Bittersweet nightshade is a very common plant. It belongs to the Solanaceae family. This shrub got its name due to the taste of the berries. When you bite into them, they are sweet, but then comes a bitter aftertaste. This plant, like most nightshades, is poisonous. But it also has powerful healing properties. Since ancient times, people have used young stems with leaves to prepare ointments and infusions. These funds help in the treatment of many diseases.
Description
Bittersweet nightshade is a perennial shrub. It can reach a height of 180 cm. The rhizome is woody, creeping. The stems of the plant are winding and long. Young shoots branched and climbing. The trunk at the bottom of the shrub is woody and bare.
The leaves of the plant are regular. The shape is oblong-ovoid. The length of the leaf is from 2.5 to 12 cm, the width is up to 1 cm. Two oblong small lobes are distinguishable at the base. The leaves in this part of the plant can also be heart-shaped. Above, they are dissected or tripartite. Young leaves have a specific unpleasant odor.
The plant has paniculate inflorescences. Forked at the base, located on longpeduncles. The flower is bisexual. The shape is correct, the perianth is double. The flower calyx is saucer-shaped. She is small, five-pronged. Stamens five. Their narrow anthers, fused around the column into a tube, are cone-shaped. One pestle. Corolla sympetalous. The color of the petals is lilac. There are species with a pink or white corolla. The flower diameter is 12-18 mm. The corolla is wheel-shaped, a five-dissected folded limb is visible. The ovary is formed superior.
Bittersweet nightshade flowers appear in spring. But the plant blooms throughout the entire warm period until August. The fruit is a berry. At first it is green. As it matures, it turns yellow, and then acquires a bright red color. This attractive, shiny pendulous berry grows up to 3cm long.
Distribution
Bittersweet Nightshade is distributed throughout the subtropical and temperate zones of Europe. But this plant has made many journeys. Now it grows in Asia and North America, where it was brought by settlers from the Old World.
In Russia, this plant is easy to find throughout the European part of the country. It is absent only in the Nizhnevolzhsky region, as well as in Eastern and Western Siberia. Bittersweet nightshade does not grow in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus either. It is also not found in Asian countries.
This plant loves wet and even slightly waterlogged soils. It grows in floodplain meadows. It is found near damp thickets of various shrubs and willows. The usual habitat of this type of nightshade is the shores of lakes, ponds,rivers, marshes. In addition, his favorite place is damp heaps of garbage, which are numerous in almost all regions and regions of central Russia. The plant does not tolerate direct sunlight, it needs shade.
Chemical composition of the plant
Bittersweet nightshade is a poisonous plant. It is extremely dangerous for humans. In addition to the usual carotenoids, its berries also contain steroids such as isofucosterol, stigmasterol, sitosterol, brassicasterol, and campesterol. These substances are also found in the roots. In addition to them, alkaloids are also detected there. In the ground parts of the plant, stems and leaves, tigonenin is found.
Seeds are no less rich in steroids and alkaloids. They also include phospholipids and higher fatty acids - palmitic, myristic and lauric.
Using a plant
Nightshade is a poisonous berry. But it also has beneficial medicinal properties. In addition, this plant is used in human activities as an insecticidal agent.
Sweet nightshade is known to landscape designers as an ornamental shrub. It is used to decorate hedges. This is a great plant for hiding an unsightly fence or a shabby building wall. This species is popular because it has a long flowering period, and after it the garden is decorated with beautiful oval berries. Most often, nightshade is used for vertical gardening of a site with strong soil moisture.
Since ancient times, people have known thisplant as a remedy against larvae and harmful caterpillars. A decoction is prepared from the stems and sprayed with shrubs and trees. Leaves containing tannins are used to tan hides.
Use in traditional medicine
Few people know what a useful nightshade plant is. A homemade decoction of young shoots with leaves is an effective remedy for skin diseases. Compresses from it relieve inflammation and itching. This is the best folk remedy for eczema. Inside take infusions for colds, diarrhea. Nightshade treat inflammation of the bladder. Women prepare a decoction of the leaves to normalize their menstrual cycle.
This plant is not only wound healing, but also an anthelmintic. Leaves are used for dropsy, whooping cough, hepatitis A. An ointment made on the basis of young shoots is used externally for rheumatism. Poisonous berries in small concentrations are effective even in venereal diseases. A decoction of them is used to treat epilepsy and severe migraine attacks. Medicinal is also a tincture of flowers. It is given to drink to people with lung diseases. The essence of young shoots is used in homeopathy for acute respiratory infections, urticaria and convulsions.
The nightshade plant is poisonous. Use only under strict medical supervision. This plant contains several chemicals that can cause serious harm to he alth. For example, dulcamarine has a similar effect to atropine. Many cases of poisoning of farm animals are known. Cows show poor coordination, heart palpitations and diarrhea.
Collecting and storing leaves and stemsnightshade
Herbaceous young shoots of stems with leaves must be collected during flowering. Then the collected material is laid out on nets and dried in the shade. It is not recommended to take out shoots in the sun. Herbaceous stems are stored in paper bags or wooden boxes. They need to be kept separate from the rest of the herb. Sweet and sour nightshade (whose photo can be seen in this article) is poisonous, so keep it out of the reach of children and pets.
