Description of gorse. Gorse - both a feast and a world. Externally. For lotions for joint pain and skin diseases
Gorse (Genista tinctoria).
Other names: bloodthirsty gorse.
Description. Shrub of the legume family (Fabaceae). It has a deep, highly branched root system. The stems are erect, ribbed, 40-80 cm or more in height. The leaves are alternate, simple, entire, on short petioles, linear-lanceolate, pointed at the end, slightly pubescent or glabrous, with two awl-shaped stipules.
The flowers are large, irregular, bright yellow, on short stalks, collected in apical multi-flowered racemes. Corolla moth. Gorse blooms in June - July. Fruit ripening begins in August.
The fruit is a linear, slightly curved, naked bean. The seeds are elliptical, somewhat shiny, black-brown in color. Gorse grows in pine and mixed forests, on the edges, among bushes.
The plant is distributed in the European part of Russia, Western Siberia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Ukraine. Gorse is grown as a phytomeliorative and ornamental plant. It is drought-resistant, light-loving, prefers sandy and sandy loam soils, does not tolerate waterlogging and severe frosts.
The plant is propagated by seeds; it can also be propagated by cuttings, which are rooted using rooters.
Collection and preparation of raw materials. For medicinal purposes, the grass and seeds of gorse are used. The grass is harvested during the flowering period. Cut off the tops about 15 cm long. The collected raw materials are laid out in a thin layer on a cloth and dried in the shade in the open air. You can dry it in a dryer at a temperature of 45–50 °C. The shelf life of raw materials is 1 year.
Composition of the plant. Gorse herb contains alkaloids (sparteine, methylcytisine, cytisine), flavone glycosides (luteolin, genistein), scoparine dye, essential oil, organic acids, mucus, bitterness, and minerals.
Medicinal properties, application, treatment.
Gorse has diuretic, choleretic, antibacterial, vasoconstrictor, hemostatic, sedative, laxative, blood purifying, and antitumor properties.
An infusion or decoction of the herb in folk medicine is used for all liver diseases that are accompanied by jaundice; with dropsy of the abdomen; heart failure with low blood pressure; uterine bleeding; diseases of the thyroid gland (goiter, myxedema, hypothyroidism); for inflammation of the kidneys and bladder; for rickets, hemorrhoids, skin diseases, salt deposits, rheumatism, bronchial asthma.
An infusion of gorse herb is also used as a laxative for constipation and urinary retention. Externally, a decoction of the herb is used in the form of baths to treat lichen and other skin diseases, scrofula.
Dosage forms and doses.
A decoction of the herb is used as a laxative and diuretic. 1 tablespoon of dry crushed herb per glass of water, cook over low heat until a third of the liquid remains, remove from heat, and filter after cooling. Take 2 tablespoons every 2 hours for dropsy of the abdomen and constipation until the urine output begins to weaken and increases. This herbal decoction is taken every other day.
Herbal infusion for uterine bleeding. 3 tablespoons of dry crushed gorse herb are poured with a glass of boiling water, left for 1 hour, filtered. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day.
Infusion of gorse herb. 1 teaspoon of dry crushed herb is poured with a glass of boiling water, left for 1 hour, filtered. Take a third of a glass 3 times a day for all other diseases listed above.
A decoction of gorse for baths. 4 tablespoons of dry crushed herbs per 1 liter of water, cook over low heat for 7 minutes, remove from heat, after cooling, filter and add to a bath of water. The duration of the bath is 20 minutes. Procedures are carried out 3 times a week.
Contraindications. Gorse is a poisonous plant! Its drugs are contraindicated during pregnancy and breastfeeding, people with coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and severe liver diseases. To avoid poisoning, you must follow the dosage!
Gorse (bloodthirsty gorse) is a subshrub of the Legume family. It grows on forest edges of dry forests, in coniferous forests, on hillsides, among thickets of bushes. It is found in almost all territories of Europe and Asia, as well as in Western Siberia and the Caucasus. It is classified as poisonous.
Gorse has long upward-pointing branches, lance-shaped sharp leaves, and reaches a height of up to one and a half meters. It blooms in June-July with yellow flowers collected in clusters at the ends of the branches. In late summer and early autumn, gorse ripens fruits - curved beans with seeds.
