The medicinal properties and contraindications of horse chestnut

Horse chestnut is a powerful tree with a chic, dense crown that can be seen in any park or yard. Its greatness and beauty cannot but amaze. It has long been used in folk medicine to relieve symptoms and treat many conditions. A detailed description of this type of chestnut, medicinal properties, methods of reproduction, planting and care can be found below.

Morphological characteristics of the Horse Chestnut

Horse chestnut is a plant belonging to the Horse chestnut family. It has a powerful root system that lies deep in the soil. The trunk is powerful, dark brown, topped with a spreading dome-shaped crown. The tree can be up to 35 meters.

Leaves are pale green, palmate and practically without teeth with oblong petioles. In the spring, the growing season begins, and white flowers, enclosed in panicles, bloom. Each panicle has from 1 to 5 fruits that look like bolls covered with a lot of thorns.

If you open these boxes, you can find one or more nuts, which everyone calls a chestnut. The walnut is a shiny dark brown color, with a small rough waist in the middle.

How and where does the tree grow

The horse chestnut came to us from the southern side of the Balkon Peninsula. To be more precise, these are Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia. Mostly this plant grows in the wild in deciduous forests and feels comfortable next to ash, alder, linden, maple... In the vastness of the Russian Federation, the common horse chestnut is planted in a temperate climate zone.

Fruit horse chestnut necessary gatherwhen they start to fall off on their own, this is a signal that they are already ripe, mainly in October.

How fruits are eaten

Despite the fact that the nuts are similar to each other, however, the fruits are similar only externally. Not all chestnuts are edible... That is why it is not for nothing that the horse chestnut has such a name, because its fruits should not be eaten by humans. In places where it grows, it is fed to pets. These nuts taste bitter, so animals do not immediately begin to eat them. Usually, they are simply ground into flour and added as an additive to animal feed. What kind of chestnut can you eat?

But real chestnut can be eaten. In southern Europe, it is eaten baked, raw, fried and boiled... Dried fruits are used to make flour and add it to baked goods, sweets, cakes. They can also be made a worthy substitute for coffee.

Useful properties and application in traditional medicine

Chestnut is a valuable nut that has many beneficial properties. It includes:

• Saponins... They have a positive effect on increasing the tone, permeability and elasticity of venous vessels, thereby removing blood stasis. Activates the production of catecholamines. Strengthens the walls of venous capillaries and eliminates pastiness by reducing lymph flow.
• Tannins... They are necessary to create protection due to their bactericidal and astringent properties.

• Starch - the most important source of energy. When it enters the body, it turns into glucose. He is also responsible for coordinated muscle work.
• Large amount of vitamins, which are so necessary for the human body: A, C, E, K, vitamins of group B.
• Glycosides are necessary for the proper functioning of the heart, improvement of the nervous system, urination, and excretion of phlegm from the lungs.
• Lots of macro- and microelements: Ca, Fe, Ni, Zn, B, Cr, Se, I, Ag.

Chestnut is also enriched with pectin, lecithin, carotene, flavonoids and organic acids, globulins, fatty oils.

This rich composition can significantly improve human health, therefore it is widely used in traditional medicine.How chestnuts can help the body:

• Removes pastinessb and inflammatory reactions.
• Prevents liquefaction blood.
• Reduces viscosity blood.
• Reduces permeability capillaries.
• Prophylaxis with thrombosis.
• Bounces back NS gastric juice.
• Takes off muscle spasm.
• Normalizes secretion gallbladder.
• Increases speed blood flow.
• Expands vessels.
• Reduces cholesterol.
• Improves performance heart and liver.
• Chestnut extract removes toxins, heavy metals, salts and radionuclides.

There are many options for how to use chestnuts. For medicinal purposes, flowers, bark of young branches, seeds, seed skins, leaves and fruits are used. Infusions, decoctions, drops are made from them.

Contraindications for admission:

• individual intolerance;
• disease thrombocytopenia, or decreased blood clotting;
• sharp gastritis and stomach ulcers;
• violation menstrual cycle;
• pregnancyespecially in the first trimester;
• atonic constipation;
• hypotension - lowering blood pressure.

How to plant an ordinary chestnut

Blooming chestnuts are just a sight for sore eyes. Many people dream of planting this tree in their yard or summer cottage, but few know how to do it right. In order for the horse chestnut to take root and delight you with its beauty, you need to familiarize yourself with the following rules:

• It is not necessary to buy seedlings to plant chestnuts, one ripe chestnut will suffice.

• For the chestnut to sprout, you need it soak in water, and when it swells and is saturated with moisture, it can be safely planted in the ground.

• Later 14 days the first shoots will appear.
• When the chestnut has sprouted it can be put in a pot of soil and leave in a cool room until spring comes.
• At the end of May, you can start disembarking... Better if it is not a particularly hot day.
• In order for the seedlings to be stable and hardened, you can several weeks before planting take them out into the fresh air and leave for a couple of hours. Next, you need to leave for a longer time.
• Before planting chestnuts they should be outside all day, and then another day.

First of all, you need to choose the right place for the future chestnut cultivation. It is necessary to choose an area so that it is well lit and has a lot of space and space. It is better not to plant chestnuts in front of houses, outbuildings and businesses.... Also, within 5 m, there should not be any buildings that would interfere with the penetration of the sun into the crown. Another important point is that nothing obscures the seedlings.

The land should be fertile, great if it is black soil. If the type of soil is sandy or clayey, this can lead to decay and acidification of the roots.... Also, little oxygen will get into the roots.

If the soil does not have certain minerals or elements, then it is necessary to replenish the balance. For example, if it is a loamy soil type, then you need to add sand, and if it is a sandy type, then clay. You can also use organic fertilizers such as compost or manure.

Planting a chestnut is not at all difficult. To do this, need to dig a hole wide 55-65cm... Next, you need to make fertilizer and mix it with the ground. Here you can use humus and dolomite flour.

Next, we put a seedling and bury it with earth. Then we tamp the earth with our hands and water it. It is worth remembering about weeding in order for the roots to develop faster. You can also make a support so that the tree does not break if there is a strong wind.

Chestnut care and reproduction

Although the horse chestnut tree is not whimsical, however, it is worth taking care of it and properly looking after it. Top dressing should be applied in the fall. Nitroammofosk can be used as fertilizer, and after a year you can make the following fertilization: add 20 g of urea and 1 kg of mullein to a bucket of water. Mix all the ingredients and water the seedling.

To saturate the soil with oxygen, one must not forget to mulch it and add peat or wood chips.

Summary

Horse chestnut is an amazingly beautiful tree with chestnuts that have a storehouse of nutrients. They are the favorite plants to be used in landscaping. The most important thing to remember is that horse chestnut cannot be consumed, but only real chestnut is allowed.

Reception of infusions, decoction or self-use will significantly improve your health and enrich your body with vitamins and minerals.

Thus, this tree not only brings beauty and purification of the air, but also significantly affects the internal state... Since it is not expensive and easy to maintain, it is very beneficial to plant it in suburban areas, parks, highways.