Mother and stepmother, Calories, benefits and harms, Useful properties

When harvesting plant materials, the leaves
mother-and-stepmothers due to inexperience can be confused with burdock leaves, and
flowers – with dandelion flowers. And although the therapeutic effect of the use
all these plants can overlap, the therapeutic effect,
produced by a mother-and-stepmother is specific and unique. Its main
target – diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract, which found
reflected even in the Latin name of the herb.

Useful properties of mother-and-stepmother

Composition and nutrients:

What exactly is used and in what form

In the treatment of various diseases within the framework of official medicine and
in the recipes of traditional healers use flower baskets and
leaves of coltsfoot, from which decoctions, infusions are prepared. Leaves
and inflorescences of coltsfoot are part of the breast and diaphoretic
herbal preparations. Fresh leaf juice is prescribed for both internal,
and for external use. The extract from the leaves with syrup is applied
during rehabilitation therapy. Outwardly mother and stepmother used
in the form of lotions (prepare gruel from fresh leaves), compresses,
rinses..

Medicinal properties

The leaves and flowers of coltsfoot contain triterpene saponins (faradiol),
flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside), bitter glycoside tusilagin, mucus,
tannins, traces of volatile oils that have an antibacterial effect
and anticonvulsant, carotenoids (taraxanthin dye), silica,
malic and gallic acids, mineral salts, polysaccharides (inulin,
dextrin). The flowers contain phytosterols. As part of the leaves
also release sitosterol and the trace element zinc..

What is mother-and-stepmother used for? Mostly,
as an expectorant, emollient, anti-inflammatory, mild diaphoretic,
choleretic and weak antispasmodic. In scientific medicine
infusion of leaves of coltsfoot is prescribed for laryngitis,
tracheitis,
chronic bronchitis,
bronchopneumonia, bronchial asthma,
bronchiectasis.

Mother-and-stepmother proved to be an effective disinfectant
abscess remedy
and gangrene
lungs. In folk medicine, in addition, an infusion of leaves is recommended
with fever, catarrh of the stomach, intestines and bladder, with
inflammatory process in the kidneys, dropsy, general physical exhaustion;
to increase appetite and improve digestion processes in chronic
enterocolitis.

Raw juice of coltsfoot is considered an effective diaphoretic and choleretic
means. Outwardly, the infusion of leaves is used for rinsing when
sore throat, for douching with common diseases of the vagina,
while enhancing the therapeutic effect by ingestion
infusion of mother-and-stepmother in a tablespoon up to 6 times a day..

In official medicine

In the assortment of pharmacy products, you can find leaves of coltsfoot,
dry raw materials in packages of different weight values.

In folk medicine

  • With an inflamed condition of the mucous membrane
    upper respiratory tract tea from mother and stepmother is useful:
    a spoonful of flowers is brewed in a glass of boiling water and allowed to brew
    quarter of an hour. Drink warm, 100 ml twice a day.
  • As an expectorant and coating agent with
    inflammatory processes of the upper respiratory tract in children and patients
    the elderly recommend a decoction: a tablespoon of leaves
    mother-and-stepmothers pour 200 ml of water and boil over low heat.
    Let it brew for 10 minutes. Take half a glass three times a day
    (For adults, such a decoction should be given with the addition of other herbs)..
  • When coughing prepare an infusion from a tablespoon
    mixtures (take equal parts of all herbs) leaves of coltsfoot, flowers
    elderberry
    black, tall and linden mullein, wheatgrass rhizomes and
    comfrey brewed in a glass of boiling water. Withstand the infusion not
    less than 8 hours and take 50 g four times a day.
  • For liver diseases, rashes, spots on the body
    a tablespoon of the collection of coltsfoot flowers, rue herb and
    highlander bird (take in proportions 5: 3: 10) steamed in 200
    ml of boiling water, let it brew for 10 minutes. Drink infusion in quantity
    up to 3 glasses a day.
  • With tuberculosis
    lungs freshly squeezed juice from the leaves of the mother-and-stepmother drink on
    for a long time, 4 tablespoons per day..