Gorse is used: for the production of yellow paint and coarse fabric, in commercial plantings as a plant that enriches the soil with nitrogen and strengthens slopes, in ornamental gardening for decorating borders, flower beds and group plantings, as well as in cooking (young shoots and buds), folk medicine and homeopathy.
Preparation and storage
The following medicinal raw materials are used: tops of branches, flowers and roots of gorse. The branches and flowers are harvested during the flowering period of the plant: the branches are cut and dried in the shade under a canopy, in a well-ventilated room or in a dryer at a temperature not exceeding 45-50°C. It is recommended to store dried raw materials in fabric bags for no more than 1 year.
The roots are harvested in the fall.
Composition and properties
Gorse is rich in: tannins, alkaloids, resins, flavonoids, essential oil, ascorbic acid, organic acids, calcium, silicon, potassium, barium, manganese and other valuable macro- and microelements. Thanks to its composition, the plant has antibacterial, antibiotic, laxative, diuretic and vasodilating effects on the human body.
In folk medicine, gorse is recommended for:
- bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis;
- hypotension;
- migraine;
- depression;
- hypothyroidism and other thyroid diseases;
- rickets;
- malaria;
- diseases of the liver and gall bladder;
- kidney inflammation;
- jade;
- edema of cardiac origin;
- constipation;
- obesity;
- malignant intestinal tumors;
- uterine bleeding;
- rheumatism, arthritis, gout;
- salt diathesis;
- calluses, warts, lichen, scrofula and other skin diseases.
Recipes
Laxative infusion:
- 1 tbsp. (without top) gorse seeds;
- 200 ml boiling water.
Pour boiling water over the seeds and leave to steep under the lid for 5 hours. Strain. Drink 2-3 tablespoons (no more!) per dose throughout the day.
Tea for the thyroid gland:
- 1 tsp dry leaves and flowers of gorse;
- 250 ml well water.
Pour water over the gorse, bring to a boil and strain. Drink throughout the day, taking 1-2 small sips at a time.
Decoction for hypotension:
- 3 tbsp. gorse leaves;
- 200 ml boiling water;
- 2 tsp fresh honey.
Pour boiling water over the gorse and boil in a water bath for 15 minutes. Let cool and strain. Add honey. Take 1 tablespoon three times a day half an hour before meals. This recipe will also help with depression and obesity.
Decoction for uterine bleeding:
- 200 ml boiling water.
Pour boiling water over the gorse and boil in a water bath for 15 minutes. Strain the broth and add boiled water to the original volume. Take 1 tablespoon three times a day.
Diuretic and choleretic decoction:
- 1 tbsp. crushed dry gorse leaves;
- 500 ml water.
Pour water over the leaves, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Then let the broth brew without heat for 4 minutes and strain. Drink 1/3 glass twice a day.
This decoction also has a laxative effect.
Gout collection:
- leaves and flowers of gorse;
- stinging nettle leaves;
- birch buds;
- tricolor violet grass.
Grind and mix the indicated herbal ingredients in equal parts. Pour 2 tablespoons of the resulting mixture into 400 ml of boiling water and let it brew for 15 minutes. Strain. Drink in three doses before meals (130 ml each). The recommended course of treatment is 1 month. You can brew the product in two steps: 1 tbsp. 200 ml of boiling water in the morning, and then the same portion at lunch, but you need to take exactly 130 ml 3 times a day.
Decoction for external use for joint pain:
- 3 tbsp. crushed gorse leaves;
- 500 ml water.
Pour water over the dried leaves, bring to a boil and simmer for half an hour. Then remove the product from the heat and let it sit for an hour. Strain. Soak gauze folded in several layers in the broth and apply to the sore spot for half an hour to an hour. Make a compress no more than three times a day.
Tincture for warts (externally):
- 50 g crushed dried flowers and fresh gorse fruits;
- 500 ml vodka.
Pour vodka over the plant material and let it brew for a week. Strain. Use to prepare lotions for affected areas - once a day for a week, every day. Do not allow this tincture to come into contact with healthy areas of the skin and do not ingest it! It is better to cover healthy skin with an adhesive bandage before the procedure.
Bath for scrofula:
- 4 tbsp. crushed leaves and flowers of gorse;
- 1 liter of hot water.
Fill the gorse with water and let it sit for an hour. Then strain and pour into a bath of water at 37°C. The recommended course of administration is once every 7 days for 20 minutes. This bath will help with scrofula, lichen and other skin diseases.
