PHARMACEUTICAL (zorya medicinal)
Perennial herbaceous plant, reaching a height of 2 m. The root is massive, fusiform, yellow-brown outside, white inside. When cut fresh, it gives a yellowish resinous juice. The stem is bare, round, branched above, empty inside (hence the name piper). The leaves are shiny, pinnate or bipinnate, cool to the touch due to the essential oil they contain, with large obovate, wedge-shaped, serrated segments. The flowers are collected in a complex umbrella (like dill). Flower petals are light yellow, rounded, with a curved top. The fruits are two-seeded. The taste of the roots is spicy. The whole plant has a specific smell, reminiscent of the smell of celery. Lovage blooms in June-July, the seeds ripen in September.
It is grown in gardens in the southern and southwestern regions of the European part of Russia. Occurs in solitary form. It tolerates winter well in more northern regions of the middle zone, up to the latitude of Moscow.
For medicinal purposes, the root, herb and fruits are used. The root of 2-3-year-old plants is mainly used.
In folk medicine, lovage is used primarily as a diuretic, cardiac, expectorant, cleansing, analgesic. It is widely used in dropsy, hysteria, nervous diseases, heart disease, as an expectorant in diseases of the lungs, bronchitis, pains in the stomach and intestines (as a regulating and carminative agent), in difficult childbirth, women’s diseases, as an antihelminthic and diaphoretic, in anemia. , fever.
Root tea improves the functional activity of the gastrointestinal tract and reduces flatulence.
Externally, a decoction of lovage root is used for hair growth and for hair loss, and its leaves, especially slightly crumpled, when applied to the forehead, relieve headaches of any origin.
Application
Root decoction: 15 g per 200 ml; 1 st. spoon 3 times every day or as tea (5 g per 0.5 l of boiling water – daily dose). The decoction has a beneficial effect on impure skin, it is good to add it to the bath (40-60 g per 4-6 liters of water per bath).
Infusion: 3 g per 250 ml – 3 times every day (daily dose). Powder: 1 g 3 times each day.
A decoction of fruits and leaves: 4 g per 150 ml (1 teaspoon per incomplete glass of boiling water) – 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day.