Alder - a shrub or tree of the birch family.
Wood alder (European, adhesive) up to 35 m in height.The bark of the trunk - dark-brown color with cracks.
Its young branches are reddish-brown, smooth, often sticky.Leaves obovate or round, are on top of the notch.Young leaves are very shiny and sticky.Developed bottom are light green, on top - dark green.The spike-like inflorescences are hung flowers (catkins).
fruits of plants - nuts with a narrow leathery wings.Floral scales woody when ripe nuts, thereby forming a kind of bumps, reaching a length of 2 centimeters.
Alder gray (white) is a tree up to 15 m, at least - a shrub.Dark gray bark, leaves ovate-elliptic or ovate, pointed to the top.Young - non-adhesive and non-shiny;further - dark green on top with a few hairs and bottom - bluish-gray.Inflorescences such as alder and adhesive, bumps mainly to 1.5 cm long, with clear wing nut.
Distribution
gray and black alder grows in the west of Asia, almost everywhere in North Africa and Europe.Included in the different parts of the planet at the same time in North America in some places is even a threat to various native species.Black alder, photos are presented in this article, it grows in the forest and steppe regions of European Russia, in addition - in Western Siberia and the Caucasus.It prefers moist earth.
alder is widely distributed in the European region of the country.There is also growing in Asia Minor, Europe, Western Siberia, the Caucasus.Forms plantings along the banks of small streams and rivers.
chemical composition in leaves - up to 20% protein, 6% fat, carotene, Vitamin C, resin acids, flavonoids.Stems contain a large amount of tannins, including tannins (2.33%) and gallic acid (3.75%).Bark contains vitamin PP, and essential oil.
black alder: properties and applications
For therapeutic purposes, using the bark, leaves and alder cones.These parts of the plant is widely used in the past in traditional medicine for rheumatism, and various colds, gout and so on. In the period of the Great Patriotic War in the medical circles greatly interested alder seed heads.They began to use in 1942 as an astringent for various stomach diseases, acute and chronic colitis and enteritis.
black alder is widely used for medicinal purposes.From its cones make broths, bark, stems and leaves - water extracts and alcohol tinctures.They are used in folk and official medicine as an astringent, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, hemostatic, an immunomodulatory agent.
alder cones (as an astringent) is used with a coil.To do this, take 2 of the bumps and rhizomes of the coil, brewed and consumed as a tea.
Infusion of alder cones
black alder, photos that are presented in this article, is known for its healing properties.To prepare the infusion of it, you need to pour a glass of boiling water 4 g cones and leave to infuse in a closed jar for three hours, covered with a towel.Then - filtered.Ready infusion should be taken four times a day for half a glass before a meal.
infusion of root
black alder is also used for the infusion of its roots.To do this, 10 g of finely chopped raw pour a glass of hot water, and then put to boil in an enamel sealed container for 30 minutes.Infusion filtered hot and then diluted with pure water to the original volume.Take it should be two tablespoons before meals.
Infusion of leaves
Take 15 grams of leaves of alder, pour them a glass of clean, warm water, and then boil for 20 minutes in a water bath.Following the resulting broth should be cooled and filtered.Next - squeeze and add water to the original volume.
black alder: ways to gather
Compound fruits are usually harvested in the fall and winter as follows: shears cut thin ends of the branches of the tree from which they hang.After that, remove the branching part, the dried stems in a well-ventilated, warm room.
Requirements to quality of the finished raw
Raw material is from mature alder cones.They are overgrown and stiff earrings resembling bumps.For the most part, they have the opened scales, ovate or oval-oblong shape with the presence of fruitlets (or without them).Stems should be without stems or their residues (less than a centimeter in length).Furthermore, they can be assembled together by a thin stem in several pieces.They consist of a solid rod rough and numerous solid flakes.The scales should be shestilopastny and fruit - flattened, seeded.Color stems of dark-brown or brown.The aroma is weak, slightly astringent taste.
