Flowering alder. Alder: medicinal properties and use in traditional medicine

1. Description
2. cultivation
3. Application

Everyone knows what an alder looks like. Inconspicuous in appearance, but it is a real harbinger of the onset of spring. When all the trees are still with bare black trunks, catching melancholy and sadness, the alder is already blooming with might and main. It is with flowering that the life cycle of this tree begins, then young leaves begin to appear. Alder is a deciduous tree,. Depending on the location, it can be in the form of a tree or shrub.

Description

Shoots of a young plant have a cylindrical shape with a greenish core.

Kidneys grow on legs, have two scales. Alder leaves grow in regular order, the shape of the leaf is whole lobed, sometimes serrated along the edges. The shape of the leaf can vary - from round or slightly oblong to elongated.

Flowering occurs with monoecious flowers, which are in the form of fluffy earrings - the birch family has such distinguishing feature. In this case, the stamens are formed on top of the shoot in the form of long catkins, and the pistils are formed in the lower part and have the form of small spikelets.

A distinctive feature of the alder is that it blooms even before or simultaneously with the beginning of the blooming of the leaves. Due to this, pollen is better carried by the wind.

Inflorescences are formed during the year preceding flowering, while in different time: female, staminate - begin to form in the middle of summer (about 5-6 months in duration), male, pistillate - from autumn (1-2 months are formed).

During the formation of inflorescences, male flowers are formed in the amount of 3 pieces, less often - one in the form of an earring. Female flowers are formed in pairs, at the bottom of the shoot.

The fruit is a hard woody cone, characteristic of the alder. Among the many trees in the forest, alder can be recognized precisely by these cones.

The trunk is usually slender, covered with smooth bark on the outside.. The density of the wood is low.

Alder can be distinguished from other trees by the following parameters:

• begins early flowering;
• has earrings;
• there are small bumps on the shoots.

Alder grows in the temperate zone, prefers rich and moist soil, but can grow in both dry and clay soil.

Kinds

Depending on the terrain and living conditions, it can have as many different forms. You can find more than a hundred different species - trees and shrubs. On the territory of Russia, 2 of these species are most often found - this is sticky black and gray, namely:

• Black look. The name is due to the leaves having a sticky element, and due to the fact that the trunk is black. In Greek myths, this species was described as a harbinger of spring. Description: This species is capable of rapid growth, often reaching a height of 20 meters. It grows in the forest, most often lonely, plants of other species do not grow nearby. The plant begins flowering in mid-spring. The fruits are small black cones. photophilous and loves moist soil, so it can often be found in moist places. Often this species is combined, forming alder thickets. It is considered an endangered species in some regions of Russia. Planted along reservoirs, the plant adorns parks and squares.

• Another type of tree - gray alder - can be easily distinguished from other trees. The appearance of the tree (pictured) does not look like its “black” relative - it has a slightly curved trunk with a bark that has a gray tint, while the leaves of the tree also have grey colour. When flowering produces brownish earrings. During the flowering period, the tree looks very elegant and unusual. Unlike their other brethren, gray look unpretentious to habitats - lives even on poor soils and in wetlands. It has great resistance to frost and windy weather. Young shoots grow rapidly, often forming dense thickets of trees and shrubs. This property of trees is often used in industrial purposes- trees are planted along the banks, thereby additionally securing them from falling off.

In addition to these, there are also other species that are widespread throughout Russia. Among them, one can single out such a species as shrub alder or Siberian alder. Such plants are small trees With maximum height up to 6-8 meters. They live mainly in the Siberian part of Russia and on Far East.

Most species of this tree start flowering in early spring- from April to May. As noted above, flowering begins before the leaves bloom. Flowers - long earrings and small black bumps.

cultivation

Although alder is often considered a weed tree, this is far from being the case. This opinion is formed because of the wood of the tree. Alder wood is often small, crooked, and difficult to use for industrial purposes. However, some species of this tree do well in unpretentious conditions, which is an excellent property for breeding nurseries or starting a forest.

So, for example, gray alder lives in any area and on any soil. In addition, on its roots in tubers accumulates a large number of nitrogen, which gradually settles into the ground and is able to restore the fertility of the soil around it.

Growing alder trees and shrubs is fairly easy. The seeds of the plant germinate easily. Alder cones are quite hard, which prevents them from scattering during the collection of seeds, this excludes the ingress of foreign impurities into them.