Mother and stepmother flower close up

  • When coughing, as an expectorant, advise
    infusion: 2 tablespoons of a mixture of leaves of coltsfoot, plantain
    large and licorice root (in a ratio of 3: 2: 2) pour 400 ml
    boiling water, let it brew. Take 0,5 cups three times a day
    day..
  • In tonsils useful composition: leaves of coltsfoot,
    raspberries
    and sage,
    calendula flowers
    (equal parts of all herbs) chop, mix. A tablespoon of this
    collection, steam in 200 ml of boiling water, let it brew for half an hour, strain
    and drink 100 ml of infusion three times a day.
  • With whooping cough
    and bronchiectasis
    take in equal parts the leaves of coltsfoot
    and pine buds. Grind the ingredients, mix well.
    Pour 2 tablespoons of the collection with a glass of cold water and let it brew
    2 hours. After boil for 5 minutes, strain and drink 1/3 cup
    daily, observing the same intervals between doses.
  • With colds recommend syrup. To prepare it
    required: 2 cups of mother-and-stepmother flowers, lemon
    juice (from 2 lemons), 1,5 liters of water, 1,5 kg of sugar. Clear inflorescences
    from the receptacle, rinse thoroughly, pour boiling water over. Insist
    day. After the infusion, strain, pour the juice from 2 lemons into it,
    add granulated sugar and cook until thickened. Syrup in
    warm, pour into jars and store in a dark cool
    location. For colds, add to tea, milk.
  • As the diuretic helps
    infusion: prepare a collection of leaves of coltsfoot, raspberries
    and herbs oregano
    (in a ratio of 2: 2: 1). Pour a tablespoon of this mixture into a thermos
    200 ml boiling water and leave overnight. Strain the infusion. Drink in
    hot before bed.
  • With duodenitis recommend taking a mother-and-stepmother
    with honey. Brew a tablespoon of dry mother-and-stepmother leaf
    in 200 ml of boiling water. Allow to cool slightly, strain, add dining room
    a spoonful of honey. Reception up to three times a day, a tablespoon.
  • For diseases of the bladder mix dry
    leaf of coltsfoot, bearberry and lingonberry (take each herb
    equally). Brew and drink like ordinary tea.
  • Cough drops: 28 g of leaves of coltsfoot,
    fennel,
    veronica and 14 g of violet root. Mix herbs, 3 tablespoons
    spoil the collection spoons in 4 cups of boiling water, let it brew for 2 hours,
    strain and take every two hours for a tablespoon. Can
    add some honey.
  • Remedy for sore throat and hoarseness: 42
    g leaves of mother-and-stepmother, 56 g of marshmallow root, 28 g of licorice root,
    14 g of violet root. Mix all ingredients, 3 tablespoons
    steam spoons of the herbal mixture in 4 cups of boiling water, let it brew
    a quarter of an hour, then strain and bring to a boil again. Sweeten
    honey and drink 2 cups daily..

Tincture from coltsfoot

Outwardly:

  • Lotions with fresh juice (or crushed leaves of mother-and-stepmother)
    treat purulent wounds, ulcers, abscesses.
  • For hair loss and dandruff, accompanied by an itchy scalp,
    for washing, a strong decoction of the leaves of the mother-and-stepmother is recommended and
    nettles
    (4 tablespoons of each herb per liter of water).
  • With erysipelas, the affected areas are sprinkled
    powder from the leaves of coltsfoot..
  • For douching, a decoction of the leaves of the mother-and-stepmother is prepared
    at the rate of 50 g of raw materials per liter of water. Boil the broth for
    5 minutes, drain, cool to desired temperature..
  • For headaches, fresh leaves of mother-and-stepmother are applied
    smooth side to the forehead and temples.
  • When rhinitis
    the juice of fresh leaves is instilled into the nose.
  • For colds, inhalation with coltsfoot and chamomile helps.
    A teaspoon of coltsfoot leaves and 2 teaspoons of chamomile flowers
    pour 0,5 liters of boiling water, boil for a couple of minutes, allow to cool to desired
    temperature. Breathe over the herbal steam for about 10 minutes.
  • When mastitis begins, leaf compresses are recommended.
    mother-and-stepmothers soaked in hot milk.
  • With bronchial asthma in children, it is advised to pour 40 dry
    leaves of coltsfoot 0,5 liters of vodka. Leave raw materials overnight.
    On the first evening, put a leaf soaked in vodka on the child’s back.
    The next day, attach the sheet to the chest. So alternate treatment
    More than a month.
  • RџSЂRё
    thrombophlebitis 3 tablespoons chopped coltsfoot herb
    brew in 200 ml of boiling water, let it brew for half an hour, then strain.
    Use infusion for compresses.
  • Bath with stepmother
    200 g of flowers and leaves of mother-and-stepmother pour 3 liters of boiling water,
    boil the broth for a quarter of an hour, let it brew, strain
    and add to a full bath..

