Folk names: field mallow, roadside mallow, wild mallow, Ivanov poplar, cheese, cat cheese, horse poplar, yard grass.
Parts used: usually flowers, sometimes all flowering grass or just leaves.
Pharmacy name: Malvae folium (formerly: Folia Malvae), Malvae flos (formerly: Flores Malvae).
Botanical description. Mallow has a forest spindle-shaped root, from which grow numerous branched, rigidly hairy stems. These stalks are upright, sometimes with a stalk, and sometimes have dline-pine 5-bladed leaves, serrated along the edge and pubescent on both sides. In the leaf sinuses there are flowers on long pubescent pedicels, light red or whitish, with five large petals, indented at the end, on which there are 3 dark longitudinal stripes. Blossoms from June to August. Favorite places of growth are on the sides of droughts, fields and meadows, on landfills and sunny slopes, near the walls of houses.
Collection and preparation. You can collect this medicinal plant from June to August. Flowers are picked with a cup, but without a pedicel, you can collect all the grass and leaves separately. Dried in the shade in a ventilated place.
The active ingredients. The main active ingredient is plant slime, which is very rich in mallow; there is also some essential oil and tannin.
Healing effect and application. As with all plants rich in mucus, the main action of mallow - enveloping and anti-inflammatory. In scientific medicine, it is used little, mainly in the composition of many teas from coughing. Sometimes mallow infusions and decoctions are used as a softening agent in inflammation of the mouth and throat, for inhalations and rinses, as well as for mild diarrhea. Slime and tanning agent work together here. This also complies with the recommendations of the German Public Health Service. Those who are afraid to use a mother and stepmother because of the side effects of the alkaloid pyrrolysidine contained in it, but need to take the plant with mucus for a long time, they should give preference to mallow.
Mallow tea: The recipe is the same, regardless of whether flowers, grass or leaves are the raw material. Pour 2 teaspoons of tea spoons with tops of finely sliced raw materials of 1/4 litre of warm water, leave for 5-10 hours, shaking or stirring from time to time. Sweep and tea is ready for ingestion, rinsing or inhalation. When coughing, tea is sweetened with honey (except diabetics!). Especially good as an expectorant and anti-inflammatory agent for children tea, prepared from a mixture of mallow and primrose root in equal parts. It should also be sweetened with honey.
Mixed tea: 2 teaspoons with the top of the mixture, pour 1/4 litre of boiling water, infuse for 10 minutes, strain. Dosage: 1 cup of tea 2-3 times a day.
Application in folk medicine. In folk medicine, mallow tea is very popular. Flowers, leaves and grass are used equally. First of all, it is prescribed for colds, especially coughing, hoarseness, sore throat. Jerome Side (1577) notices: "Pliny writes: "Whoever drinks daily tea from mallow, thus protecting himself from all accidental diseases. In case of stomach pains and diarrhea, folk medicine also recommends mallow tea (the same way of cooking). Do not forget about the use of mallow as a compressor on the wounds. The success of treatment in this case is due to the high content of mucus, although the possibility of secondary infections due to inept handling (eg, the application of raw leaves). Caution! The treatment of wounds with this plant is nowadays an outdated method.
Note. Traditional medicine does not distinguish between different types of mallow. In addition to the above mentioned, we also use "small mallow" and Stockholm Mallow (Matva alcea L.). The so-called red mallow (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) contains slightly different active ingredients and should not be confused with real mallow. This medicinal plant will be described in the section "Foreign medicinal plants" (p. 342). Side effects are unknown.