It should be noted that black alder is much more difficult to grow. The tree loves only moist soil rich in mineral elements, and almost does not grow on poor, depleted soil with insufficient moisture, therefore such a tree is unsuitable for breeding a nursery, it is often planted along the banks of rivers and reservoirs.

Growing alder - benefits:

• some species are unpretentious to the soil, which allows you to plant trees in any area;
• easy to collect seeds;
• begins early flowering;
• due to the accumulation of nitrogenous formations on the roots, it is able to improve soil fertility.

Application

Trees of the alder family have medicinal and healing properties. Cones from trees have anti-inflammatory and disinfectant properties, which are used to prepare various medicines. The elements contained in the leaves and bark of trees have a detrimental effect on different kinds the simplest microorganisms. Therefore, parts of the tree can be used to make remedies for skin diseases - eczema, psoriasis, and various fungi.

Alder cones have also found their application in the medical field.. Tinctures and decoctions of them are used in the event of colitis, dysentery, as an astringent for gastric or intestinal bleeding. Due to their astringent properties, alder leaves and cones are used in the treatment of burns, nose and mouth bleeding, stomach ulcers, and various skin inflammations.

The healing properties of alder were known to our ancestors. A decoction of alder leaves has long been used as a diaphoretic for colds. It can also be used to make wonderful relaxing foot baths.

Industrial use

The use of alder for industrial purposes is quite wide:

• although alder wood is not very durable, it is quite soft and pliable, which makes it much easier to work with it for industrial purposes;
• alder does not lead to the formation of cracks, and therefore this material is often used for the manufacture of musical instruments;
• has a small and soft wood, due to which the wood material is widely used by wood carving artists;
• alder products gain strength over time, wells, barrels, underground structures are made from it;
• alder wood products are widely used - from decorative panels and caskets to furniture;
• The construction world of materials also makes extensive use of alder wood - for interior decoration or furniture.

In conclusion, it is worth noting the relatively low cost of wood, which affected wide application in industry.

Every year, many plants rush to announce the arrival of spring. Alder will also give an excellent hint for summer residents. A photo of this tree will make it possible for every person to understand how beautiful the alder looks at this time. The tree is decorated with smooth bark, and round alder leaves remain green until the very first frost.

Alder tree: Description and photo

This deciduous tree has a very lush crown, but still it is a little sparse due to the fact that the branches grow unevenly. When the snow has not yet melted in all places, the alder is already talking with might and main about the arrival of spring, this is expressed in its active flowering. Therefore, you only need to know when the alder blooms in order to determine that winter is gradually losing its strength.

At the same time, upon entering the flowering phase, many other plants help it to get ahead, as well as winds, due to which the pollination of alder takes place.

When the tree begins to bloom, it is decorated with beautiful earrings, divided into male and female. When, during formation, they have the usual green color, then at the ripening stage they acquire a red-brown hue.

Women's earrings are quite small and reach a size of approximately one centimeter, are found on a branch in groups of up to 10 pieces, a sign of maturation of these earrings is the formation of a woody shell. In this regard, men's earrings have certain differences: they grow on branches in the amount of 5-6 pieces, they are characterized by quite large sizes, being 6-10 cm long. The appearance of leaves begins only after the completion of alder flowering.

Alder fruits are small cones that are green in color. At the same time, the cones also differ from each other: some grow wingless, some can be leathery or membranous. Throughout winter period they are closed, the structure is solid, but already with the advent of March, the cones open, as a result of which the seeds fall into the ground. Cones reach their full ripening only at the end of autumn. The leaves of this tree are quite useful fertilizer, as they contain a large amount of nitrogen.

Alder in nature clip art

These trees approximately grow up to 100 years. Although there are centenarians who delight with their appearance for 150 years. Their favorite sites for germination are places with moist soil. Therefore, alder can often be observed on the banks of various reservoirs.

If there is a combination of favorable factors, then whole thickets - alder forests - can grow. In the northern regions, alder is ground like conifer tree. AT southern regions it has a rather insignificant representation, therefore it is in the composition mixed forests along with beech and oak. Also, this tree feels great with other representatives of forests - spruce, birch, aspen, linden and oak.