In oriental medicine

In Chinese medicine, coltsfoot flowers (quan dong hua)
are used to treat a wet cough accompanied by profuse
sputum production; to revitalize the lungs.

Study of mother and stepmother in the laboratory

In scientific research

Nicholas Culpeper in his herbalist (The Complete Herbal, 1653)
pointed out that “… fresh leaves, juice or syrup from mother-and-stepmother
suitable for hot dry cough, wheezing
and shortness of breath. ” Also, according to the records of a British physician, the remedies
from mother and stepmother help with fever,
erysipelas, burns
and blisters..

Pharmacological and phytochemical aspects of the study are
the purpose of the scientific work of a group of Chinese scientists (Li K.Y., Tsang T.Zh.
and etc.)..

Karomatov’s article is devoted to the medicinal potential of mother-and-stepmother
I.J., Ibatova Kh.B., Amonova M..

Composition of water-soluble polysaccharides contained in the leaves of coltsfoot
and the value in anti-allergenic therapy was investigated in the work of Korzh
A.P., Gurieva A.M., Belousova M.V. and etc..

In cooking

The flowers of the coltsfoot are edible. They are added to salads, they are insisted on
honey. Dried flowers are added to pancake or pancake dough, baked goods.
Young leaves of coltsfoot are added to soups, salads, stews, pre-
boiling them to get rid of the bitterness. Dried and fresh leaves
are part of herbal tea.

Carrot salad with coltsfoot leaves

For the salad you will need: 50 g of fresh carrots,
30 g of leaves of coltsfoot, 30 ml of kefir, salt to taste. Carrot
grate on a coarse grater, rinse the leaves of the mother-and-stepmother thoroughly
under running water, chop, mix with carrots, season
kefir or yogurt without additives and salt.

Sauerkraut and coltsfoot salad

Required products: 300 g of sauerkraut,
100 g of young leaves of coltsfoot, 40 ml of vegetable oil.
Rinse the leaves of the mother-and-stepmother, chop finely, mix with sauerkraut
cabbage and season with vegetable oil.

Soup with leaves of coltsfoot

For the soup you will need: 100 g of fresh leaves of coltsfoot, 200 g
potatoes,
salt to taste, sour cream for serving. Cut the potatoes into slices,
Rinse the leaves of the coltsfoot and chop finely. Potatoes
boil until half cooked, add the leaves of coltsfoot, bring
until boiling, remove from heat and let the soup steep. Salt to taste
and serve with sour cream..

Spring salad from mother and stepmother

Honey with stepmother

It is simple to prepare such herbal honey: inflorescences of coltsfoot
separate from the cups, disassemble the inflorescences-baskets. Prepared
pour the flower mass into a sterilized glass container
and pour liquid honey to the top. Insist honey in a warm place,
on a windowsill well-lit by sunlight, etc. Withstand
honey for 6 weeks. Then strain into a separate container.
and store in a cool place.

Herbal lollipops with stepmother

Ingredients: 15 cups coltsfoot leaves, 5 cups water, 450
g sugar, 2 cups corn syrup, 3 tablespoons butter
oil, a pinch of baking soda, a tablespoon of vegetable
oil.

Rinse the leaves thoroughly, put in a saucepan, cover with water. To bring
until boiling, cook for 3 minutes, then add sugar, corn
syrup, butter and simmer until
until a drop of syrup thrown into cold water hardens
into a dense ball (the so-called sample of sugar syrup). Take off
off the heat, add baking soda, stir and beat with a mixer until more
thick and viscous consistency. Grease the mold with vegetable oil
or a deep frying pan and put the candy mass into it to solidify.
Break the frozen lollipop layer into pieces. Such lollipops
help relieve sore throat and coughing fits and are excellent
natural delicacy.

Wine from Mother and Stepmother by Monica Wilde

Required: 5-liter container filled with inflorescences of coltsfoot,
5 liters of water, juice and zest of two oranges
and one lemon, wine yeast (sachet), yeast feed,
1 kg of sugar (for dry wine) or 1,6 kg of sugar (for semi-sweet
wine).

