Pharmacy chamomile: useful properties, contraindications, preparation and storage

For a long time, some plants have served a person, the benefits of which are known, and it is not questioned. These include pharmacy chamomile. An ordinary flower with a yellow center and white petals conceals so much valuable that is sometimes forgotten. But you can see a familiar flower everywhere - in a field, forest, next to water bodies.

Medicinal chamomile is often confused with ordinary chamomile, as it is rarely found in the wild. Usually flowers with a strong aroma, similar to the smell of sweet clover, are specially grown. The nondescript plant is recognized as an official raw material for medical purposes in more than twenty-five countries around the world.

Content:

• Chemical composition and useful properties
• The use of the plant in medicine
• The use of chamomile in cosmetology
• Harm and contraindications for use
• Collection, drying and storage of plant materials

Chemical composition and useful properties

Flowers, or chamomile baskets, are used for medicine. It is in them that the useful substances of the plant are collected:

• Coumarins, which give a specific aroma to the flower, relieve headaches, normalize the nervous system, and improve mental activity.
• The role of free organic acids, including salicylic, isovaleric, caprylic, is to relieve inflammation of internal organs and heal wounds. They will help to cope with the arising cramps, painful spasms.
• Chamomile contains a large amount of flavonoids that kill disease-causing microbes. Substances are used as diuretics and choleretic, which is important for liver diseases, inflammation of the gallbladder.
• Ascorbic, nicotinic acid promotes the manifestation of weakly astringent, diaphoretic properties of baskets chamomile.
• One percent of the essential oil contained in the petals of the flower contains chamazulene, which stimulates the central nervous system, normalizes the function of the digestive tract, and dilates the vessels of the brain. Blue oil is used in aromatherapy. It is useful for children and the elderly, stimulating the digestion process, relieving pain.
• The substance chamazulene is used in the treatment of rheumatism, bronchial asthma, colitis. It heals X-ray burns and reduces allergic reactions.

Avicenna called chamomile a warm flower, because it is beneficial for many diseases.

The use of the plant in medicine

Depending on the disease, both infusions and decoctions of chamomile flowers are used in the treatment:

• The infusion is prepared simply: they take four tablespoons of raw materials and pour a glass of boiling water. It is better to hold the drug in a thermos for three hours, then the herb will share its beneficial substances with the water infusion. Drink the solution during the day in several doses.
• For the broth, the baskets are poured with 300 milliliters of boiling water, and, having closed with a lid, they are kept in a water bath for thirty minutes. After cooling, the drink is filtered and kept in the refrigerator, taking half a glass twice or three times a day. A spoonful of honey is added to improve the taste.
• Water solutions are taken when there are spasms in the stomach, intestines, to remove bile.Medicinal infusions help in cases where it is necessary to lower body temperature, relieve nervous tension, and normalize sleep. Drinks increase appetite, serve as a pain reliever for gastritis, painful menstruation. They are taken during infections of the upper respiratory tract, for rinsing the mouth with tonsillitis, stomatitis, toothache.
• Lotions, compresses based on infusion are used by patients with skin pathologies - eczema, neurodermatitis, ulcers, boils. This method of treatment is effective if a person has received burns, frostbite.
• Well removes inflammation of the eyes, eyelids, chamomile infusion. Compresses are applied to the inflamed joints if arthritis, gout is diagnosed. They take baths with the addition of chamomile broth to reduce inflammation, relieve pain in case of bruises, rheumatism.
• To properly prepare a healing bath, you need half a kilogram of plant materials. It is poured with water and boiled for ten minutes. Therapeutic water procedures are useful for people who are irritable, for those who do not sleep well. Therapeutic sessions will help eliminate pain in the liver.
• Chamomile tea is famous for its calming, carminative effect. It is prepared by taking a mixture of chamomile baskets, caraway seeds, chopped valerian root. Two tablespoons of the herbal collection are poured into a glass of boiling water. After twenty minutes, filter the drink, using it in the morning and in the evening for half a glass.
• An infusion of chamomile inflorescences (20 grams per liter of water) and aloe leaf gruel are an effective remedy for the treatment of cervical erosion. Mixed in equal proportions, they are impregnated with a special tampon and placed in the vagina overnight. The course of therapy will be ten days.

Chamomile is also used in pharmaceutical preparations such as Rotokan, Romazulan, Alorom. The activity of the plant has long been used by doctors and has been time-tested.

The use of chamomile in cosmetology

The tannins in chamomile baskets are known for their disinfecting, anti-inflammatory properties:

• No wonder those who suffer from purulent acne, acne, use daily wiping of the skin with a flower infusion. To increase the effectiveness of the product, you can add a tablespoon of celandine to two tablespoons - chamomile. After repeatedly wiping your face, you can completely get rid of acne. In addition, the propensity for acne formation will also decrease.
• For those who wish to free their face from freckles and age spots, a mixture of chamomile and kefir infusion is useful. You can also add the juice of two lemons to it, then the mask, which is applied to the face for an hour, will whiten the skin perfectly. But it is considered the norm for its use - 2-3 times a week.
• Any inflammatory processes on the skin can be removed with lotions from an infusion or decoction of chamomile.
• Herbal foot and hand baths get rid of rough skin and hangnails. To do this, you need to immerse your limbs in warm liquid for fifteen minutes.

The plant is also useful for hair:

1. If dry hair is brittle, falls out, then mix the infusion of chamomile with egg yolk in equal amounts and apply the mass on the head. Hold for thirty minutes and then wash off with warm water.
2. A decoction of chamomile with plantain saves from dandruff.
3. By rinsing your hair with the infusion of plant flowers, you can change their color to golden.
4. After using chamomile broth for shampooing, hair grows better, becomes strong and shiny.

Chamomile is considered a plant that gives beauty and light to the skin and hair.

Harm and contraindications for use

The damage from the plant is insignificant. Broths based on chamomile are contraindicated for those who are prone to diarrhea, who have an increased acidity of gastric juice. For pregnant women, consuming chamomile tea diligently will put you at risk of bleeding or miscarriage.

For allergy sufferers, before starting treatment with chamomile-based products, it is necessary to test the body's sensitivity to the substances contained in the baskets.

You should not take herbal decoctions and infusions for a long time. As soon as the patient feels dizzy, irritable, suffocating, coughing after taking herbal remedies, it is necessary to exclude them from treatment. The use of the product should take place only after consultation with a specialist.

Collection, drying and storage of plant materials

Collect baskets chamomile mid-June to mid-July. Dry warm weather, early morning, when all processes in the plant are activated, and useful substances accumulate, are suitable for this. If dew has fallen profusely in the morning, then it is better to postpone the harvesting of inflorescences. You can't pick chamomile that grows next to the road, with landfills, gas stations. The stems of the plant are carefully cut with a sharp knife, and not uprooted.

Before drying, the baskets are separated from the stem, cleaned of debris, lumps of earth, rotten parts. Collected flowers should be large, so pay attention to plants with a height of at least twenty centimeters.

Proper harvesting of plant materials plays a big role in the benefits of the product.

Prepared chamomile baskets are laid out under a canopy or in the attic of the house so that they are ventilated from all sides. The flowers laid out in a thin layer on the fabric are covered with a layer of gauze. During the drying process, the inflorescences are constantly agitated. A possible drying method is to tie the stems into bunches and hang them on the walls of the veranda. The finished raw material should be easily rubbed between the palms. At the same time, its amount will be halved, but the smell and color will remain the same.

Storing the material involves placing it in natural fabric bags or glass jars. Dried bundles can be put in cardboard boxes. It is not recommended to combine chamomile with other herbs for storage.

More information can be found in the video: