Hare cabbage or common sorrel. Description of planting sour seed method

Landscaping and planning 16.05.2019
Landscaping and planning

Ordinary sorrel or hare cabbage, as we called it in childhood, was loved by us for its sour taste. Everyone who saw her in the forest sought to chew on it. It grows so beautifully in coniferous and deciduous forests, as if covering the ground with a canopy. Beauty, and more! Not everyone dares to walk on such a carpet - they don’t want to spoil the virgin beauty created from delicate light flowers. Flowers correct form with five petals, sometimes forked, white, sometimes pink or blue, with iridescent veins, nothing special, but very beautiful. The leaves of the plant are trifoliate, back-heart-shaped, so they have a sour taste. Already in May, this plant with a creeping rhizome begins to bloom, bringing variety to the forest, which is unusually sad in its monotony. In bad weather, the flower folds up, as if hiding from the wind and rain - such interesting feature. Oxygen is used mainly for the preparation of salads, cabbage soup, sandwiches. Oxygen contains a lot of acid, so it is often used to clean dishes from rust or stubborn deposits, and to remove stubborn stains from linen. Oxygen juice can remove ink from paper, for example, a deuce in a diary. Those who are familiar with this herb will never miss an opportunity to use its properties. Oxygen is also used in folk medicine, its ground part, and this will be discussed now.

Oxygen is sour due to the high content of vitamin C in it, which helps people with beriberi. The first greens that appeared in the forest are very useful due to the high content of organic acids and flavonoids in it. This does not mean that each herb must be pulled into the mouth, but sour must be. Oxygen will help lower the temperature, reduce blood pressure, normalize the acidity of gastric juice, increase appetite, relieve heartburn, help stop vomiting, has diuretic, choleretic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and blood-purifying properties. A very useful herb!

Folk recipes.

1. In case of poisoning with arsenic, mercury, an infusion of acid is used to treat scrofula: for 1 tablespoon of fresh grass, 2 cups of boiling water, preferably in a thermos. Withstand 1 hour, drink in small sips of ½ cup every 2 hours.

2. For liver diseases and metabolic disorders, an alcoholic tincture of acid is used: for 100 grams of grass, 100 ml of 40% alcohol. Keep in a dark bowl for 5 days, take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

3. From flu and fever, it is used as an antipyretic decoction: pour 2 tablespoons of dry chopped sour herb with 1.5 cups of hot milk, leave in a water bath over low heat for 30 minutes, cool, take ½ cup 3 times a day for 30 minutes before meals.

4. For stomach cancer, a decoction of sour herb is used: pour 1 teaspoon of herb into 100 ml of boiling water, boil for 12 minutes over low heat, then strain, bring boiled water to the original volume, take 100 ml 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

5. In case of nephritis, an infusion is recommended: pour 1 teaspoon of dry oxalis grass with 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 2 hours, strain, take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day. Caution: Do not take more than 5 days, as long-term use may cause kidney irritation.

6. With stomatitis and putrefactive processes in the oral cavity, an infusion will help: pour 1 teaspoon of chopped grass into 400 ml of boiling water, leave for 2 hours, strain, drink 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.

7. With stomatitis, rinsing the mouth with fresh juice, diluted with water 1:10, is also useful.

8. For diarrhea, use the juice of fresh oxalis grass: mix a teaspoon of fresh juice with a teaspoon of honey

9. When treating ulcers and purulent wounds, fresh, clean sour leaves will help. Just apply to wounds. It has a disinfectant and action, promotes wound healing.

10. For worms, 1 teaspoon topped with fresh chopped leaves, insist half a minute in 1 cup boiling water, then strain and drink ½ cup warm early in the morning and at noon. A good anthelmintic agent is sour juice. Mix it with honey (1:1) and drink 1 tablespoon 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

11. For enuresis (urinary incontinence): mix acidic juice with honey (1:1) and drink 1 tablespoon 3 times a day before meals.

12. Outwardly pure juice or mixed with alcohol (1:1) is recommended for rinsing with ulcerative stomatitis, and warm compresses with this mixture - for arthritis, paralysis, abscesses, scrofula.

Refreshing sour drink. In the summer heat, there is nothing better than a drink with a pleasant lemon flavor, and preparing it is very simple: you need to pour 200 grams of fresh acid grass, washed and chopped with a wooden knife or torn by hand, cold water and insist 2 hours in a dark place. Drink with pleasure!

