Honeysuckle edible - lonicera edulis l.

Family Hyperaphist - Caprifoliaceae

Botanical characteristics. Shrub or small tree. Young shoots are softly pubescent, yellowish brown. The bark of the old trunks and branches is brown, flaking. Leaves of different shapes: oval, linear-oblong, elliptical, entire. Flowers are light yellow. Corolla tubular-funnel-shaped. Fruits - blue-black berries with a wax coating, bitterish. Seeds are numerous ovate or oblong. Blooms during the dissolving of leaves, in April - May, fructifies in June - July. Introduced into culture.

Spread. It grows on the outskirts of bogs, in forests, along fringes and stony placers, sometimes overgrown.

Used parts of the plant. Medicinal raw materials are the kidneys, leaves, flowers, fruits, collected in the usual way. Dry in dryers at a temperature of no higher than 45 ° C. Berries can be dried in ovens, leaves, kidneys and flowers - outdoors in the shade.

Chemical composition. All parts of the plant contain carbohydrates, vitamins, anthocyanins, organic acids, tannins. In the fruits are found essential oil (in its composition terpenoids, carbonyl compounds, alcohols), nitrogen compounds, catechins, a large set of vitamins and trace elements.

Application. In folk medicine, the preparations of honeysuckle in the form of decoctions of fruits, leaves, flowers are used for headache, dizziness, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, as diuretic, with swelling, as a laxative, antipyretic, sokogonnoe, antiseptic, with angina for rinsing the oral cavity, as wound healing . Fruits are used for gastric diseases, as a general restorative and in liver diseases. Of the fruits are antibiotics used by the inhabitants of the North for the treatment of infectious diseases. Fresh juice of flowering plants and fruits is used for dermatoses.

Experimental studies have established that the preparations of honeysuckle stimulate the secretion of the stomach and increase the digestive power of gastric juice. Fresh fruits have a pronounced hypotensive effect, when they are consumed, headache, dizziness and other symptoms of hypertension disappear; Normalize the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, have an antisclerotic effect.

Due to the high content of vitamins in fruits, they are used as a vitamin remedy, with exhaustion and a decrease in appetite, anemia, as an antipyretic for febrile conditions, a diuretic for edema of cardiac origin. Decoction of honeysuckle stems is one of the best folk remedies for dropsy.

In Tibetan medicine, honeysuckle is used for rheumatism, headache, as an analgesic for various diseases.

The drug "Betaine", obtained from the fruit of honeysuckle, is used for atherosclerosis according to the instructions.

Fruits and juice are widely used in confectionery production.

Preparation

• For infusion take 20 g of flowers and leaves, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on a water boiling bath for 15 minutes, cool 45 minutes, filter. Take 2 tbsp. Spoons 2-3 times a day.
• For broth take 10 g of crushed dry honeysuckle, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on a boiling water bath for 30 minutes, cool 10 minutes, filter. Take 1/3 cup 3-4 times a day after meals.