Geranium - medicinal properties, application, procurement and storage

Geranium - a plant that has long been loved by gardeners for its bright colors and unpretentious care. The shrub is of various types: erect, ampelous, tall, dwarf. Some species are suitable only for growing at home, while others grow only outdoors.

But not many people know that the bush has the property not only to bloom beautifully. The medicinal properties of geraniums were discovered by folk healers long ago, they used the plant to treat many diseases. Now geranium is used not only in folk medicine, but also in cosmetology and perfumery.

Content:

• Geranium composition and properties
• The use of geranium in traditional medicine
• Preparation of geranium tincture
• Geranium essential oil
• The use of geranium in cosmetology
• The use of geranium in everyday life
• Harm and contraindications
• Procurement and storage

Geranium composition and properties

Geranium has leaves that contain increased levels of essential oil nutrients. Their content is almost identical to the amount of phytoncides in onions or garlic cloves. But at the same time, useful substances do not have such a nuclear aroma. This smell has a beneficial effect on the air in the room, cleaning oxygen from pathogenic microbes and viral infections.

Not only leafy plates are used as a healing ingredient, inflorescences and green stems are used.

Essential oils are also produced from them, they are necessary for the production of cosmetics and perfume. The aroma obtained from geranium is an excellent antidepressant, it saturates the body with energy, gives it strength, and enhances perception.

The composition of a beautiful and medicinal plant includes the following components:

• Glycosides
• Variety of essential oils
• Pectins
• Resin
• Gum
• Phytoncides
• Tannins
• Tannins
• Phenolic acids
• Saponins
• Vitamins
• Organic acids
• Coumarins

In the list of available components, minerals occupy a separate place. Their composition is quite diverse, but calcium is present to a greater extent in the structure of the flower. Thanks to research, it was found that the list of nutrients that fill the internal structure of the plant is about 500 ingredients. Almost all of them have a high biological type activity.

The following beneficial properties are distinguished, which can be obtained thanks to recipes using the constituent components of geranium:

1. Stabilization of the processes occurring in the nervous system - it has a calming effect that reduces anxiety in stressful situations and with excessive human anxiety.
2. Brewed tea with several geranium leaves will quickly normalize nervous excitement, improve mood, normalize the functioning of the brain, and eliminate signs of developing insomnia.
3. If frequent headaches are detected, as well as disruptions in the hormonal background, it is recommended to drink an infusion of geranium leaves.To eliminate the symptoms of neurasthenia, neuroses, as well as to relax muscle spasms, baths are prescribed for 15 minutes using a geranium decoction.
4. Anti-inflammatory effect - healing properties eliminate foci of inflammatory processes observed in the patient's body. Tinctures on vodka or water are effective in the appearance of painful sensations in the joints.
5. They help with diseases of the cardiovascular system, and to suppress the spread of intestinal infections. If you attach a fresh leaf of geranium to an inflamed boil, then after a short period of time the pimple will open on its own. In this case, the released phytoncides from the leaf plate with a compress have a positive effect on the damaged areas, stimulating the fastest healing.
6. They carry out an analgesic effect - with migraines for a long period of flowing, as well as with headaches of an intense nature, endorphins, which are contained in the list of components of leaf plates, have a positive effect.
7. For treatment, it is recommended to brew fresh leaves with boiling water and take orally before meals no more than 3 times a day. Also, using geranium, painful sensations with sprains, severe bruises, heel spurs, as well as intercostal neuralgia are relieved.
8. It has a positive effect on the condition of the kidneys - thanks to the diuretic effect, carried out in a gentle mode, harmful substances, fats, and excess fluid present in the body are removed from the organ. This effect allows you to reduce the load on the kidneys, prevent signs of intoxication.
9. Strengthens the protective function of the body - the beneficial qualities of geranium stimulate the body to resist viruses and pathogenic bacteria. When detecting the first signs of the disease, it is recommended to drink an infusion on the foliage or just chew a leaf plate. Correct use of an antiseptic stimulates a quick recovery from influenza and other viral diseases.
10. It improves the processes occurring in the digestive organs - geranium oil or water decoction is recommended for use in disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, with increased flatulence.
11. Effectively helps women to get rid of infertility, to cure benign neoplasms formed in the ovaries. Helps to soothe bleeding from the uterus.