Alder can be used both for decorative purposes and is interesting as a honey plant. During the formation, the tree forms leaves and buds enriched with resinous substances, which are used by bees as a raw material for the production of propolis.

You can find a use for dried alder leaves, as they can be used as feed for livestock.

Varieties of alder: Description and photo

On the planet, according to some information, a little more than 40 varieties of alder tree grow.

On the territory of our country there are only a few species of this deciduous plant.

The tree prefers moist soils, grows well in areas with temperate climate, unpretentious in care.

Black alder: Description and photo

Although alder includes a lot of species, but among them, as a rule, you can see black alder, it is so called because of this color of the bark. This tree is described in ancient Greek mythology, it most often appears here at fire festivals, being a symbol of the arrival of spring. The tree is a light-loving plant, but at the same time it is quite responsive to moisture. If alder is planted in wet areas, then alder swamps can grow here in the future. But standing water for this plant is fatal.

Black alder grows quite quickly in a year. Mature trees can grow up to 25 meters tall. With its inflorescences, it pleases before other plants, since they begin to appear already in April. The situation is slightly different with fruits that reach their maturity only at the end of next spring.

Unlike other varieties, black alder needs special care. This species is under protection in many countries - Kazakhstan, Moldova and some regions of Russia. Often, black alder is used to organize the landscape design of squares and parks. It can also be used for landing near water bodies to strengthen the shore. It does an excellent job with this task, as it has a branched and fairly wide root system.

Gray alder: Description and photo

This tree is among fairly popular species. birch families. gray alder it is large in size, as it can grow up to 15 m. For its landing, ravines and banks of reservoirs are selected, which are threatened with destruction. For planting material you can use seeds, cuttings or young shoots.

The specific name of the alder is associated with the color of the tree. The trunk of this plant is characterized by a gray color, the leaves look the same way, brown earrings act as a decorative element. Therefore, when observing a tree that has these characteristics, know that it is an alder. This tree is also valued because of its ability to withstand significant frosts and grow well on a poor nutrients ground, as well as in wetlands.

Heart-leaved alder: Description and photo

As a rule, the plant grows in the regions of the Caucasus. In the first 50 years of its life, the hearty alder quickly reaches a size of more than 25 meters. Most often, this tree is used for landscaping. If wood harvesting occurs, then its scope is almost identical to that of gray and black alder.

Alder is one of the most popular trees in our country and therefore it is quite logical that the use of this wood is very common. The ability to manufacture various products, fairly easy processing, low cost - all these qualities make alder valuable breed wood.

Variety of alder species in nature

Scope of use

Alder is highly valued not only because of its beautiful appearance because it has many other useful qualities.

In the decorative arts

Alder, which is grown from young seedlings, grows very quickly, often this leads to the growth of wild thickets. At this stage life cycle it has a uniform wood structure and is easy to process. Therefore, it is often used in industry.

For creating artistic carving alder is one of the most common materials. It is used for the production of carved dishes, sculptures and decorative panels. After processing the wood by dry distillation, coals are obtained, which are highly valued by artists. Great importance in decorative arts have specimens in which the trunks are decorated with influxes.

In folk treatment

This plant is also valued as a remedy for the treatment of many diseases. Useful properties have bark, leaves and cones enriched with tannins. Effective remedies are considered tinctures and decoctions based on cones and leaves, as they have anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, antibacterial and disinfectant properties.

• to combat eczema and diathesis, a decoction of flowers is used, which must be prepared at the beginning of flowering;
• alcohol infusion of earrings can help people suffering from constipation and hemorrhoids;
• if there is a purulent wound, then it is necessary to apply black alder leaves to it, and it will heal rather quickly.

After a course of antibiotics, you can restore the natural intestinal microflora with a decoction of cones. Also, this tool will help to cope with diseases gastrointestinal tract. It is often used in conditions such as:

• cold;
• inflammation of the throat and nasopharynx;
• pharyngitis;
• angina.

To stop nosebleeds, it is necessary to keep swabs of fresh leaves in the sinuses of the nose. Traditional healers advise using a decoction to combat joint pain, arthritis and gout.

Alder in medicine drawing

An effective remedy is dry baths, they are made on the basis of fresh leaves.

