Marigolds - medicinal tips (growing and cultivation)

Synonyms: pharmacy marigold, pharmacy marigold, medicinal calendula (ukr.

Description . An annual herbaceous plant from the Compositae family, 3060 cm high, short but densely pubescent. Root branched, taproot. Stems are tetrahedral, branched, glandular-pubescent at the top, erect. The leaves are spirally arranged, elongated; lower petiolate, upper sessile. The flowers, collected in large baskets, are orange or orange-red. The fruits of the achenes are of different sizes. Weight of 1000 seeds 810 g. Blooms from June to late autumn. The fruits ripen in July August.

Medicinal raw materials: flower baskets and reed, marginal flowers.

\r\r

biological features. Marigold can grow on a wide variety of soils, as a very unpretentious and easily propagated self-sowing plant, which then grows like a weed.

Habitat. It grows in damp places, often in a wild state.

Spreading. Under natural conditions, it is found in the Mediterranean states, southern and central Europe.

Composition of active substances. The flowers contain carotenoids carotene, lycopene, citraksanthin, violoxanthin, rubixanthin, flavochrome. In the marigold herb is within 19% of the bitter substance of calendene. In addition, the inflorescences contain resins, mucus, malic acid, alkaloids; inulin roots, fatty oil seeds (Turova, 1967).

Application. The healing properties of marigolds were known as early as the 12th century, and by the end of the 16th century, their products were widely used for many diseases.

In later times, marigold flowers are included in the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR. Experimental and clinical studies in recent years have established that marigold products can be successfully used in the treatment of a number of serious diseases. They have antimicrobial, choleretic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory action.

Some of them are not inferior in strength to even sublimate. An infusion of marigolds treats wounds, burns, calluses, warts, fistulas that do not heal for a long time. In these cases, you can use an ointment, which is a mixture of alcohol tincture of calendula (5 g) with petroleum jelly (25 g).

Marigolds are widely used in the form of rinsing the mouth and throat with tonsillitis, in the form of lotions, patches, douches. Marigold preparations are used in the treatment of gastric ulcers and gastric bleeding associated with gastric and duodenal ulcers; various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, gastritis. They are also used in the treatment of diseases of the liver and biliary tract as they increase bile secretion, in gynecological diseases, menstrual disorders (dysmenorrhea), and in the postpartum period. They are also used for heart diseases, accompanied by palpitations, shortness of breath and edema, with hypertension.

To prepare an infusion, 20 g of marigold flowers are brewed like tea (in a glass of boiling water). Drink a tablespoon three times every day.

Marigolds are part of the KN tablets (0.25 g of calendula flower powder and 0.1 g of nicotinic acid), which are taken as a symptomatic remedy for advanced forms of cancer. Calendula preparations have a calming effect on the central nervous system, lower blood pressure, and increase heart activity. In the treatment of “KN” tablets in patients with stomach cancer, intoxication is reduced and dyspeptic phenomena (belching, vomiting, nausea, feeling of heaviness in the pancreas) are eliminated.

In folk medicine, calendula is often used orally for diseases of the stomach, intestines, liver, skin diseases, scrofula, rickets.

Agrotechnics of cultivation. Site selection. Marigolds are an unpretentious plant, and all sorts of soils can be taken under it. However, the plant gives the best results on well-lit soils with sufficient moisture.

The best predecessors for it are cereals, legumes, and many row crops. Marigolds can grow in the same place for a long time, and therefore they can be placed in outdoor areas.

Soil tillage . The main autumn plowing should probably be carried out earlier to a depth of 2225 cm, as well as for many other tilled crops.

Application of fertilizers . To ensure long flowering under marigolds, it is recommended to apply a sufficient amount of fertilizers: for the main autumn plowing 3040 t/ha of manure or a mixture of organic-mineral fertilizers at the rate of 2030 t/ha of manure, 34 t/ha of superphosphate and 11.5 t/ha of ammonium nitrate. In the absence of manure, mineral fertilizers should be applied at the rate of 6 c / ha of superphosphate, 1.52 c / ha of ammonium nitrate and 1 c / ha of potassium salt.

Reproduction. Marigolds are propagated by sowing seeds directly into the ground. The best sowing period is early spring, simultaneously with the sowing of early spring crops. Sowing is carried out with ordinary grain seeders with a row spacing of 60 cm; sowing rate 1012 kg/ha, sowing depth 23 cm. It can also be sown with a 2-line band sowing method with a distance between tapes of 60, and between rows of 15 cm.

Plantation care. After the emergence of seedlings, the row spacing is loosened and the rows are weeded. This treatment is repeated two or three times in the first half of summer until the rows close, when row spacing is still possible.

For more abundant and long flowering, it is recommended to give top dressing with organo-mineral fertilizers once or twice a summer.

Harvest. Due to the duration and timing of marigold flowering, the inflorescences are harvested 1520 times during the growing season, starting at the beginning of mass flowering. Freshly blossoming inflorescences are cut off at the very base by hand in the phase of opening 2-4 circles of tubular flowers in non-double forms and when half of the reed flowers are opening in double. The first period of flowering of marigolds occurs quickly, and therefore the cleaning is repeated after two or three days, and then after four to five days or less. With good agricultural technology, the yield of air-dry inflorescences reaches 1218 c/ha.

Drying is carried out immediately after collection in covered currents, attic rooms, in dryers with good ventilation. The inflorescences are laid out in a thin layer on frames with stretched burlap, on racks, and during drying they are carefully stirred. In fire dryers, the temperature must not exceed 45°C.

The pack is produced in plywood boxes lined with paper, 25 kg each or in 50 kg bales.

Store in a dark, well-ventilated area.

quality requirements . In accordance with the State Pharmacopoeia IX, the raw materials are allowed: total ash 10%, ash insoluble in 10% hydrochloric acid, 2; extractive substances extracted with 70% alcohol, not less than 35%.

According to GOST 671753, in flower baskets it is allowed: moisture 14%; flower baskets with remnants of peduncles more than 3 cm long (but not longer than 5 cm) 7, baskets with completely crumbling flowers 20, brownish baskets 3; organic impurities 0.5, mineral 0.1%.