Common horse chestnut – a tree from the horse chestnut family (Hippocastanaceae) Other names: gouty tree, pig chestnut
Description:
Tree 15-30 m tall, cracked bark, young shoots reddish or grayish brown; leaves are opposite, on long petioles, palmately complex, with large, up to 20 cm long and 10 cm wide, toothed leaflets. Flowers in erect, large, within 30 cm long, dense racemes, white-pink, with petals fringed along the edge. The fruit is a spherical thick-walled box, seated with hooked spikes, contains 1-3 seeds. Blossoms in May, bears fruit in September. Horse chestnut is bred in cities and other settlements as a valuable species for green building.
Workpiece:
The bark of the horse chestnut is harvested in the spring, removing it from the branches after pruning the trees. Dry in attics or in ventilated areas.
Contains active substances:
Horse chestnut bark contains saponin escin and tannins, glycosides esculin and fraxin, which are anticoagulants, but are weaker than dicoumarin.
Medicinal use:
Horse chestnut is used in the form of an extract for hemorrhoids, thrombophlebitis and varicose veins. In folk medicine, a decoction of chestnut flowers or their tincture in vodka is taken for heart diseases; drink with liver disease, leukemia, leucorrhoea, shortness of breath, pulmonary tuberculosis, gastritis, diseases caused by weight lifting, rheumatism; tincture of flowers rubbed with rheumatism; a decoction of seeds is drunk, tincture of vodka is rubbed with rheumatism; tincture of fresh flowers and leaves in alcohol is rubbed with rheumatism; A decoction of chestnut leaves is drunk for uterine bleeding.