• they must be heated in an oven or in the sun, and then the leaves are laid out on a bed and a sick person is laid on them. You can also cover the affected parts on the body with heated leaves, and wrap yourself in a warm blanket on top. In this case, the result will be maximum when this procedure lasts at least an hour;
• this remedy will work even better when the leaves are heated in a deep tub, where after it is necessary to seat the patient up to the neck. According to the same scheme, you can fight diseases with the help of birch leaves.

While visiting the bath quite it is useful to use alder brooms, which have a tonic, disinfecting, cleansing effect, energizing the body.

In industry

Ease of wood processing led to the fact that it is often used in industry. This wood can be processed in a variety of ways, including staining, varnishing and polishing. Also given wood maintains the integrity of the structure while screwing screws into it. Changes can occur when nails are driven in, this is expressed in the delamination of wood.

Alder drying will in no way affect its properties: it is short in time, and during this operation no defects appear in the form of cracks or warpage. This property made alder the most popular material for the production of musical instruments.

The use of alder in industry

Preparation and collection of cones

Most auspicious time for harvesting cones is the end of autumn. At the same time, you can continue collecting them until March. Directly collecting cones has certain features: first, you need to carefully cut off the ends of the branches with cones with secateurs, and then they collect fruits from them. Cones lying on the ground do not have the required properties, so they cannot be used. After collecting, the cones are laid in an even layer in the attic or under a canopy, where there must be good air access. When it is quite warm outside, you can dry the cones in the open air, remembering to stir them periodically. With proper drying, the fruits save medicinal properties within 3 years.

Summarizing

Not many people are familiar with a plant like alder, and in vain. Since it is the first to signal the arrival of spring, it begins to bloom even at a time when the snow has not melted. At this stage of its development the tree forms beautiful earrings giving it even more decorative properties. But alder looks most attractive when it has cones.

Although in this case it is necessary to be patient, since they are formed only next spring. However, alder is of interest not only because of its decorative qualities, since it is often used to prepare effective drugs for the treatment diseases and even for smoking. Wood is used in industry as it easily tolerates different types processing, without being covered by any significant defects.

Alder, mainly grows on wet soils. No wonder the tree got its name. Alder in translation means literally "by the shore". Often this type of tree, belonging to the birch family, can be found along the banks of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

Alder near the river

To date, about thirty species of trees of the Alder genus are known.

Alder wood, as soon as it is cut, acquires a noble red hue. Alder wood, by its appearance, perfectly imitates expensive wood species, such as mahogany wood, for example.

Alder wood is resistant to decay, not afraid of water. When dried, the wood does not deform or crack.

Due to the resistance of alder wood to decay and moisture in general, it is actively used in underground structures. Alder lining is installed in the mines. They build water wells and make structures and their parts underground and under water. It is not for nothing that in Venice the piles on which, in fact, the whole city stands are made of alder.

The main characteristics of alder wood:

• Ease

• Uniformity

• The color is reddish-pink after the cut has dried.

Why does alder turn red after sawing?

This is due to the oxidation that occurs in the composition of oxygen and the substances that make up the wood. Immediately after sawing, the wood is light yellow in color, after a while it becomes brown and even purple, when it dries slightly, the red color brightens. After the final drying, the color of the wood is reddish-pink. Moreover, the color is uniform around the entire perimeter of the trunk. The heartwood and sapwood practically do not differ in shade.

Alder is used to produce gunpowder for hunting rifles. Alder smells good, so dishes cooked on alder wood are very tasty and fragrant. Alder sawdust is widely used for smoking meat and fish. Alder sawdust and firewood the best option for outdoor cooking.

Where is alder wood used:

• Production of interior doors

How doors are made from solid alder. Helpful video.

In the process of use, objects made of alder wood are quite wear-resistant, do not deform, do not chip, and are durable. At the same time, the wood is very light.

Alder, when driving in nails, tends to split. Therefore, when working with alder wood, professionals recommend using screws instead of nails to fasten parts.

Alder can grow very close to each other. Therefore, about 450 cubic meters of wood can be "removed" from one hectare of land.

On the roots of the alder, peculiar lumps of bacteria are formed, which favorably affect the quality of the soil. Therefore, where alder grows, the soil is considered to be of high quality. The work of bacteria located on the roots of alder is the assimilation of nitrogenous compounds from the air.

If you cut down an alder. Then very quickly, young shoots will grow on the remaining stump. The growth rate of shoots is, on average, 2 meters per year.