Some varieties of geraniums, with their aromatic odor, stimulate the repelling of various insects and mosquitoes from the premises. In addition, a specific aroma, standing on the windowsill, carries out disinfecting properties in winter, ridding the room of 70% of bacteria.

The use of geranium in traditional medicine

The use of shrubs with the help of traditional medicine is recommended to a greater extent as an anti-inflammatory effect on the body. The medicine is used, for example, to eliminate strong painful sensations in the teeth. To do this, the leaf plate is kneaded with the help of a garlic into a gruel and applied to the painful area. You can just chew the leaf and move your tongue to the aching tooth.

This use is not recommended for children. Babies apply a gruel in the form of a compress to the area with pain. Many pediatricians recommend this method at the moment when the first teeth are cut in infants.

For use as ingredients for recipes, both fresh leaf plates and dried ones are used.

With the development of ARVI and purulent sore throat, the juice from geranium leaves is excellent for rinsing the sore throat and mouth. The prepared product helps for instillation into the nose with sinusitis, inflammation of the maxillary sinuses, rhinitis.

Cooked decoctions based on leafy geranium plates allow you to get an excellent effect in myocardial diseases, increased blood pressure, in fixing urolithiasis, in pathologies in the intestines, and in identifying the primary signs of gastritis.

Preparation of geranium tincture

For use as a treatment, a tincture is made based on geranium foliage. The tool is not prepared for a single use, but for a long period of time.

There are 2 types of tinctures that can be prepared on the basis of geranium:

• Tincture on alcohol - raw materials are prepared in advance, which are crushed so that 1 tbsp is obtained. shredded shoots. The resulting volume is transferred into a glass jar, where no more than 100 grams is poured. alcohol of pure essence (95%). All ingredients are mixed and perfectly closed with a lid. The resulting consistency is sent to a dark place with a temperature of +22 .. + 250C. The settling period should not be less than 14 days. Within the allotted period of time, the extract of useful substances will separate from the stems of the plant and saturate the alcohol tincture with its composition. After that, the resulting tincture can be used for any medicinal purposes.
• Oil - made on the basis of alcohol tincture. To obtain the essence, olive oil is poured into the ready-made alcoholic tincture in the amount of 2 tablespoons. Again, the essence is placed in a warm and dark room for 2 weeks. After the agent is filtered to separate the oily base from plant residues.

Both products are used identically, only the oily essence has a milder effect. The obtained substances are stored in a closed form, out of the reach of children.

Geranium essential oil

Geranium-based essential oil has a significant list of beneficial properties. It includes the following beneficial qualities:

1. Relieves stress, soothes nervous excitement, normalizes processes and impulses in the nervous system.
2. Provides an analgesic effect.
3. Stimulates the regeneration of damaged skin.

In addition, the essential oil from the plant is included in the composition of cosmetics produced in France: perfumery and cosmetics. For production purposes, the shrub is grown in countries with a tropical climate, as well as subtropical plant living conditions, which are optimal for geraniums.

Oil is obtained from young twigs, on which young leafy plates saturated with juice and nutritious components have developed.

When counting all the components that are in the composition of the foliage, about 270 varieties were bred, among which geraniol and citronellol occupy the most significant place. Essential oil is used not only as an ingredient in cosmetology, but also in cooking and also in medicine. The substance is added to desserts and cocktails to add a specific flavor.

For medicinal purposes, it is used as a remedy that effectively helps in the treatment of pneumonia. In addition, the substance has a tonic and calming effect. It is aimed at healing cuts and eliminating painful spasms in various human organs. But before using, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the contraindications and side effects. The agent tends to cause an allergic reaction.

