Hawthorn

Used parts: flowers, leaves and fruits. Pharmacy: hawthorn flowers - Crataegi flos( formerly: Flores Crataegi), hawthorn fruit - Crataegi fructus( formerly: Fructus Crataegi), leaves and flowers in the mixture - Crataegi folium cum flore.

Botanical Description

Hawthorns used for medicinal purposes are medium sized shrubs or small trees. Sharp spines, which are equipped with stems, along with luxurious white flowers in erect corymbose inflorescences, gave the plant its German name - Weibdom( white thorn).The leaves of the hawthorn, from the upper side are dark green, with the lower side lighter, to bluish-green, have short petioles and in the upper part of the plant are most often three-lobed. At the edge they are serrate, with teeth of different sizes. Blooms from May to June. It grows in light bush thickets, in hedges and along fences, along sunny slopes and in deciduous and pine forests. Collection and procurement. Flowers and leaves are collected during flowering and quickly dried. Dry mix should be stored in well-closed containers. Since the effectiveness with too long storage is lost, it is necessary to collect flowers whenever possible, every year. The fruits are removed ripe when they are already red, and quickly dried. They should also be re-collected every year.

Active substances

The action of hawthorn is primarily due to flavonoids, oligomeric procyanidins, biogenic amines and some other substances. Only the interaction of all the substances contained in the hawthorn gives a positive effect. It is not so much the summation of individual influences as the balancing of mutually opposite influences.

Healing and application

Hawthorn is an excellent cardiac remedy. It can be used in the most diverse cardiovascular diseases of our time. The long-term, necessary for success, and in some cases the constant application of it is absolutely harmless, its action is impressive and convincing. And first of all here it is necessary to say about the influence of hawthorn on the old man's heart - he revitalizes, strengthens and supports it. Aging due to aging the degeneration of the heart muscle and sclerotic changes in the coronary vessels of the heart with reduced blood flow cause in elderly and old people phenomena from which a very effective remedy can be a course of treatment with hawthorn tea. Similar to cardiovascular diseases of elderly people and complaints of those who experience constant overload and who therefore have early signs of wear and tear.

Hawthorn can alleviate such conditions and - which, perhaps more importantly - act as a preventive agent. Many beginning heart diseases, which, in fact, can not be called diseases, but which, however, can not be ignored, is the main area of ​​application of hawthorn. Weakening of the heart muscle manifests itself often in severe infectious diseases or after them. In these cases, you should think about hawthorn. With the help of this healing plant, the cardiac activity is improved, and with cardiac arrhythmia, as well as in cases where normalization of high blood pressure is required. Directly from high blood pressure, hawthorn does not help;cases are also recorded when hawthorn increased blood pressure, if it was lowered. Of particular importance is hawthorn as a cure after myocardial infarction, when it is necessary to improve the coronary circulation, that is, the blood flow in the vessels of the heart, which has a beneficial effect on the cells of the heart muscle in terms of increasing their activity and improving nutrition. It is not possible to expect a quick effect here, however. You need to know. Only endurance and patience lead to success. There are many ready-made preparations that contain the active substances of hawthorn, but tea from its flowers is not worse. The German National Health Service recommends the following areas of application for hawthorn( flowers and leaves): heart failure, corresponding to stages I and II( according to the New York Association of Cardiology), a feeling of pressure in the heart, an old heart, but not yet requiring digitalis, lungsforms of bradycardic heart rhythm disturbances( slowing of the pulse).- Tea from hawthorn: 2 teaspoons of flowers or flowers with leaves pour 1/4 l of boiling water and insist 20 minutes. Dosage: 2-3 times a day for 1 cup. The taste of tea can be improved. In this case, the honey or the juice of sea-buckthorn with sugar is very suitable and potent.

Homeopathy Usage

Homeopathic remedy Crataegus is prepared from mature fruits and is also used for heart diseases and for supporting an exhausted senile heart. Prescribe the initial tincture of 5-20 drops from 2 to several times a day. With a strong nervousness and excessive excitability, the second or third dilution is used instead of the original tincture( D1-D1).

Application in folk medicine

Hawthorn( especially its flowers) is increasingly being introduced into home pharmacies. It is used to calm the "nervous heart" and to strengthen the heart muscle. Moreover, the flowers of hawthorn( sometimes leaves) are used in the form of tea with excessive weight, since it helps to remove water. True, I think there is no big success here.

Side effects of

Side effects even prolonged use of hawthorn does not.