2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
The genus Mouse ears / Hieracium / lists many species that are very difficult to differentiate from each other. Representatives of this genus are scattered in Europe and Asia. There are over 20 species of the genus Mouse Ears in Bulgaria. Most of the plants are glandular, with leaves collected in a basal rosette. The inflorescences are on top, consisting only of lingual flowers, which are mostly white and only rarely orange or red.
One of the most famous representatives of this genus is Hieracium pilosella or fibrous mouse ears. The herb is also known as runicanka, bait, besnurka, marigold, istravniche and rabbit quince. This species is a perennial herbaceous plant of the family Compositae. There are long creeping aboveground shoots with small leaves. The leaves are collected in a basal rosette, oblong-elliptic. The baskets are single at the top of a leafless flowering stem, 10-30 cm high. The flowers are lingual gray-yellow. The fruit seed is cylindrical, cut off at the top, with a kite of brittle hairs.
This species blooms from June to August. It is distributed in mountain meadows and bushes, in abandoned places and in crops. The plant is found throughout the country in the mountains between 800 and 2000 m above sea level. It can be seen all over Europe.
Types of mouse ears
Another famous species in our country is hairy mouse ears / Hieracium villosum /. This is an extremely beautiful variety that reaches a height of 15 - 25 cm. The plant is densely covered with hairs, as if dressed in a light transparent white cloak. The stems are leafy and slightly branched. At the end of each branch is a large yellow inflorescence - a basket up to 3 cm in diameter. This species blooms in June - July.
Belogradchik mouse ears / Hieracium belogradcense / is a Bulgarian endemic. It is a perennial herbaceous plant also from the family Compositae. The stems of the plant are erect, reaching 50 - 90 cm in height, leafy, fibrous. The leaves are oblong - lanceolate, pointed, on short stalks, the upper almost sessile, almost bare above, just below - fibrous, coarsely serrated on the edge, fibrous. The inflorescences have 20-60 baskets. The shell is 8-9 mm long, wide-cylindrical. The integumentary leaflets are tile-shaped, bare or rarely stellate-fibrous. Blooms June-July. Propagated mainly by seeds (formed agamospermically), but sometimes by rhizome shoots.
Hieracium hoppeanum or hopean mouse ears has a straight stem, all covered with short hairs, reaching a height of 5 to 30 cm. It is without branches and leaves, and at the top ends with a flower basket. The scaly leaves are tiled and cover the basket on the outside, and bisexual lingual flowers are arranged in circles inside. Each flower has many lashes instead of a cup and instead of a corolla - a yellow tongue, which in peripheral flowers has red stripes on the outside.
Depending on the altitude at which it grows, this species blooms from May to late September, and insect-pollinated flowers are fertilized and tie fruits that ripen in October-November. The fruits are very small, cylindrical, with 10 longitudinal veins and a kite of hard hairs. The wind easily spreads them to near and far and thus ensures the reproduction and wide distribution of this species. Soft leaves and stems of Hopean mouse ears are appetizing food for sheep.
Composition of mouse ears
Mouse ears contains tannins and bitter substances, sugars, mucus, resins, chlorogenic acid and other ingredients that have not yet been well studied.
Growing mouse ears
The plant is easily grown in normal garden soil, although some species in nature grow on calcareous terrain, but in the rock garden can live on acidic substrate. Mouse ears need a sunny place. This beautiful flower is propagated by dividing the bush or seeds, which are sown outdoors in late autumn. Often the plant self-sows. Mouse ears are used in flower beds and rock gardens, and can be successfully combined with other flowers.
Collection and storage of mouse ears
The above-ground part of the shaggy is collected for medicinal purposes mouse ears / Herba Hieracii pilosellae /. The stems are cut very carefully and without crushing at the beginning of flowering. The collected material is cleaned of waste and impurities, then dried in a ventilated room in the shade or in an oven at a temperature of up to 45 degrees. The treated drug must have retained its natural appearance after the manipulations. About 6 kg of fresh stalks are needed to obtain 1 kg of dry. The finished drug is packed in bales of standard weight and stored in dry and ventilated warehouses.
Benefits of mouse ears
Mouse ears have a diuretic and anti-inflammatory effect. The herb lowers blood pressure, increases urine output, eliminates edema of a cardiac and renal nature, lowers blood urea levels and stops uterine and hemorrhoidal bleeding. Mouse ears are used in kidney disease, hypertension, uremia, intestinal and rectal polyps, cataracts, headaches, insomnia, vomiting.
The above-ground part of the plant is used for gastrointestinal disorders, kidney stones, liver problems, minor bleeding of various kinds and more. The drug has a beneficial effect on some types of persistent eczema. There is evidence that it even has antitumor activity. Less commonly used for pneumonia, boils, chicken pox (internally). Ointment of dry or fresh grass is used to facilitate the healing of purulent wounds.
Folk medicine with mouse ears
In Bulgarian folk medicine, the diuretic effect of the decoction of mouse ears is used in cardio-renal edema, kidney disease, where it can lower the level of blood urea. Reported a decrease in elevated blood urea after infusion of fresh herbs, and together with the general improvement disappear headache, vomiting, insomnia. However, the use of fresh herbs is emphasized. Apart from being a diuretic, the decoction of mouse ears is recommended for uterine bleeding, as well as for other bleeding - hemorrhoids, dysentery and hemorrhagic colitis.
Prepare a decoction of mouse earsby pouring 3-4 teaspoons of finely chopped herb with 1 cup of boiling water. Strain the decoction after it cools down and drink it within a day.
Russian folk medicine recommends a decoction of mouse ears for jaundice and liver problems. Prepare the drink by boiling 10 g of the herb in 200 ml of water. Take 3-4 times a day for two tablespoons.
Externally, mouse ears are applied raw to apply boils, and a decoction of the herb can also be used to wash purulent wounds.
Harms from mouse ears
Do not resort to mouse ears before consulting a doctor, as in larger doses the herb is poisonous.
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