The use of geranium in cosmetology

In addition to the fact that the plant is widely used for the production of elite perfumery, geranium is used at home as home masks for the skin of the face and hair.

Due to the effect of geranium, it has the following nutritional properties:

• Strengthens the internal structure of the hairline, prevents the possibility of hair loss.
• Stimulates the rejuvenation of the cellular structure of the upper layers of the epidermis, saturates the dermis with various nutrients, making it smooth and silky.
• Helps to improve the color tone and increase the tone of the skin.
• It improves the functioning of the sebaceous glands, due to which the production of sebum is normalized, acne and acne are eliminated, and skin inflammations are relieved.
• On surfaces where there is a process of peeling of the skin, the surface structure is normalized, nourished with useful and nutritious substances.

Thanks to such therapeutic and nourishing effects, a geranium mask is used as a therapeutic effect for Anna, various skin diseases, inflammatory processes and purulent eruptions.

The use of geranium in everyday life

In addition to the medicinal purposes for which the plant is eradicated, geranium is recommended for growing as an ornamental flower. A variety of shrubs not only saturate the room with coziness, but also with a fragrant smell and phytoncides. The latter spread throughout the room, contributing to the improvement of air, elimination of toxic impurities from oxygen, as well as bacteria and viruses present in the room.

In addition, flies, mosquitoes and other annoying insects do not like the specific aroma of the plant. Despite the fact that the shrub negatively affects the living creatures, a person feels only a positive effect: sleep is getting better, the nervous system calms down, headaches and frequent migraines disappear on their own.

Harm and contraindications

But geranium is not only rich in positive properties. It is imperative that you consult with your supervising physician before using any prescriptions that contain a medicinal product. This is required due to the fact that the resulting product has a number of contraindications.

There are situations and diseases in which it is strictly forbidden to use the plant in any form:

• Ulcers of the stomach and duodenum.
• The period of gestation and the time of breastfeeding the baby.
• With the development of intestinal atony.
• For various diseases of the circulatory system (thrombosis).
• Chronic gastritis.
• Constant bowel obstruction.
• Decreased production of internal secretions in the stomach.
• Hereditary predisposition to thrombophlebitis.
• children's age - up to 15 years;
• Individual hypersensitivity.
• You should not use a drug made on the basis of leafy geranium plates for elderly people.

If you do not adhere to the recommendations on prohibiting the use of geranium preparations, then there is the likelihood of developing painful itching, severe burning, skin rashes, as well as the presence of allergic rhinitis and shortness of breath.

Procurement and storage

For the use of the plant for medicinal purposes, it is allowed to use all the components of the medicinal shrub: leaves, stems, inflorescences, as well as the root system. Rhizomes are recommended for harvesting in early spring, before the growing season, as well as after flowering, in autumn.

Rhizomes are carefully dug out of the ground, washed under running water. Roots are dried in a well-ventilated room or in the fresh air, but under a canopy, so that sunlight does not fall on them. They can be dried in a special dryer for vegetables and fruits, as well as in an oven at a temperature of 50 C. To store the resulting material, use a hermetically sealed plastic container or cardboard packaging.

The foliage is recommended to be harvested before the beginning of the budding period.

At this moment, the foliage is endowed with the greatest amount of nutrients. If the flower does not grow in the room, then the buds for harvesting are torn off on a sunny, windless day. But it is required to dry the assembled components in a dark and ventilated room. If a dryer is used, then the degrees should be reduced - to 40 C.For storing foliage, linen cloth bags are suitable. When using such conditions, the foliage will safely withstand and will not lose its medicinal properties within 1 year.

Thus, geranium is not only a decorative flower with many varieties and bright colors. The plant is endowed with a significant list of useful properties. Medicines made from foliage, roots and stems are used to treat various diseases. But before using it is worth consulting a doctor. It is possible to identify contraindications that will subsequently negatively affect the human body.

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