There is one more interesting property at the alder. Its leaves never turn yellow. In autumn they fall green.

Physical Properties alder wood.

Some more useful numbers. The elasticity of wood during various manipulations with it.

The static bending of alder wood is 80 MPa

Tensile across fibers 7 MPa

Tension along fibers 95 MPa

Not only alder wood is used by a person in the course of his life.

Paint is made from alder bark, which is used to dye leather and cloth. The bark is used to make dye, mainly black alder.

Watch a video about useful properties alder.

An infusion of alder fruit will help stop nosebleeds. Since alder fruits have hemostatic substances.

In addition, such decoctions favorably affect the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. So, a decoction of the bark will help with digestive disorders, normalizes the microflora of the stomach. Also, alder leaves and fruits have antihistamine trace elements. Therefore, they help to reduce and soothe allergic manifestations.

Alder seeds and leaves have an antimicrobial effect. They are also used as a diaphoretic, for example, for colds.

Alder (from the Latin "Alnus" - coastal) is assigned to the Birch family. Alder is native to North America.

Alder belongs to highly decorative species, thanks to its shiny, green foliage, therefore it is widely used in landscaping.

Check out our article and you will learn how to grow an alder tree.

Plant appearance

It is a shrub (up to 15 meters) or a deciduous tree growing up to 80 meters in height.

The leaves are oval-ovate, tapering upwards. A fruiting specimen can be found in St. Petersburg, in the park of the Forestry Technical University, in Moscow and in Tallinn.

Alder bush

Squat, sometimes creeping shrub, grows in the north and in the tundra. The branches are shortened, twisted. On South this species can grow up to six meters in height.

The leaves are dark gray, form a decorative crown, which allows the tree to be used in landscape design and landscaping of park areas.

Alder Manchurian

Reaches a height of 15 meters, the diameter of the trunk of an adult tree is 25 centimeters. Sometimes this species is a spreading shrub. The bark is dark gray, smooth. The leaves are elliptical in shape with sharp tips.

Olkha Maksimovich

An adult tree reaches a height of 10 meters. The bark is grey. Leaves are ovate. Blooms in May-June. It grows in the Far East (Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin), in Northern Japan. Can be seen in St. Petersburg in the botanical garden.

Alder Kamchatka

Tree or shrub, three meters high. The main stem is thick. Straight branches form a dense crown. The bark is grey. The leaves are ovoid, dark green in color and lighter on the reverse.

Blooms in May-June. The bark and leaves are used to dye leather. In St. Petersburg, you can see a flowering and fruiting specimen in the Botanical Garden.

Alder carved

Height 12 meters, crown narrow. The leaves are large green, very decorative.

Alder heart-shaped

Height up to 15 meters. The leaves are rounded or ovate, the shoots are brick-red.

Cultivation and care

Tree in plant system

The tree is unpretentious to the composition and structure of the soil and can be planted even on sandstone.

In horticulture and forestry, alder is famous for its:

seeds

Collection

Alder cones are harvested in late autumn and stored in fresh air until full disclosure.

Seed separation is carried out using a sieve.

Storage

Seeds are stored in a refrigerator or cellar, at a temperature not exceeding 5 degrees.

Seeding

Seeds can be sown both in autumn and spring. But they have a short shelf life, only 4 months, after which the germination of seeds begins to fall.

The soil

If alder is planted at home, then an earthen mixture is prepared from the following components:

Seeds are sown in seedling boxes and moistened.

The tree grows quite quickly and during the season, seedlings, under favorable conditions, make an increase of several meters.

If the seeds are sown abundantly, then after a couple of years of planting they form impenetrable jungle.

Watering

Rare artificial watering will still not be able to provide the tree with the necessary moisture and will inhibit the development of the root system.

Although until the development of a meter height, the seedling should be watered as often as ordinary seedlings.

loosening

The trunk circle can be loosened, but then the tree will have to be mulched in winter.

To avoid this, you can plant lawn grass, green manure or flowers in the trunk circle and trim excess vegetation from time to time - this will ensure the protection of the roots and the formation of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.

Complete exposure of the trunk circle does not always have a positive effect on the health of the tree. For mulching use peat or wood chips.

Pests and diseases

Application of alder wood

Alder is considered a valuable tree species.

In black alder, the wood is well cut, but it is very brittle.

