Hyssop officinalis - the oldest medicinal plant

Hyssop officinalis - herbaceous essential oil plant-perennial with a height of up to 50 cm with erect, tetrahedral, branching stems and opposite, small, linear-lanceolate leaves. The flowers of the hyssop are bisexual, irregular, dark blue, less often violet. The plant is wildly found in Eastern and Central and Europe, in Western Asia, the Mediterranean and in North Africa. In the CIS, grass grows in Ukraine, the European part of Russia (in the steppes and forest-steppes), in the Caucasus and in Belarus.

For medicinal purposes hyssop was used even in the times of Hippocrates and Avicenna, which attributed this plant to the best expectorant. And with colds, the hyssop medicinal was taken in the form of infusion together with honey and figs. In the Middle Ages, the disinfecting properties of this plant were used to purify the air, and hyssop was then a common anti-pediculosis drug.

Today, hyssop is used in cooking, cosmetology, perfumery and medicine. We will talk about the last sphere of plant application.

Procuring hyssop for medicinal purposes

To make medicines, the ground part of the plant is used (the upper parts of the stem together with flowers and leaves). Blossoming grass is harvested in July-August, and only the upper parts of the shoots should be cut off. Then the grass is tied in bundles, hung for drying in a ventilated room or dried in dryers with a temperature of up to 40 degrees. Stored raw materials can 2 years.

And from flowers by distillation they receive a bitterish essential oil with a spicy taste, having a dark yellow color and a smell similar to tansy.

Inside take infusions and tinctures, and externally - powder from dried crushed pieces of hyssop or make compresses with fresh leaves. Essential oil is used for the preparation of external medicinal products.

Chemical composition

The ground flowering part of hyssop contains bitterness, ursolic, rosemary, terpenic, caffeine and oleanolic acids, tannins, bioflavanoids, essential oils, tannins, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, gum, resins. And in the essential oil of this plant are found camphene, pinene, alcohols and aldehydes.

Hyssop officinalis: properties and application of the plant in medicine

This plant is included in the pharmacopoeia of many European countries, and according to the therapeutic effect it is close to sage. Studies have shown that hyssop medicinal is a strong antiseptic with a predominant antistaphylococcal effect. In addition, official medicine uses this herb as a nootropic and biostimulant, it improves the processes of attention and memory. And still hyssop has a balanced, mild antidepressant effect, without causing drowsiness at the same time. He is advised to use in asthenic conditions, as well as during recovery from surgery, trauma or long-term illness.

Traditional medicine recommends the use inside the infusion of hyssop for respiratory diseases, as an expectorant, antispasmodic and antitussive agent for bronchial asthma, laryngitis, bronchitis, tracheitis. And at colds infusions of a hyssop are capable to render also antipyretic action.

Due to the bitter content of hyssop, the medicinal stimulates appetite, has a carminative and mild laxative effect. Hyssop herb is also used for digestive disorders, constipation, abdominal pain, chronic colitis, meteorism and chronic inflammatory diseases of the digestive tract. The anthelmintic effect of the plant has also been established.

In some cases, the herb is used for alcoholism for the prompt removal of symptoms of withdrawal symptoms.

Has found hyssop medicinal application and as an effective external agent, accelerating the healing of burns, ulcers and wounds, for resorption of infiltrates and hematomas. To do this, make lavages and lotions.

In skin diseases (eczema, dermatitis, itchy dermatoses) , a powder from the leaves of hyssop officinalis is used as an antiseptic. And with purulent-inflammatory skin diseases, compresses with infusion of this herb are successfully used. These same compresses are also made when breast milk is stagnant in nursing mothers.

With tonsillitis, stomatitis and gingivitis, the infusion of the hyssop rinses the mouth.

There are also hyssop properties to tone and soften the skin.

With success, hyssop medicinal is used to treat dyspepsia, neuroses, anemia, angina pectoris, rheumatism, joint diseases, fungal infections, to increase blood pressure, regulate sweating. It is external to apply infusions of this herb is useful for inflammation of the eyes, stomatitis, hoarseness, bruises, wounds and eczema.

Recipes for the use of hyssop for medical purposes

1. Infusion. One table. A spoonful of leaves is taken for 400 grams of boiling water, an hour is poured, filtered and drunk before meals in a warm form three times a day for half a glass.

2. Herbal tincture. For 100-200 grams of vodka take 20 grams of raw materials. Week insist and filter. Take orally three times a day for chayne. Spoon.

3. Infusion for external use. 200 grams of boiled water take 2 cider. Spoons of hyssop herbs, insisting for half an hour. Used for washing, compresses and rinses of the throat.

4. With bronchial asthma, chronic colitis, bronchitis. They insist on the table. A spoon of dried grass in two st. Water two hours. Filter. Take four times a day for 50 grams.

5. For the treatment of scars, injuries and bruises. Apply drugs to the damaged areas with essential oil of hyssop three times a day.

6. To calm nerves and eliminate fatigue, a pillow filled with hyssop, hops and rose hips will help. Before going to bed should be well tampered, that the medicinal plants are mixed and crushed. Head all night will be buried in a delicious aroma, and you will breathe healing essential oils.

Contraindications

Because the hyssop essential oil has neuro-toxic properties, oil ingestion is not allowed. Long-term use of hyssop can not be used. It is contraindicated in pregnancy (increases the tone of the uterus), children under the age of two, with epilepsy, high blood pressure and with individual intolerance.

Children under 12 years and the elderly are given less concentrated doses of hyssop preparations.

Before applying the hyssop, a doctor's consultation is mandatory!