Contraindications
Gorse is contraindicated:
- children;
- pregnant and lactating women;
- patients with coronary heart disease;
- arterial hypertension.
Attention! Gorse is a poisonous plant. Before starting treatment, you should consult your doctor. During treatment, the recommended dosage must be strictly observed.
Gorse (bloodthirsty) is a shrub of the Legume family.
Sometimes it is called:
- guillemot;
- Theresa.
Description
This shrub grows to an average height of 0.5-1.5 meters. The stem is erect or recumbent, strongly branched at the base. There are no spines. The leaves are elliptical in shape. The flowers are collected in loose clusters at the tops of the stems. The flower color of wild gorse is yellow; varietal plants have other colors (pale red, orange). Flowering occurs from May to mid-summer. The fruit is a naked or slightly pubescent bean with several seeds.
In the wild it is found in the European part of the Russian Federation, the Caucasus, and Western Siberia. Grows among other shrubs or in light forests. Planting gorse for decorative purposes is gaining popularity. Since the plant belongs to the legume family, it enriches the soil with nitrogen compounds. Gorse buds are pickled and taste like capers. Italian and French agriculture cultivated gorse as it was used to make burlap. Flowers and leaves are the raw materials for yellow paint, which is why this type of gorse is called dyeing. Previously, bush pigments were used to dye wool, but today they are used to create natural hair dyes (for example, under the Kydranature TM).
Compound
Gorse contains alkaloids of the quinolizidine group (cytisine, N-methylcytine, anagyrine and others), flavonoids (genistein, genistin, luteolin, diadzein), tannins, saponins. The leaves and flowers contain some essential oil. All parts of gorse are poisonous; the maximum concentration of hazardous substances is in the fruits of the bush.
Medicinal properties
The main properties of the plant are diuretic and laxative. In addition, a decoction of gorse improves conditions caused by decreased thyroid function. Experiments have proven the vasodilating effect of plant preparations. In folk medicine they are used to eliminate urinary retention in heart failure, to treat kidney stones, and stones in the bladder. The laxative and diuretic effect of gorse is due to the content of the flavonoid glycoside luteolin. Cytisine increases blood pressure and stimulates respiration. Gorse is also sometimes used to treat the liver and stop uterine bleeding.
Shoots with leaves and flowers are raw materials for folk remedies against rickets, migraine headaches, hypertension, edema, thyroid diseases, narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels, and bacterial infections. The roots are used to treat jaundice, uterine bleeding, nephritis, cardiac edema, constipation, and joint diseases. The fruits were used to expel helminths, but the high toxicity of the bush beans makes such use impractical.
Plant preparations are used externally against:
- fungus;
- blisters;
- depriving;
- warts;
- dry calluses;
- psoriasis;
- itchy dermatosis caused by hypothyroidism.
The tincture is used in the fight against atopic and allergic dermatitis, dermatomycosis. Gargle with infusion for a sore throat. Homeopaths use the essence of young shoots of the bush as an herbal antibiotic. There are recommendations for treating intestinal oncology with plant preparations (as an addition to chemotherapy).
Gorse stimulates the production of thyroid hormones, its active substances act similarly to thyroidin, but give fewer side effects and a longer lasting result. It can be used both for decreased and increased thyroid function, goiter, and autoimmune thyroiditis. A decoction of the plant combats the hardening of thyroid tissue. Externally relieves itching in patients with hypothyroidism.
Medicinal use
For medicinal purposes, the flowering aerial parts, flowers and roots are used separately. The roots are dug up in the fall. Dry in the shade. If a dryer is used, the mode should be up to 50 o C. The raw materials retain their beneficial properties for 12 months from the date of procurement. It should be stored in canvas bags or cardboard boxes.
Recipes
Diuretic, laxative, choleretic decoction:
Pour 15 g of raw material into 300 ml of warm water and keep on low heat until 2/3 of the liquid has evaporated. Take 1-2 tbsp. every 2 hours. For the treatment of thyroid gland, take a course of 1-2 tbsp. three times a day, every other day.
Gorse decoction, general recipe:
1 tbsp. Boil dry crushed aerial parts in 500 ml of water for 20 minutes, then leave for 45 minutes, filter. Take a third of a glass two or three times a day.