Boil water, add sugar, simmer until complete
dissolving sugar. Pour orange and lemon into hot syrup
zest and cool to 21 0. Add coltsfoot flowers to the cooled syrup,
citrus juice, wine yeast and top dressing. Stir tightly
cover and leave in a warm place for a week. Daily
mix. After a week, strain into a fermentation bottle.
Keep the wine in a warm place for 3 months. After that, carefully
(without lifting the sediment from the bottom) pour into a bottle, hold for another
2 or 3 months. Then bottle it..

Sorbet from mother-and-stepmother

Sorbet by French chef Marc Weyr (Tussilago Flowers
Sorbet Recipe from Marc Veyrat)

To prepare an exquisite recipe, you will need products: 30
fresh inflorescences-baskets of mother-and-stepmother, 125 g of sugar, 400 ml of mineral
water, a little lemon juice, half the protein of one large egg.

Grind the inflorescences into a crumbling flower mass. Detach
flowers from sepals. Boil water with sugar, add lemon
the juice. Pour mother-and-stepmother flowers into boiling syrup, boil
within 2 minutes. Strain through a sieve and give to the flower syrup.
cool down. Then add the egg white and beat thoroughly. After
chill this sorbet in the freezer or in an ice cream maker. If a
sorbet is prepared in the freezer to form the desired structure
it must be periodically taken out of the refrigerator and whipped.

When serving, you can serve the sorbet with fresh mother-and-stepmother flowers
and caramel threads..

In cosmetology

Emollient herbal cream for dry skin

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of coltsfoot extract, . tablespoon
a spoonful of lanolin, half a cup of olive
or corn oil, 1 tablespoon fresh plantain juice.

Mix lanolin and oil, stirring, gradually add juice
plantain. Add coltsfoot extract, bring everything to a homogeneous
states with a mixer or blender.

Facial masks with stepmother

Mask for oily skin

2 tablespoons dried and finely chopped leaves of coltsfoot
pour boiling water to a state of gruel. Heat over low heat
mass and let cool. This mask gives an anti-inflammatory effect,
evens out the functioning of the sebaceous
glands.

Mask for normal skin

0,5 cups of fresh stems, 0,5 cups of kefir. Rinse the leaves,
grind to a mushy state, mix with kefir. To apply
face mask. After a quarter of an hour, rinse with warm water.

Mask for dry skin

2 tablespoons finely chopped leaves of coltsfoot, pour over
200 ml of hot milk
let it brew, mix thoroughly, apply the mask on a clean
face skin. After a quarter of an hour, rinse with water.

Dried flowers of coltsfoot

For problem skin, rashes, the following cosmetic is effective
recipe. 2 tablespoons finely chopped coltsfoot leaves
steam in 200 ml of boiling water and keep in a water bath for at least 5
minutes. Let cool, strain and mix the infusion with 2 tablespoons
vodka. Use such a “lotion” to wipe cleansed skin
persons twice a day.

Anti-wrinkle mask

3 tablespoons of chopped leaves of mother-and-stepmother pour 100
ml of hot water. Withstand the infusion for a quarter of an hour, then
strain. Take 2 tablespoons of infusion, combine with 2 tablespoons
spoons of sour cream, bring to a homogeneous state, apply on
clean skin for 20 minutes. Wash off the mask first with warm water,
after that – cool.

Hair rinse with coltsfoot

Mother-and-stepmother is useful for hair. To heal and strengthen them,
prepare a decoction: burdock leaves and coltsfoot (in a 1: 1 ratio)
pour water and boil in a water bath for 20 minutes.
Rinse washed hair with warm broth.

To strengthen thin and brittle nails, it is recommended to wipe them
composition of lemon juice, coltsfoot juice and oil solution
Vitamin
A.

Bath for nails

In a glass of infusion of mother and stepmother, dissolve a tablespoon of seafood
salt. Keep nails in this infusion for 10 minutes. Then
gently wipe your nails dry and lubricate with nourishing cream.

If the nails are peeling, it is useful to make a mask: mix a teaspoon
any hand cream with a teaspoon of ground red feather and
mother-and-stepmother juice. Leave the mask on nails for 5 minutes, then rinse..

Other uses

Dried and burned to an ash-like state leaves of coltsfoot
used as a substitute for common kitchen salt if it
need to be excluded from the diet due to a certain diet, etc.

Toothache subsides thanks to smoking special cigars made
from powdered leaves of mother-and-stepmother. Smoke such a cigar
need to be held in the mouth.