Growing trees have white wood, but when the tree is cut down, it begins to change: turn yellow or red.

doctor of agricultural sciences, professor vegetable growing RGAU-MSHA named after K.A. Timiryazev

In our forests, an inconspicuous tree, the alder, is very common at first glance. She easily captures abandoned arable land and vegetable gardens, prefers wet places. People rarely look into the alder forest - good mushrooms they don’t grow there, and it’s also not good for walking - nettles burn, and raspberries cling to clothes. But the power of this tree turns out to be something else. Alder - important medicinal plant and occupies a worthy place in the list of scientific and traditional medicine. And it is also royal firewood. But first things first.

(Alnus incana) - deciduous tree from the birch family ( Betulaceae) up to 20 m high, or a large shrub with a rounded crown, silver-gray bark and a shallow root system.

Leaves petiolate, leaf blade ovate or broadly elliptical, serrate. Young leaves are densely pubescent, adults are pubescent only from below. Flowers are unisexual. Female - without perianth, collected in earrings. They sit in the axils of the scales of the inflorescence, which become stiff by autumn, turning into a small brown cone. Male flowers are located in the axils of the scales of long earrings. It blooms in March - April, before the leaves bloom and is a wind-pollinated plant. So the leaves would only get in the way. The fruits ripen in August - October. And they are flat, one-seeded nuts with narrow wings. Cones, without opening, hang on the tree until spring, at the end of February-March, the seeds spill out.

Gray alder grows in the forest and forest-steppe zones of the European part of Russia, in the North Caucasus, in Transcaucasia, in Western Siberia, in the Urals. It occurs along the banks of rivers and streams, in marshy places, along the banks of reservoirs, lakes, quickly forms thickets on abandoned arable land, especially where groundwater is close.

It is allowed to use medicinal raw materials of another type - sticky alder, or black, which grows in the same areas and in the same environmental conditions, only prefers even wetter places.

(Alnus glutinosa) has a grayish-brown bark, rounded obovate leaves, dark green above, dull below, in young age sticky, for which the plant got its name.

AT traditional medicine also use fertility fluffy alder (Alnus hirsuta) and Siberian alder (Alnus hirsuta var. sibirica), widespread in Siberia and the Far East.

Healing cones

Alder has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. In Medieval herbalists, she is mentioned with enviable regularity. V. Strabo and Hildegade of Bingen (XII century) spoke favorably of her. In the herbalists of the 16th-17th centuries, recommendations are given for the external use of a decoction of the leaves for gout and fungal diseases of the feet.

In official medicine in Russia, seedlings (alder cones) are used. Cones are harvested in autumn and winter, when they are completely woody, from felled trees in cutting areas or from standing trees. Fallen seedlings are unsuitable for medical purposes. The cones are dried under a canopy, in sheds, on an oven, laying out a layer of 5-10 cm and stirring frequently. Shelf life of raw materials - 4 years.

Raw materials should consist of dry brown or dark brown seedlings, single or in clusters of several pieces on a thin stem 1 cm long, with open scales, with or without seeds. Odorless, taste - slightly astringent. Harvested raw materials differ in the following ways: collected in summer months inflorescences are green or greenish-brown, the scales are stuck together, the cones of spring harvest are easily ground into a black-brown powder.

Allowed in raw materials no more than: moisture - 12%, total ash - 3.5%, ash insoluble in 10% hydrochloric acid - 1%, twigs and individual stalks - 1%, seedlings with a branch length (from the point of attachment stalks of the lower infructescence) over 20 mm - 3%, crushed particles passing through a sieve with holes with a diameter of 1 mm - 3%, organic impurities - 0.5%, mineral - 1%.

In folk medicine, in addition to cones, the bark of 2-3 year old twigs and leaves collected during sap flow are very widely used, which are collected in June and dried in a well-ventilated attic without direct sunlight.

AT European countries medicinal raw materials are leaves and bark.

gallotannin and even selenium

In addition, macronutrients (mg/g) were found in the inflorescences: potassium - 5.8, calcium - 5.0, magnesium - 0.8, iron - 0.2. They concentrate selenium.

Tinctures and decoctions for colitis

A decoction of the fruit is used as an astringent for acute and chronic enteritis, colitis, dyspepsia, dysentery, rheumatoid arthritis, and colds. Infusion, decoction and tincture of seedlings - a hemostatic agent for pulmonary uterine and especially gastric and intestinal bleeding.