Infusion:
2 tbsp. Brew 250 ml of boiling water for the above-ground part. Leave covered for half an hour. Filter. Take 1 tbsp. three times a day.
Tincture of flowers and beans for warts and dry calluses:
beans and fresh/dried flowers are poured with vodka in a ratio of 1 to 10. Leave for a week, filter. The area around the problem area is covered with adhesive tape. A cotton swab soaked in gorse tincture is placed on the wart or callus and secured with a plaster. Keep it there all night. Repeat the procedure for 7-10 days.
Juice for warts and dry calluses:
Fresh juice is used to treat problem areas in the same way as tincture.
Tea for thyroid diseases:
1 tsp Pour in 250 ml of cold water, slowly bring to a boil, and immediately turn off. After cooling, filter. Drink the resulting volume of tea in small sips throughout the day.
Collection for hypothyroidism:
1 part of the dry aerial part of gorse, 2 parts of hawthorn fruit, 2 parts of motherwort herb are mixed and crushed. 1 tbsp. collection, pour 0.5 liters of water, cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Cool for half an hour. Take 1 tbsp. decoction 4 times a day, 30 minutes before meals.
Root tincture with wine (general tonic):
Pour 10 g of finely chopped roots into a bottle of red wine, keep in a dark place for 10 days, filter, squeeze the raw material into a tincture. Children were given 1 tbsp. of this product, adults – 2-3 tbsp. tinctures once a day.
Lotion for joint pain and skin problems:
4 tbsp. Boil the dry above-ground part in 500 ml of water for half an hour. Leave for another 1 hour. Filter. Apply compresses for an hour. Apply 1-3 times a day
Baths against psoriasis, dermatitis, joint pain:
Add the decoction prepared according to the previous recipe to your evening bath. It is recommended to take such a bath for 20 minutes and repeat the procedure three times a week.
Contraindications
Overdose and frequent use of gorse can lead to toxic poisoning of the body, similar to nicotine poisoning (due to the presence of cytisine in the composition). Preparations based on parts of the bush are contraindicated for pregnant women (cause uterine contractions) and nursing patients, people with arterial hypertension and ischemia.
Gorse is a perennial shrub and liana-like plant from the Legume family. They can be found in Western Europe and North-West Africa. During the flowering period, the thick green crown is abundantly covered with golden flowers. Light-loving gorse is planted on slopes and along the perimeter of the lawn. It ennobles the garden and saturates it with bright colors. In addition, gorse is a medicinal plant, so it not only pleases the eye, but also takes care of the health of its owners.
Botanical characteristics
Gorse is a perennial shrub, subshrub or woody vine. It may have smooth or thorny shoots. Many thin branches are covered with bright green smooth bark. The height of the plant can be from 30 cm to 1.7 m. The stems can be erect or creeping. Along their entire length there are lateral processes. The branches are densely covered with small oblong-lanceolate leaves. The dark green leaf blades are smooth, but sometimes covered with short pile. Trifoliate or simple leaves on short petioles are arranged alternately.
At the age of 3-6 years, gorse begins to bloom. Bright yellow racemes bloom in early June. They remain on the branches for 15-60 days. Axillary flowers are grouped at the ends of young branches. During the flowering period, gorse is covered with a dense yellow blanket, which hides all the green vegetation underneath. In August the fruits begin to ripen. The branches are decorated with long narrow beans with shiny oblong brown-black seeds.
Plant species
According to the international classification, the gorse genus includes 125 plant species. Some of them are suitable for growing in central Russia.
The plant is found in Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Middle East. The low-growing, spreading shrub has no thorns and grows up to 1 m in height. Weakly branched, creeping shoots are covered with oblong, almost bare leaves. The length of narrow dark green leaves does not exceed 2.5 cm. Yellow flowers are collected in racemose inflorescences at the tops of young shoots. Flowering begins in June and lasts up to 65 days. After pollination, narrow, flattened beans ripen. Several decades ago, the leaves and flowers were used to produce yellow paint, which is how the variety got its name.
The heat-loving plant does not tolerate frost well. Straight pubescent branches form a shrub up to 60 cm high and up to 1.2 m wide. On the shoots there are lanceolate sessile leaves with tomentose pubescence on the reverse side. At the point where the leaf is attached there is a long green spine. In early June, golden spike-shaped inflorescences bloom at the ends of the branches. They are stored until August, and the fruits ripen in October. Seeds of this species germinate very poorly.
