2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Jaundice / Genista / is a genus of small shrubs or semi-shrubs. The leaves of these plants are more often whole, rarely triple. The colors are yellow. The calyx is bilobed - the upper lip has 2 teeth, and the lower with 3. The flag is oblong - ovoid, and the boat - blunt. The column is pointed, with an upward curved tip. The bean is oblong - ovoid or oblong - linear on the side. There are 12 species of jaundice in Bulgaria.
The most common in our country is the dye jaundice / Genista tinctoria /. It is a shrub of the legume family, reaching from (10) 30 to 60 (100 - 200) cm in height. The stem is erect or recumbent, branched at the base, rarely simple, woody, without thorns. The leaves of this species are simple, elliptical or elliptically lanceolate, deciduous, glabrous or fibrous.
The flowers are gathered in loose clustered inflorescences on the tops of the stems and branches. Corolla yellow, composed of 5 unequal leaflets. The fruit is an elongated laterally flattened bean, naked or short-haired, straight or slightly crescent-shaped. Jaundice blooms from May to July. It is distributed in bushes and enlightened forests. It is found all over the country up to 1500 m above sea level. Apart from Bulgaria, jaundice grows all over Europe (excluding the extreme northern and southern parts).
Types of jaundice
Except for the dye jaundice The German jaundice / Genista germanica / is also found in Bulgaria. It is a shrub, reaching 10 - 60 cm in height, with numerous above-ground branches. Simple, up to 2 cm long thorns are usually formed in the axils of the leaves, but sometimes they are missing, as in the Bulgarian populations. The leaves are simple, elliptical, pointed at the top, almost sessile, entire, without stipules. The inflorescences are located on the tops of the branches.
The calyx is long fibrous, bilobed. The colors are yellow. The bean is 1 cm long, up to 0.5 cm wide, fibrous, with 1-2 lenticular seeds, brown and smooth. German jaundice blooms from May to June. Inhabits the outskirts of spruce and mixed spruce - pine forests. The population is small and does not exceed 50 - 100 individuals. Most of it is located along a forest road. This species is found in Central Europe and Western Russia. The German jaundice is protected by the Biodiversity Act.
The other species found in Bulgaria is the Rumelia jaundice - Genista rumelica Velen. It is a shrub 30 to 70 cm tall. The leaves are simple, with no clearly visible lateral veins. The cup of flowers on the outside is bare, the flag on the back is bare. The fruit is oblong. The most characteristic feature of the species is the early fall of the leaves - in flowering the leaves are only on the young shoots, and after flowering the leaves fall completely. Rumelia jaundice blooms from May to July. Grows in dry and calcareous places. Rumelia jaundice is a Balkan endemic - in addition to Bulgaria, it grows in Greece
Genista lydia or narrow-leaved jaundice is a shrub about 50 cm tall, belonging to the legume family. Narrow-leaved jaundice grows on steep, dry, stony and sunny terrains, on poorly developed soils (rendzini, rankers, etc.). Often these communities are found on silicate rocks and sandstones, on the slopes above rivers and ravines.
Composition of jaundice
Jaundice contains alkaloids from the quinolizidine group (cytisine, H - methylcytisine, anagirine, etc.) and flavonoids (genistein, genistin, luteolin, daidzein, etc.).
Growing jaundice
All jaundices bloom profusely in the sun and when not fed - fertile soil reduces flowering. The most popular ornamental species is Genista lydia - a spreading shrub that blooms in May and June. Another ground cover variety is Genista hispanica, which has prickly twigs. High variety is 3.6 - meter Genista aetnensi. Jaundice prefers bright sun. It grows in any soil, but feels best in poor sandy soil. After flowering, shorten the branches on which flowers have bloomed, but do not cut old branches. The plant is most successfully propagated by seeds. Summer green cuttings are difficult to root in a mini-greenhouse.
Collection and storage of jaundice
For medicinal purposes, the above-ground part is used, harrowed during flowering - June - August. The material is collected carefully without mixing the separated species. After cleaning from impurities and waste, the drug is dried in the shade or in an oven at a temperature of up to 40 degrees. The dried herb has a green stem and leaves and yellow flowers, odorless and with a bitter taste. Permissible humidity 12%. The processed material is packed in bales and stored in a dry and ventilated room.
Benefits of jaundice
Collected on the tops of flowers of all kinds jaundice are a great delight and lure of bees. Apart from being honey-bearing, jaundice is also medicinal. Helps against purulent wounds by applying externally, dried stems of the bush and its seeds are recommended for treatment of the respiratory system. The herb has a diuretic, laxative and capillary-strengthening effect. It is used successfully for edema of various natures, inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, inflammation of the bile ducts, hemorrhoids and others.
The medicinal plant is used in folk medicine mainly as a diuretic, in diseases that occur with fluid retention in the body, such as heart failure and others. Its diuretic action determines its use in the treatment of kidney stones, as well as in stones in the bladder.
The diuretic and laxative effect of the herb is due to the flavonoid glucoside luteolin contained in it. Jaundice contains small amounts of the alkaloid cytisine, which has an analeptic effect. It raises blood pressure and stimulates breathing. Although rare, the drug can also be used to treat some liver diseases. Yellow is also used in painting.
Folk medicine with jaundice
According to Bulgarian folk medicine, tea from jaundice excites the respiratory center, raises blood pressure, has a diuretic, hemostatic and laxative effect. It is used for kidney stones, hemorrhoids, gout, rheumatism, cardiac neurosis.
Bulgarian folk medicine recommends the infusion of jaundice for liver and spleen inflammation, lichen planus, thyroid disease and others. Externally, the herb is used to apply to sprained, bruised, purulent wounds and more.
Prepare a decoction of 1 teaspoon of chopped herbs and 250 ml of boiling water, which is drunk for 1 day.
Our folk medicine offers another recipe for a decoction of jaundice: 2 tablespoons of the herb are boiled in 0.5 liters of water for 4 minutes. The decoction is filtered and drink 1 tea cup before meals 4 times a day.
Other species of the genus are also used in our folk medicine jaundice. Such is the pinch plant (Genista sagittalis L.). Its stems are used in the form of infusions for gout and rheumatism (for drinking and applying).
Harms of jaundice
If large amounts of jaundice are ingested, nicotine-like poisoning may develop due to the content of cytisine in it. This obliges its use to be done carefully and under medical supervision.
