A beautiful perennial herb up to 1.5 meters tall, Loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria - is very common in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America, and Australia. Appreciating wetlands, stream edges, flood meadows, and marshy areas, it bears vertical red stems with lanceolate leaves and pink or purplish flowers, arranged in clusters at the top of the stem. It is also called Lysimachus or Colic Grass and you will understand why ...
The medicinal benefits of loosestrife
Internal use
Loosestrife internally is renowned for its many virtues:
Astringent and anti-diarrheal, antiseptic and antibiotic, loosestrife has the ability to tighten the mucous membranes of the digestive tract, stopping diarrhoea, but also acting against bacillary dysentery and intestinal flu, in adults as in infants;
Hemostatic, it treats hemorrhagic enteritis and metrorrhagia in women (bleeding that occurs outside of menstruation, before puberty or after menopause, in an abnormal manner);
Hypoglycaemic, studies have shown that extracts of loosestrife reduce blood glucose.
Anti-inflammatory and analgesic action highlighted by the aqueous extracts, loosestrife relieves all types of pain;
For the respiratory tract, it seems to have an antitussive and dilating action on the bronchi.
External use
Externally, loosestrife can be used to treat disorders of the genitourinary system such as metritis (important uterine disease), abnormal white discharge, vaginitis, or vulvar itching.
The plant can also be recommended in case of leg ulcers, or dermatological disorders such as eczema.
Fresh loosestrife is known to stop bleeding from wounds and wounds. It also helps to heal.
In gargle, loosestrife has interesting antiseptic properties for all affections of the mouth and pharynx.
Finally, it can be used externally or orally for the treatment of venous insufficiencies (heavy legs, haemorrhoids, etc.) in the form of lotions or creams.
Usage and dosage
Internal way
Loosestrife is consumed in various forms. With herbal tea, it is the dry or fresh flowering tops that are traditionally used.
In infusion, we let infuse 5 grams of dry plant for 250 ml of water, covering for 15 minutes, then filtered and the preparation is drunk. One can consume 1 to 2 cups per day.
For other dosage forms, such as fluid or dry extracts, tinctures, or capsules, reference should be made to the dosages recommended by the manufacturer.
External route
Prepare a decoction with 2 handfuls of plants in 1 litre of water, boil for about 5 minutes. This preparation can be used for vaginal injections or for poultices and lotions for skin use to treat dermatoses and ulcers.
Contraindications
There are no contraindications or precautions for use at the recommended dosages.
Composition
Loosestrife is made up of many active substances, the main ones being:
Tannins (5-12%: gallic);
Anthocyanosides;
Flavonoids (orientin, vitexin);
Phenol acids (chlorogenic, p-coumaric);
Heterosides (salicarin);
Iron salts, mucilages.
A little history
Loosestrife is not mentioned in the writings of Greek or Arabic medicine, but from the Middle Ages, it became popular in Germany with the belief that elves took shelter under its flowers.
Its genus name, Lythrum, comes from the Greek luthrôn, a term which designates blood soiled by impurities, certainly in connection with the more or less pronounced blood-red corolla that all plants of this species bear. Salicaria gives it its French name Loosestrife, derived from the Latin name Salix, relating to Willow because the leaves of Loosestrife resemble the leaves of certain Willows.
Its therapeutic virtues are mentioned much later: the first time in 1654 by the herbalist Nicholas Culpeper who advocated its benefits on the sight (to date, studies would deserve to be carried out on the ophthalmological sphere); And then by Cazin, in the 18th century concerning diarrhea, dysentery, and leucorrhea among others.
Loosestrife has been known in folk medicine for centuries for its external use against itching and eczema problems.
Cultivation of loosestrife
In the garden, it is planted near a pond or a stream: it cannot live without having its roots in the water. It can stay in place for a long time and quickly spread around water areas.
In herbalism, we harvest loosestrife when it begins to bloom, from August to mid-October, in the driest possible weather if you want to dry it yourself: in fact, growing near water, molds can More easily develop during drying if certain precautions are not observed. You can use the whole plant: stem, leaf, and flowers, either fresh or dry.
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