2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Twilight or Anemone is a genus of over 120 species of flowering perennials of the Buttercup family, distributed in the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Southern Europe and China. The healing effect of pine cones has been established for centuries. The ancient Romans prepared a decoction from the plant, which they took for fever, and the Indians used the sundew to treat stab wounds.
History of a twilight
The dream grows in many countries and therefore there are different beliefs about its origin. In Sweden, the medicinal herb is believed to bloom when migratory birds return from winter migration. Others, relying on the Greek name of the twilight (ανεμος - wind), claim that the plant opens its flowers when the spring wind comes out.
Some legends say that the miraculous flower is a servant of the god Anemos, the god of winds and blooms to warn nature of his arrival. There are also legends that connect the medicinal flower with the goddess Aphrodite and her love with the hunter Adonis. But when the god Ares (husband of the goddess) revealed their relationship, he ordered Adonis to be killed. Here, however, there is a discrepancy in the legends. One states that from the blood of the hunter Aphrodite created the flower of a pinecone, and according to the second the plant grew from the tears of the goddess.
Another legend says that Zeus felt sorry for Aphrodite and asked Hades to return Adonis to earth once a year to be with his beloved. This is how the twilight flower appeared. Today, the medicinal plant symbolizes the fleeting in life, as it is impermanent and people can enjoy it for a while.
Types of sundew
There are several species in our country twilight. Anemone nemorosa is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its rhizome is long, cylindrical, yellow or brown, smooth. Flowering stems are up to 30 cm tall, erect, usually bare. The basal leaves are three-parted and palmately dissected. The stem leaves are 3, with petioles, cut in three and resemble the basal ones, but are smaller.
The flowers are solitary, arranged on long stalks and bend down in the rain. Perianth is corolla-shaped, large, usually snow-white. This species blooms from March to May. The whole fresh plant is poisonous. After drying, its toxicity is lost. It grows in most of Europe, Southwest Asia and North America. We have white twilight grows in shady bushes and moist grassy places of Central and Western Stara Planina, Sredna Gora, Rhodopes, Rila, Pirin and up to 1800 m above sea level.
Yellow twilight / Anemone ranunculoides / is a perennial plant with a long, dark brown rhizome. Its stem is single, reaching a height of 7-30 cm, bare or scattered fibrous with or without a basal leaf. The stem leaves are 3 in number, gathered in a vertebra below the flower, on a stalk, palmately three-parted at the base, the lobes are ovate to narrowly elliptical-lanceolate, entire at the base, coarsely toothed to the top, scattered fibrous above, glabrous below. The yellow pine is found in shady deciduous forests and bushes in the foothills and lower mountain belt up to 1500 m above sea level. Apart from Bulgaria, it is also widespread in Russia, Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean.
Anemone narcissiflora is a herbaceous plant of the Buttercup family. It is considered one of the most beautiful species of the genus Susanka, which grows in the mountains of Bulgaria. It is so named because at the top of the slender and up to 50 cm tall stem, gathered in a bouquet, snow-white flowers, resembling daffodils, bloom. In the middle stands out the yellow spot of numerous small stamens, which hide even smaller pistils. At the base of the stem develop some basal leaves with long stalks and deeply palmately dissected petioles. This species can be seen only in the Gotse Delchev village of Valkosel in the Kozen area.
Another very beautiful species is the forest twilight / Anemone sylvestris /. It is a spring flowering, perennial, herbaceous plant. The old leaves dry out in the winter, but new ones appear in the spring. The plant has a short rhizome and creeping shoots. The stem of this species is densely fibrous in its lower part, reaching a height of 15 - 40 cm during flowering. The leaves are complex, palmately divided into five sections, basal and stem. The colors are white, single. The fruit is a fluffy cob with many seeds. The forest pine is found in bushes, stony meadows in the foothills. Mostly on limestone. It is mainly distributed in Central and Western Europe. This species blooms in April - June.
A very useful species is the field anemone / Anemone pulsatilla /. It is a perennial, herbaceous, fibrous, silky plant, reaching a height of 10 - 50 cm. It has basal and stem leaves. Its basal leaves are triple-pinnate, with narrow linear lobes and petioles, while its stem leaves are sessile. The flowers of the field pine are purple-red or pale violet, reaching a diameter of 3-4 cm, with outwardly curved petals. This species blooms in March - May.
Composition of pine cone
In most of the species are found lactones anemone, protoanemonin, and in the flowers - anthocyanin dyes.
Growing a twig
You can safely grow the medicinal flower in your garden. The dream is a great flower for rock gardens and flower arrangements. It is propagated by seeds, by dividing the tubers, by dividing the rhizomes, by dividing the tufts at the end of summer (daisies and poppies) and by root cuttings (Japanese pines). It is necessary to soak the tubers overnight in water before planting.
When dividing the tubers, make sure that each part of the tuber also has vegetative buds. In the dry state, the tubers can be preserved for a long time. Soaked tubers are planted at a depth of 5 cm, 10 cm apart. When planted in September, bloom in March or April, planted in March, bloom from June to September. Japanese twigs bloom from August to October. The seeds are sown to a depth of about 2 cm.
It is good to maintain constant soil moisture. The seeds germinate after about 3 - 6 weeks. The flowers bloom with white, pink, red, blue, pale purple simple, semi-showy or showy flowers. They prefer permeable humus-rich clay soils and semi-shady places. In order not to freeze in winter, it is good to cover the flowers with mulch of dry leaves. These plants can be successfully grown in pots.
Collection and storage of pine cones
The above-ground parts of are used twilight, harvested from April to June during flowering. While harvesting, the material should not be crowded, as this can cause it to steam and turn black. The collected material is spread in a thin layer in dry and ventilated rooms or dried in an oven at a temperature of up to 45 degrees. From about 6 kg of fresh stalks 1 kg of dry ones is obtained.
Benefits of sundew
Even Hippocrates used a dream to soothe patients with hysteria. In dysmenorrhea and sexual arousal, as well as in increased tone of the sympathetic nervous system, the herb has a calming and analgesic effect. Today, the most widely used in alternative medicine are the yellow pine and the field pine. It causes blood to invade the affected area, improves blood circulation and treats various inflammations. A tincture is made from the flowers collected during flowering.
Field pine is good for the nervous system, it has a calming effect, relieves stress and protects the nerves. As the medicinal flower has a positive effect on the autonomic nervous system, it also helps the proper functioning of internal organs.
Field pine cures insomnia, depression, chronic fatigue, soothes migraines and other nervous disorders. Helps with inflammation of the respiratory tract, whooping cough, senile diseases, spasms of the bile ducts, intestines and stomach. It is also used for rheumatism, gout, inflammation of the veins, cold feet and hands. It is also used for inflammation of the middle ear.
Folk medicine with a twilight
Bulgarian folk medicine offers the following recipe for a cold extract of field pine: Pour 2 tsp. finely ground dry drug with 300 ml of cold water and leave the mixture to mature overnight. The strained extract is drunk in sips for 1-2 days.
Prepare a decoction of field pine by pouring 1 tbsp. dry herb with 500 ml of boiling water and let it stand for 10 minutes. From the strained decoction drink 1 glass of wine 3 times a day before meals.
Damage from sleep
It is recommended to take the dream only on a doctor's schedule. It should not be used during pregnancy and by people with gastrointestinal and kidney inflammation.
