Perennial herbaceous plant up to 20 cm tall. Rhizome underground, creeping, fleshy, branched, with a bunch of adventitious roots. In spring, annual simple stems grow from the rhizome, white tomentose-pubescent, with reduced, scaly, brownish-green leaves, bearing single flower baskets. Later, basal, green petiolate, large leaves are found, rounded-triangular, not often serrated along the edge, white-tomentose below, dark green bare above. The flowers are small, yellow; The fruit is an achene, slightly curved, with a tuft. Blooms in March-April.
Occurs on clay soils along the banks of rivers, streams, ravine bottoms, along railway embankments, road edges, slopes, fields.
Medicinal raw materials are leaves, flower baskets, in folk medicine – the whole plant. Flower baskets are collected at the beginning of flowering with the remainder of the peduncle no more than 5 cm, leaves (young leaves) are collected after maturation and shedding of seeds, cut off up to half of the petiole. The dried plant has a bitter, slimy taste, odorless. Raw materials are stored in a dry room (in dry, closed boxes), as the flowers are highly hygroscopic.
The leaves and flowers contain mucus, glycoside-tus-silyagin, inulin, deketrin, sitosterol, saponins, ascorbic acid, tannins, essential oil, gallic, malic, tartaric acids.
The plant has an anti-inflammatory effect, enhancing the secretion of bronchial glands, softening, expectorant and diaphoretic action; externally acts as an emollient enveloping agent. The experiment established the antispasmodic effect of an aqueous decoction of the leaves. It is used for diseases of the respiratory organs, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, pneumonia, bronchial asthma, tonsillitis.
In folk medicine, in addition to these diseases, a decoction of coltsfoot leaves is used for inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and bladder, upper respiratory tract, in the absence of appetite. A decoction of the leaves or mashed leaves act to relieve inflammation of the veins of the legs and inflammation of the skin. They drink a decoction with scrofula, tangles, from consumption (in such cases they use it in the form of tea or decoction) and with general weakness of the body.
Externally, coltsfoot is used in the form of compresses on places affected by erysipelas, with inflammation of the veins, burns, wounds, chronic wounds, purulent skin diseases; with inflammation of the throat – in the form of gargles; with inflammatory bowel diseases – in the form of enemas; with toothache – draw smoke into the mouth. It should be noted that fresh leaves or juice from them give better results than poultices.
With hair loss and profuse dandruff with itching of the scalp, it is useful to wash your hair with a strong decoction of coltsfoot; for greater efficiency, it is better to brew nettle leaves with coltsfoot grass, 2 tbsp each. lying of both in a glass of boiling water.
Fresh juice from the leaves of the coltsfoot, drawn into the nostrils, eliminates the common cold.
The therapeutic effect of coltsfoot, although slow, is positive and without side complications.
Application
Decoction: 10 or 15 g per 200 ml; 2-3 tbsp. spoons 3-4 times every day; or: 1 tbsp. brew a spoon with a glass of boiling water, leave for 15 minutes, strain warm, take 1/2 cup per reception (expectorant).
Folk mixture: fresh leaves and sugar are folded in layers in a bowl, tightly closed and buried in the ground. When everything turns into a homogeneous mass, add 0.5 kg of honey per 1 kg of mass and eat 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times every day for pulmonary tuberculosis.
Powder: 1 g of powder per dose, drink hot milk or honey water.