Sin .: hare cabbage, borscht, hare sour, cuckoo clover, etc.

Herbaceous plant, distinguished by trifoliate leaves, similar to clover leaves, but with a sour taste and single, inconspicuous flowers. Oxalis vulgaris is used as a choleretic, antiseptic, tonic.

Ask the experts

flower formula

Oxalis flower formula: ♀♂ * Ch5L5T10P (5).

In medicine

Oxalis is not a pharmacopoeial plant and is not used in domestic official medicine, but is popular in folk medicine, homeopathy and medicine in some countries.

In homeopathy, the essence of this plant used for dyspepsia, fainting, hypoacid gastritis and liver diseases. In Caucasian medical practice, oxalis (dried leaves) is used as a detoxifying drug for mercury and arsenic intoxications, locally for therapy, compresses for orchitis, paralysis. According to the recommendations of nutritionists, oxalis is used raw in the treatment of beriberi, hypoacid gastritis and anorexia.

Contraindications and side effects

The use of acid for the prevention and treatment of various diseases is permissible if a person has no contraindications to the use of funds based on this plant. In severe diseases of the kidneys, liver, oxaluria, urolithiasis, poor blood clotting, arthritis, a tendency to convulsions, acid-based drugs are not recommended. Prolonged use of the plant can cause irritation of the walls of the urinary tract and kidneys due to a fairly high percentage of oxalic acid in the chemical composition of acid.

At home

Oxalis vulgaris has long been used as a natural dye for dyeing wool and other fabrics. Plant juice removes ink stains and rust. The people knew: if the leaves of the oxalis curled up - this is before the rain or with a gusty wind. Tourists used this kind of weather indicator. Oxalis is an excellent honey plant. Often the plant is considered decorative. Oxalis is recognized in floriculture. Growing, the plants form a beautiful carpet. Often a plant with a sour taste was used instead of vinegar, in the preparation of kvass, cabbage soup.

It should be remembered that acid is a poisonous plant. There were cases when animals ate oxalis grass while grazing, and such meals, especially for sheep, ended in poisoning, even death. The milk of cows that ate oxalis grass quickly curdled.

Classification

Common sorrel (lat. Oxalis acetosella) - herbaceous perennial, a species of the numerous genus Oxalis (Oxalis). In the domestic flora, 6 species are known. The genus Oxalis belongs to the Oxalidaceae family and unites more than 800 species.

Botanical description

Oxalis vulgaris is a perennial herbaceous plant, reaching a height of 5-10 cm. The rhizome is thin, creeping, covered with scaly, reddish, fleshy leaves. The roots of the plant are infected with mycophycete fungi, the hyphae of which form vesicles and ramifications inside the cells of the root bark. Shoots shortened. Leaves on long petioles, trifoliate, resemble the shape of clover leaves. With the onset adverse conditions, rainy weather or night time, the leaves droop, folding as a result of turgor changes in the cells. Oxalis is a plant whose green leaves can be found even under the snow in winter time. The leaves contain oxalic acid, which gives them a sour taste. In May - early June, the plant goes into flowering.

Oxalis flowers are solitary, actinomorphic, with a slight odor. Placed on elongated, up to 10 cm, axillary peduncles. Bracts are small, located above the middle of the peduncle itself. The calyx is almost three times shorter than the corolla, consists of 5 lanceolate, purple sepals. The corolla consists of 5 white or pinkish-purple petals with pink or purple veins, visible at the base yellow spot. Stamens ten, inner twice as long as outer. Oxalis pollination has its own characteristics, which is associated with the taiga type of flora. The plants develop open (chasmogamous) and closed (cleistogamous) flowers. In the former, the stigmas significantly exceed the height of the anthers, which makes self-pollination impossible. Insects help pollinate the flowers. In closed flowers, pollen germinates inside low anthers. The flowers themselves are tiny, inconspicuous, with virtually no petals, which is an adaptation to the dark coniferous taiga. The plant is poisonous. Oxalis flower formula: ♀♂ * Ch5L5T10P ( 5 ).

The fruit of the oxalis is a five-celled, loculicidal, light brown box, up to 1 cm long. Numerous small seeds of oxalis are thrown out of the fruit for a considerable distance, and are also spread by ants.

Spreading

Representatives of the genus Oxalis (Oxalis) are mainly distributed in South Africa and South America. Oxalis vulgaris is found in almost the entire European territory, in North America, in the Caucasus, in Turkey, Mongolia, China, in Eastern and Western Siberia, on the Far East. Oxalis is easy to find in spruce and coniferous forests: its thickets prefer wet forests, the so-called oxalis forests. Oxalis thickets are also found near forest reservoirs and streams.