The plant forms a spherical prickly bush up to 50 cm high. Its dense bright green crown consists of lanceolate shiny leaves up to 1 cm long. Flowering occurs in 2 stages. Dense bright yellow inflorescences first bloom in early June. Repeated and less abundant flowering occurs at the end of August. This species can withstand frosts down to -20°C.
This variety is common in southern Europe, although it can withstand temperatures down to -15°C. Creeping shoots are located close to the ground or fall beautifully from mountain slopes. The branches are densely covered with small dark green oval-shaped leaves. Bright and abundant flowering occurs in April-June.
Reproduction
Gorse is propagated by seeds and cuttings. Seeds should be collected in August, immediately after ripening. A ripe bean turns brown and cracks on its own. The seeds are dried and, without prior preparation, planted in open ground to a depth of 2.5-3 cm. The plantings are sprinkled with earth and watered moderately. The first shoots appear in the spring. Flowering is expected no earlier than two years of age.
Some species reproduce better by cuttings. In June, apical cuttings 12-15 cm long are cut. They are rooted without pre-treatment in moist sandy-peaty soil. While roots are forming, it is necessary to keep the seedlings under a cover or in a greenhouse. Only 30-40% of plants take root.
Gorse care
Caring for gorse in open ground is easy. The plant is very unpretentious and develops on its own. For planting, you should choose a place on a slope or hill. Gorse prefers loose, well-drained soils with a high content of sand and limestone. Only young plants can be replanted. After three years of age, the roots grow so much that a painless transplant becomes impossible.
The lifespan of Gorse is not that long. After a decade, it stretches out and exposes the branches, which negatively affects the decorative effect. To avoid this, old bushes are replaced with young plants.
Gorse needs intense lighting and is not afraid of direct sunlight. It should be planted in an open area. Under the shade of other trees, the branches become bare faster, and flowering becomes scarce.
Gorse is also not afraid of high temperatures, but it can suffer from frost. In central Russia, bushes are covered with spruce branches and non-woven material for the winter. In snowy, mild winters, low-growing varieties overwinter without shelter, but the upper branches often freeze slightly.
Gorse is drought tolerant but may suffer from excess soil moisture. Usually it has enough natural precipitation. Watering is carried out only in case of a long absence of rain.
To form a crown, you can trim the shoots. The best time for this procedure is the beginning of spring. Dense thickets can be given any shape. When handling thorny varieties, care should be taken to avoid injury.
Beneficial features
Gorse flowers, stems and roots contain tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and essential oils. Official medicine does not use the plant due to its poor knowledge. In folk medicine in many countries, decoctions and alcoholic tinctures of gorse are used as a diuretic, tonic, laxative and sedative. The drugs cleanse the body of toxins from the inside, and also help destroy skin infections and heal wounds.
Medicines from gorse are used to combat the following diseases:
- hepatitis;
- rheumatism;
- allergic dermatitis;
- malaria;
- stomatitis;
- angina;
- bronchial asthma.
Fresh juice is used to treat warts and papillomas to get rid of them.
However, gorse contains toxic substances, so treatment should not be abused. Taking medications is especially dangerous for pregnant and lactating women, children and hypertensive patients.
Plant in the garden
In landscape design, gorse is valued for its bright and abundant flowering. Bushes or small trees can be planted singly at the entrance to the house or along the fence. Creeping and low-growing forms are suitable for decorating rocky slopes and hillocks with a southern or southeastern orientation. The branched rhizome strengthens the soil well and can be used to prevent soil collapse.
The plant is suitable for decorating rock gardens, rockeries and sometimes mixborders. When composing compositions, gorse combines better with trees and shrubs. These can be juniper, cotoneaster, euonymus, yew, barberry, elecampane or buzulnik.
Gorse is a profusely flowering shrub with simple, narrowly lanceolate and entire leaves. It has decorative and medicinal value. Like many legumes, it is a good honey plant.
The plant is poisonous!Ask the experts a question
Flower formula
Formula of gorse flower: Ch3.2L1.2(2)T(5+4)1P1.
