Poisonous!
Krushinovye - Rhamnaceae.
Folk names: Thrush berries, witch thorn, laxative crush.
Parts used: mature fruits.
Pharmacy name: fruits of a joster laxative - Rhamni cathartic! fructus (formerly: Fructus Rhamni cathartici).
Botanical description. It is a shrub of about 3 heights, with bulging branches. The bark, while it is young, silver-grey, later becomes brown-black. The joster can be easily recognized by the straight prickle, into which the tops of the branches turn. Suprotive leaves with petioles, ovate, glossy, with recessed veins, on the edge of the town-sawn. In the leaf sinuses there are four-membered unremarkable greenish-yellow flowers collected in umbrellas. Rounded fruits the size of a pea develop from them - first green, then they turn black. Blossoms from May to June. Joster is not a very common plant, it grows both in sunny and dry places and on moist soils in the marshy forests. It can be found on ditches and fences, in bushes, in cemeteries, on forest edges and in swamps.
Harvesting and harvesting. Mature fruits are harvested from August to October. It is important to take only mature (black) fruits, as the immature ones contain substances that cause abdominal carving when consumed. Fruits are dried in the sun or under artificial heating and juice is squeezed out of fresh fruits.
The active ingredients are anthraquinone laxatives, as in the bark of crumbs, cassia leaves and medical rhubarb, as well as tannins, flavonoids and pectins.
Healing effect and application. The plant is characterized by a mild laxative effect. From the dried fruits prepare tea, or they are crushed into powder and made mousse, or chewed on a few berries (10-20) in pure form. Small children are often given a laxative syrup of joster, in which the original material is mixed with sugar.
Joster syrup: 70 g of fruit juice mixed with 130 grams of sugar and heated to boil. As soon as the sugar dissolves, it can be poured into small bottles. Little children are given 1-3 teaspoons of syrup per day against constipation.
Tea from the joster: 2 teaspoons with the top of dried fruits pour 1/4 liters of hot water and after 10 minutes filtered. Drink 1 cup in the evening.
Use in homeopathy. Homeopathic remedy Rhamnus cathartica is given for liver diseases, as well as as laxative and diuretic. However, it should be noted that it is used very rarely (the same can be said of Frangula - a homeopathic remedy from the bark of the crumble).
Application in folk medicine. Gout, water, stones, rheumatism, paralysis, jaundice, digestive disorders, constipation, loss of appetite and chronic skin rash are all indications for the use of joster in folk medicine. Prepare tea (as described above) from the fruit, make in different ways tart or sweet juice, infusion with wine or alcohol, eat the fruit fresh or dried, adding their powder in a povidlo, take with milk or honey. Particularly willing to give joster fruits to children from loss of appetite or skin rash. Traditional medicine recommends juice from the fruits of the jester and against eels. Although the effect of the joster fruit compared to other medicinal plants containing anthraglycosides, such as cassia, rhubarb, rhubarb or scarlet, is recognized as very mild, the German Public Health Service nevertheless recommends them with great caution and leads to numerous contraindications, undesirable combinations and side effects. Let us list the most important of these recommendations:
Areas of application. Constipation, all diseases in which mild bowel release is desirable, such as cracks in the anal (posterior) region, haemorrhoids and after rectal-anal surgical interventions.
Contraindications. Preparations of joster fruits should not be used in the presence of intestinal spinning, as well as during pregnancy and lactation.
Action in combination with other means. Because of the increased loss of potassium may increase the effect of heart glycosides.
Duration of use. Tea from the fruits of the joster should be taken only a few days. For a longer application, consult your doctor.
Side effects of moderate use are unknown, prolonged use or overdose may cause excessive loss of water and salts. There may be pigment deposits in the intestinal mucosa. Immature fruits should not be eaten.