only in folk medicine. For this, the aerial part of the plant and seeds are collected. Since krasola grows quickly, the grass can be harvested 2-3 times during the growing season by cutting the flowering stems covered with leaves. They are dried, spread out in a thin layer, under shelter in the open air. The fruits are collected as they ripen and dried in the air or in dryers at a temperature of 40 °C, after which the seeds are removed.
All parts of the plant contain the glycoside glycotropeolin, which under the action of enzymes turns into the main component of the essential oil — benzylisothiocytanane. The seeds contain a highly active but unstable antibiotic, and the aerial part contains alkaloids (up to 0.1%), tannins, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), mucilage and other compounds.
Krasola is used as an anti-scurvy, diuretic, bactericidal and fungicidal agent. It is also known that one of the components of the essential oil of crasoli — tropeolin — improves venous blood circulation. This is an effective remedy for angina patients: the attack is relieved after 2-3 minutes. after taking 5-10 drops of tropeolin. Benzyl mustard oil extracted from the plant has cytotoxic properties.
In folk medicine, an infusion of the above-ground part of the plant is prescribed internally in the treatment of anemia, scurvy, bronchitis, and urolithiasis. It also helps with various rashes on the skin. Sweetened with honey, the infusion of krasoli grass is used to rinse the oral cavity with children’s thrush (thrush), and the leaves of the plant are used to prepare a vitamin salad, which has general strengthening properties. In England, a salad made from crasoli leaves is a common dish, the leaves are also put as a “green layer” in a sandwich.
Externally, juice and tincture from a fresh plant mixed with other herbs are used to stimulate hair growth.
The nutritional value of krasoli is not limited to salads. Buds and young fruits of the plant are pickled in Western Europe – a spicy seasoning is obtained, which in taste is not inferior to real capers. In the motherland of krasoli — in South America — thanks to the high content of starch, the tuberous roots of perennial species of this plant are used as food. Unfortunately, these types of flowers have not taken root in Europe.
2010-06-02 20 g of raw material per 200 ml of boiling water, heat in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, infuse for half an hour, strain, squeeze, bring to the original volume with warm boiled water. Take 3 tablespoons three times a day.
Juice from fresh leaves. 10-12 g per day for chronic bronchitis.
Seed. Seeds crushed with sugar are taken 1-2 g 3-5 times a day for acute and chronic inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract, bronchitis and flu.