In medicine
The medicinal properties of gorse have not been sufficiently studied to date, so drugs based on it are practically not used in the official medicine of our country. But in the USA, preparations made from the flowers and seeds of gorse are used in complex therapy in the treatment of malignant tumors, in particular tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, clinical trials of an infusion from the green parts of gorse have yielded positive results in the prevention and treatment of thyroid diseases. During the experiments, the possibility of using drugs based on gorse for chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, metabolic polyarthritis, urolithiasis, cholecystitis and hemorrhoids, hypothyroidism and metrorrhagia was also revealed.
Contraindications and side effects
You should know that gorse is a poisonous plant, so treatment must be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. It is not recommended to use gorse-based drugs during pregnancy, lactating women, children, as well as patients with coronary heart disease and arterial hypertension.
In homeopathy
In homeopathy, for medicinal purposes, the essence of young non-lignified shoots (with leaves and flowers) of gorse is used as a natural antibiotic.
In dermatology
In dermatology, gorse is used for hypothyroidism, accompanied by itchy dermatoses, for psoriasis, as well as for infectious and allergic diseases with inflammatory damage to the blood vessels of the skin and subcutaneous tissue.
In other areas
Gorse is used in cooking. Its young shoots and flower buds are eaten, blanched, pickled, and then used in national cuisine, especially in eastern Transcaucasia.
Gorse, as an original decorative subshrub, has recently become increasingly popular and is used in landscaping large cities, individually and in groups. In ornamental gardening, gorse is planted on rocky areas and slopes, in weakly shaded areas. Thanks to its double flowers of extraordinary beauty, the plant is used in landscape design to create beautiful compositions, flower beds, borders and alpine slides are decorated with it. In addition, gorse shoots are a good material for floral arrangements.
Until now, gorse is used in agriculture, in particular in agriculture (crop rotation) as a natural source of enriching the soil with nitrogen, which allows increasing the yield of many cultivated plants.
A bright yellow dye used for dyeing linen and woolen fabrics has long been obtained from the flowers and leaves of gorse. It is also used in carpet production to dye threads. In some countries, such as France and Italy, gorse is cultivated as a fibrous plant used to make coarse fabric such as burlap.
Classification
Gorse (lat. Genista tinctoria) is a species of the genus gorse (lat. Genista) of the legume or moth family (lat. Fabaceae, or Papilionaceae). The genus includes about 75 species of shrubs and subshrubs native to Europe, throughout the Mediterranean and Western Asia. There are approximately 30 species in the Caucasus.
Botanical description
Gorse is a shrub 20-100 cm in height. Leaves are alternate, simple, entire, narrowly lanceolate, up to 4 cm long and up to 1 cm wide, with stipules. The flowers are bisexual, zygomorphic, usually yellow, in dense long racemes located at the ends of the branches. The perianth is double, 5-membered. The calyx is fused-leaved, 5-toothed. The corolla is moth-like and consists of a flag or sail, two wings or oars and a boat formed by two fused petals. There are 10 stamens. The formula of the gorse flower is: Ch3.2L1.2(2)T(5+4)1P1. The gynoecium is apocarpous from 1 carpel. The superior ovary is 1-locular. The fruit is a bean. Seeds with a hard seed coat. A light-loving and drought-resistant plant, it easily adapts to different environmental conditions, but does not tolerate waterlogging and severe frosts. Blooms from May to July. The fruits ripen in August – September.
Spreading
In the European part of Russia and Western Siberia, gorse grows everywhere except in the northern regions. It is often found in the Caucasus. The plant prefers sparse dry light forests, especially pine forests, their edges, thickets of bushes, steppe ravines, as well as meadow and rocky slopes, sand, and chalk.
Regions of distribution on the map of Russia.
Procurement of raw materials
Both the above-ground part and the underground part in the flowering phase are harvested as medicinal raw materials. Gorse flowers are collected separately from other above-ground parts of the plant. The roots are dug up in the fall. Dry the raw materials in the shade under a canopy or in a well-ventilated area, or in a dryer at a temperature of 45-50°C. The finished raw material is usually green in color and is stored in closed cardboard boxes or in linen bags in well-ventilated areas, but separately from other strong-smelling medicinal plants. The shelf life of raw materials is 1 year.
