Medicinal herbs: "Cat paws"

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

"Cat's paws" is a perennial of the Compositae family, has a straight line

stem with creeping shoots. In height from 10 to 20 cm. This grass has leaves bare above and felted below. The flowers are collected in baskets, they look like cat's paws, hence the name. Color can be white and pink. The flower has five stamens and a fruit (the part used in medicine). The flowering period is from May to June. "Cat's paws" is a grass that grows in the temperate zones of Asia, North America and Europe, as well as almost throughout Russia, especially in the Urals, Siberia and the Caucasus. Settles on dry soils, mainly on sandy meadows, in mixed and pine forests, on dry lawns and glades.

"Cat's paws": collection and harvesting, cultivation

Grass in bloom or a flower in a basket is harvested throughout the summer from June to September. Flowers should be picked before they open. Dry in an open space under a canopy. Dried grass should be stored in a dark and dry place for no more than a year. An unpretentious plant that survives droughts in poor soil. The only condition for its growth is an open sunny place. Seeds should be sown in a greenhouse in the spring, pressing them into the soil shallowly.

Cat's Paws Flower: Composition and Application

Since the plant contains tannins and resin, vitamins B, C, K, as well as saponin and phytosterols, it is actively used in medicine. The plant is not poisonous, so an overdose is excluded. It is mainly used for blood loss as a hemostatic agent. Due to its properties, it helps blood to clot better than adrenaline and calcium chloride. Hematemesis, postpartum hemorrhage, hypertension, pulmonary tuberculosis, female diseases and many other ailments are successfully cured by "Cat's paws" in the form of a powder or decoction in folk medicine. For convulsions, a flower decoction and an infusion of leaves are used as a sedative. With jaundice, they also wash themselves. In children's skin diseases (diathesis, eczema, skin tuberculosis), children are either bathed in a decoction of flowers, or they are given water. Moreover, it is used for hepatitis and cholecystitis. But tinctures from the leaves of the plant cope with high blood pressure. The plant acts as a sedative, helps with sleep disorders, is used as a sleeping pill. But for wound healing and furunculosis, an ointment made on the basis of a thick decoction of leaves and flowers will heal.

Cat Paws Recipes

Gastrointestinal bleeding

For 1-2 tbsp. l. driedflowers use 200 ml of water. It is necessary to boil for five minutes and let it brew for half an hour. Use 1 tbsp. l. every 10-20 minutes until the bleeding stops. Also cook and use as a choleretic agent.

Infusion

We take 10-20 grams of dry grass and flowers, pour 200 ml of boiling water. Then we insist for about five hours and filter.

Contraindications for use

Use with caution in thrombophlebitis, as "Cat's paws" contain substances that can clot blood. In addition, if you have high blood pressure, avoid long-term use.