We have collected the most important points about the benefits and possible dangers of mother-and-stepmother
in this illustration and we will be very grateful if you share
a picture on social networks, with a link to our page:

It is a perennial herb representing the family Astrological
(Compositae).

The people also call mother-and-stepmother
one-sided, two-leafed, two-faced, rannik, Kamchuga
grass, cough, whitewash, mother grass, king potion
… Latin
genus name – Coltsfoot – comes from a noun
«cough“(Tussis) and the verb”drive away“,”expel».

Why “mother and stepmother”? The answer lies in the fact that the structural features
leaf mother-and-stepmother caused the emergence of the Russian version
names: the bottom of the leaves of the plant evaporates moisture less intensively,
because it is covered with many villi, and when touched it seems
Warmer and softer than the smooth top of the leaf, cool to the touch.
This made it possible to compare the plant with maternal warmth and alienation,
cold attitude of the stepmother.

The genus Mother-and-Stepmother is monotypic: it includes only one species.
The growing area of ​​coltsfoot is extremely extensive: Eurasia,
Eastern Siberia and the mountainous part of Southern Siberia, Asia Minor region,
northern Africa, the Arctic and North America..

Mother-and-stepmother is a perennial herb, up to 0,2
m. Rhizome is creeping, branched. Stems are erect, not branched,
covered with small leaves in the form of violet-purple or brown
scales, grow in early spring. The top of the stem is crowned with a single
drooping inflorescence-basket. Mother and stepmother blooms before emergence
leaves (from the second half of March to early May). The flowers are golden yellow,
tubular in the middle of the inflorescence, ligulate at the edge. After finishing
flowering period, the main, large basal, collected
into an outlet, leaves. They are round-heart-shaped, dense, underneath
white-tomentose, with many thick, short villi, on top –
naked. The seeds ripen in late April – early May.

Mother-and-stepmother grows on sandy, moist clayey, limestone
and clay-chalk soils of slopes or hills, along the railway
embankments, in ravines, on the banks of water bodies, along the edge of meadows, along clayey
cliffs like weeds in gardens and fields..

Mother-and-stepmother is a moderately demanding plant in terms of care.
It tolerates drought quite persistently, takes root on any type of soil,
takes root quickly, gives a large number of new shoots, but better
only grows in areas located in shaded areas
(under fruit trees with dense foliage, etc.). Breeds
both by dividing rhizomes and by seed. One plant can
give up to 17 thousand seeds. Mother-and-stepmother seeds ripen quickly
are easily dispersed by the wind and, once in the soil, are capable of
germinate on the first day. Mother and stepmother breeds successfully
and using the seating of rhizomes that easily take root in the ground,
grow rapidly and give dense shoots-shoots. Recommended
annual plant feeding with organic and mineral fertilizers
in complex..

When harvesting grass, mother-and-stepmothers collect young, covered from under
the bottom with thick, short white, felt fibers, leaves, not
touched by rust. Leaves are cut with the petiole or plucked.
The time for collecting raw materials is May-June. Mother-and-stepmother is dried on paper or
under a canopy, in places with good ventilation, scattering
leaves in a thin layer. The inflorescences-baskets of the mother-and-stepmother are collected in
April-early May, plucking them or cutting them together with peduncles of length
no more than 0,5 cm. Harvested in the same way as the leaves. Shelf life
leaves and inflorescences 3 years.

Herbalists with little experience are often at picking coltsfoot leaves
confuse the plant with burdock
and other representatives of the Astrov family (Compositae). To distinguish
herbs are possible by a combination of external signs. When collecting inflorescences
mother-and-stepmothers in some cases mistakenly collect flower material
dandelion
medicinal. You should also distinguish between mother and stepmother from similar
species – whitened felt, whitened white and whitened hybrid.
Venation can be one of the main distinguishing features.
leaf: in the named species, it is feathery, and in mother-and-stepmother
the lower part of the leaf is white-felt with three bunches of outgoing fan
veins. One of the significant differences can be attributed to the feature
inflorescences: inflorescence-basket whitened with a bell-shaped wrapper, in
while the mother-and-stepmother’s basket has a cylindrical wrap.

It is important to remember that the collection of raw materials is possible only on uncontaminated
areas located at a sufficiently large distance from highways.
Plants growing along roadsides are often poisoned by accumulated
heavy metal salts..

The coltsfoot is a food source for the larvae of many Lepidoptera species.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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