Chemical composition
The chemical composition of gorse has not been sufficiently studied. Alkaloids (cytisine, methylcytisine, sparteine), glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, organic acids, essential oil, triterpene saponins, bitterness, mucus, and mineral salts were found in the stems and leaves. In addition, the flowers contain yellow pigments (genistein and luteolin), which give the petals a yellow color.
Pharmacological properties
The pharmacological properties of gorse are determined by its chemical composition. The plant has pronounced diuretic, choleretic, laxative, blood purifying, analgesic, lactogenic and vasoconstrictor (hemostatic) effects. Preparations based on it (infusion, decoction) stimulate breathing, stimulate the function of the thyroid gland, and contract the muscles of the uterus. Along with these properties, gorse has antibacterial and estrogenic activity. The fruits of gorse, in turn, have an anthelmintic effect.
Use in folk medicine
Although official medicine does not use gorse in medicinal practice, the beneficial properties of this plant are used by traditional healers as the main component of medicines in the treatment of a wide range of diseases (hypothyroidism, nervous fatigue, nephritis, edema of cardiac and renal origin, liver diseases, gout, rheumatoid polyarthritis, uric acid diathesis, malignant tumors in the intestines).
In folk medicine, an aqueous infusion of the gorse herb is widely used as a hemostatic, choleretic, tonic, vasodilator and antibacterial agent. The use of preparations based on gorse is especially effective in the prevention and treatment of thyroid diseases. Essence from fresh shoots of gorse is used by traditional healers as a natural herbal antibiotic. Using the vasodilating property with a powerful antibacterial effect of aqueous extracts of the gorse herb, traditional healers use them to treat chronic respiratory diseases, in particular chronic bronchitis and bronchial asthma. Infusions and decoctions based on gorse are used as a strong diuretic and laxative. In gynecology, gorse preparations are used as an effective tonic for uterine bleeding. In addition, infusion and decoction of the aerial part of gorse is used for migraines, rickets, hypertension, skin diseases, jaundice, malaria, nephritis (as a diuretic), constipation, hemorrhoids, dropsy (abdominal), exhaustion, cystitis, scrofulosis, salt deposition, ascites , asthenia, venereal diseases, bone fractures, rickets, and also as a blood purifier.
Due to the manifestation of antibacterial activity in folk medicine, gorse is recommended for diuretic preparations (for urological and nephrological diseases), externally - for gargling, for skin lesions with fungus, furunculosis, lichen, scrofula. These properties determine the fairly widespread use in home dermatology of alcoholic tinctures and aqueous decoctions of gorse for such skin diseases as atopic dermatitis, pyoderma, dermatomycosis, furunculosis, and allergic dermatitis. In addition, an infusion of flowers and fruits in the form of lotions is used for dry calluses and to remove warts. Crushed fresh leaves along with green fruits are also used to treat hard calluses and warts. For skin diseases such as abscesses, lichen, scrofula, an infusion based on the gorse herb is used as a rub, and it is also added to baths. Traditional healers especially value the rhizome of gorse, which, like the aerial part, has a wide range of medicinal properties.
Historical reference
Gorse has been popular since ancient times; it was written about in the teachings of the Middle Ages. In the past, in France and Italy, burlap was made from the stem of gorse, which was not inferior in quality to modern products. A fairly durable yellow dye was obtained from gorse flowers, which was used to dye wool and linen fabrics. The dye was of particular importance in the production of carpets: it was used to dye carpet threads. Green dye was also made from the leaves and shoots of the plant. This is where the name of the plant comes from – “tinker’s gorse”.
Literature
1. Biological encyclopedic dictionary / Ch. ed. M. S. Gilyarov) 2nd ed., corrected. M.: Sov. Encyclopedia. 1989.
2. Gubanov, I. A. et al. 793. Genista tinctoria L. Gorse tincture // Illustrated guide to plants of Central Russia. In 3 vols. M.: Scientific T. ed. KMK, Institute of Technology. issl., 2003. T. 2. Angiosperms (dicots: separate-petalled). P. 436.
3. Dudchenko L.G., Kozyakov A.S., Krivenko V.V. Spicy-aromatic and spicy-flavoring plants: Handbook / Responsible. ed. K. M. Sytnik. K.: Naukova Dumka, 1989. 304 p.
4. Elenevsky A.G., M.P. Solovyova, V.N. Tikhomirov // Botany. Systematics of higher or terrestrial plants. M. 2004. 420 p.