From the first days of its existence on earth, man observed plants, often cultivated them and studied their healing properties. Centuries-old experience of the peoples formed the basis of scientific medicine, which still uses substances from medicinal plants, the properties of which were discovered first of all by the people. On the globe there are several tens of thousands of plants with useful properties for man. Application by the person of medical plants in struggle against various diseases has a centuries-old history.
Each people depending on those geographical conditions in what it lives, has the medical plants, and at all peoples the total number of plants which used glory medical, reached approximately to three thousand. To date, herbal preparations make up only about 30 percent of the total number of drugs used in practical medicine. Medicines from plants have been pressed by synthetic, antibiotic and hormonal medicinal products. As humanity's intellect, erudition and common culture grew, science began to emerge, and medicine was one of the first sciences to emerge. Scientific medicine has rejected many things as unnecessary ballast and useless for healing, and even more questioned.
The works of scientists in recent years have convincingly proved that the therapeutic effect of drugs from plants is determined not only by the basic active substance, but often the entire set of substances contained in the plant: alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, vitamins, mineral salts, trace elements, etc. And to reproduce artificially such a complex of substances is almost impossible. Synthetic drugs often cause allergic reactions and other side effects, while plant-based drugs, as a rule, do not have such properties.
In the people are strongly stored, passing from generation to generation, data on ways of healing of various diseases, as well as on medical plants. Still and now in the people use at various illnesses many wild plants in spite of the fact that modern scientific medicine does not include them in the list of the medical means. Who would have thought that Gnaphalium uliginosum L. (Gnaphalium uliginosum L.), in this weed of our meadows and fields, contains a substance that neutralizes the acidity of gastric juice, soothes nerves and lowers blood pressure? Who knew that the motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca L.) contains a fascinating agent for nervous system disorders? Only through scientific research has medicine been enriched by the active ingredients of these plants, the healing effect of which was until recently not only in doubt, but even not recognized at all. And in the people from generation to generation the sushenitsa was used at "chest toad" and at excessive increase of blood pressure, and motherwort was used instead of valeriana, especially in those areas where valeriana did not grow.
It is bad enough that we know little about medicinal plants and their beneficial properties, but we often do not use those we know. Academician Ivan Lepekhin, a student and follower of the great Russian scientist M.I.Lomonosov, at the jubilee meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences almost 200 years ago in his report reported on the use of different peoples of northern and temperate latitudes of medicinal plants for the treatment and prevention of diseases. He said: "And if we consider a simple way of life inhabiting between the two extremes of warmth and cold in different climates, then, no doubt, we will open traces that the fruits and beans produced voluntarily by the green depths of the earth, which are used as food there, are the most important way to prevent diseases, in fact, the climate itself is born.
Anyone who wants to collect wild medicinal plants needs to know the following
1. Wild medicinal plants are the common wealth of the nation, and this wealth must be valued, not exploited, without any plan.
2. If a certain type of medicinal plant grows in abundance in the area, it is necessary to collect it so that on 4 square meters there are nine strongest individuals of it.
Never collect plants that are very few, but protect them until they are fully ripe. If absolutely necessary, it is recommended to use only a part of them.
It is important to know when collecting plants:
1) Which parts of a medicinal plant species are used in folk medicine;
2) at what time the collection should be made and how exactly it is technically performed;
3) how the plants should be dried;
4) what measures should be taken to better preserve the harvested material.
Collection of medicinal plants
Medicinal plant contains one or more substances that can in the presence of known conditions to show in the human body and animal some healing properties. These substances are only sometimes distributed throughout the plant. More often than not, they are concentrated only in certain orcas.