Infusion prepared at the rate of: 4 g of cones per 1 cup of boiling water. Take 1/4 cup 3-4 times a day. In the case of using alder bark, the infusion was prepared from the calculation: 15 g of raw materials were poured into a glass of boiling water, insisted and taken 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day. This is a very effective remedy for enteritis and enterocolitis.

For cooking decoction take 15 g of cones, pour a glass of boiling water, boil for 15 minutes, filter, cool and drink 1 tablespoon 2-3 times a day.

Infructescences are part of the gastric tea. Alder is also used in the form of a dry extract of seedlings. With these diseases, a dry extract from the inflorescences is indicated, take 0.5-0.6 g 3-6 times a day. The course of treatment is 3-5 days.

In gynecological practice, an infusion of seedlings or bark is used for uterine bleeding of various origins, uterine fibroids, and inflammations. With sore throat, they gargle with it, and with bleeding gums, they can be used to rinse the mouth.

This plant was widely used in Russia. But preference was often given to leaves. Nursing mothers were recommended to apply fresh leaves steamed to the chest several times a day. In winter, for lack of fresh, dry raw materials were used for these purposes. Fresh leaves crushed with water had a beneficial effect on suppuration, severe abscesses. With various bleedings, bloody diarrhea, hemoptysis, they took inside an infusion of a handful of alder leaves, filled with 240 ml of water. The infusion, sweetened with sugar or honey, was drunk in a small tea cup.

With gout, arthritis, joint pain, “dry baths” are good. Freshly picked, fresh alder leaves are heated in an oven or in the sun and spread on the bed in a thick layer. The patient is placed on the leaves with his back, they are wrapped around the whole body, covered with a warm blanket from above. The session lasts about an hour. It is even better if the leaves are put in a deep tub, and when they warm up and “light up”, plant them up to the neck or throat of the patient. This is how herbal healers treated in the old days. By the way, birch leaves are also used in the same way, the effect is also wonderful.

Also enjoyed bark tincture(25 g per 100 ml of alcohol or a glass of vodka). They took it 30-40 drops 2-3 times a day. Treated with these drugs and diarrhea.

Cows for diarrhea, dogs for fleas

Alder is an affordable and effective remedy in veterinary medicine. In a number of countries, fresh leaves are successfully used to control fleas by scattering them on the floor. A strong decoction of the leaves was used to wash beds and to treat walls to control bed bugs. These properties of alder can be successfully recommended for pest control of garden and horticultural crops. Alder cones were given to agricultural and domestic animals for bloody diarrhea. For example, cows were given 3 tablespoons every 1-2 hours.

Foresters consider alder a weed tree, the second grade. But such an attitude towards gray alder is clearly not deserved, since this plant is remarkable for many of its virtues. One of the amazing properties of a tree is the ability to settle on a completely barren land and at the same time improve, enrich the soil with nitrogen, like plants from the legume family. But unlike the latter, nodules on its roots are formed not by nitrogen-fixing bacteria, but by ray fungi - actinomycetes.

In addition, alder leaves easily decomposing, high-ash and nitrogen-containing foliage in the litter. All this led scientists - geobotanists to the idea of ​​using it for reclamation, that is, the restoration of disturbed lands, mine dumps, as well as for fixing the slopes of ravines and screes. Although, on the other hand, in middle lane she often occupies abandoned arable land and it is extremely difficult to win back plots from her and turn them into fields again.

Alder wood is quite soft, uniform, reddening in the air, well processed, but unstable to decay, therefore, as construction material used mainly for internal works. It is used to imitate walnut, mahogany, in the manufacture of joinery, as well as for the production of plywood, matches and paper.

Firewood from gray alder was called Tsar's, because it was used to heat stoves in the royal chambers. And they deserved such an honor because, unlike birch and, moreover, oak firewood, they practically do not give fumes and soot, in terms of warmth - they are only slightly inferior to them. It is believed that spruce firewood is an unsurpassed material for smoking fish, hams and sausages. When dry distilled from alder wood, wood vinegar and coal are obtained.

The bark and leaves contain dyes used to color the skin red. Dark-brown or chestnut-colored dyes were obtained from alder, which were used to dye wool for carpets.