Distribution regions on the map of Russia.

Procurement of raw materials

For therapeutic purposes, common oxalis grass (stems, flowers, leaves) or separately foliage is harvested during the flowering period (from April to May). Dry under a canopy in well-ventilated rooms, or in special dryers at a temperature of 45-50°C. Dried raw materials are crushed into small pieces. Store no more than 1 year in paper packaging.

Chemical composition

The chemical composition of common oxalis contains vitamins (ascorbic acid, vitamin A), carotenoids, tocopherols, phenolic acids, rutin, benzoquinone embelin. In the aerial part of the herb there are flavonoids (quercetin, glucosylisovitexin), organic acids (oxalic, succinic, malic, tartaric, fumaric, citric, tricarballyl) are found in the leaves. The sour taste is given to the plant by oxalic acid and calcium oxalate. 100 g of common oxalis leaves contain 92 mg of ascorbic acid, as well as 100 mg of carotene. In young leaves - close to 0.07% of vitamin C, in autumn it is about 0.15%.

Pharmacological properties

The pharmacological action of acid is due to a large percentage of organic acids in the chemical composition. Citric, succinic and oxalic acids are involved in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which occurs in the mitochondrial matrix of cells. Succinic acid is considered the main substance for the development of pharmacological preparations - hepatoprotectors. Means based on acid increase the separation of bile and urine, regulate the digestive process, increase the acidity of gastric secretions.

Application in traditional medicine

Knowing about medicinal properties sour, Bulgarian healers use the plant as a diuretic, choleretic, regulating, tonic. Since ancient times, Russian healers have used oxalis vulgaris for uterine bleeding, menstrual pain, diathesis, and as a tonic for the cardiovascular system.

The plant is used both fresh and in the form of dried medicinal raw materials (dried above-ground part of the oxalis). Fresh juice from a plant helps to cleanse the body of harmful toxins and toxins, in particular from heavy metals thus exerting an antitumor effect. Fresh hare cabbage juice is recommended for disorders in the digestive tract, diarrhea, and is indicated for diseases of the oral cavity, stomatitis. The slurry from fresh sour leaves perfectly heals purulent wounds, skin areas affected by scrofula, since the juice has bactericidal, anti-inflammatory properties. The aerial part of the plant in its raw form is suitable for the prevention and treatment of hypo- and beriberi, indicated for hypoacid gastritis, anorexia.

Alcoholic acid tincture is used orally for liver diseases, stomach cramps, urinary and gallbladder, scurvy, jaundice, enuresis. It is used externally for the purpose of rapid healing of wounds, ulcers, boils. Healing decoctions of oxalis on water are effective for tuberculous lesions of the lymph nodes, stomach cancer, heart neurosis, and are also indicated for the prevention of atherosclerosis. In addition, a decoction of this plant is an effective anthelmintic agent for adults and children. A decoction of acid in milk has hemostatic and diuretic properties, this remedy is especially helpful for colds. The juice of the plant, diluted with water, is used to eliminate bad breath.

History reference

O useful properties sours have been known for a long time. Healers used the aerial part of the plant for scurvy, powdered raw materials treated ulcers and wounds. They knew that sour serves as a good antidote for poisoning with mercury compounds. Often, decoctions of this plant replaced tea, but the drink was especially sour. According to legend, the wanderers, setting off on a long journey, did not forget to take sour with them. She quenched thirst, hunger, relieved pain from fatigue. In Europe, oxalis has long been considered a flower of happiness. “Clover of happiness” is its name in European countries. There is an interesting belief: if a plant (cultivated species - four-leaved oxalis) changes its owner on the last day of the year, then there will definitely be good luck in the house. Synonyms for the name "sour": hare cabbage, borscht, hare sour, cuckoo clover, alleluia grass, hairy, sparrow acid, didil, hare sour, hare sour, hare salt, hare weed, hare sorrel, hare sham, alum, kvass, sour grass, oxalic sorrel, sour, sour, sour, flowering sour, orobinets, soloniks, sour shamrock, fragrant sorrel, small sorrel, goose sorrel, Trotsky sorrel.

Literature

1. Big encyclopedia of traditional medicine. - M.: OLMA Media Group, 2007. - 1040 p.

2. Utkin A. I. Great Russian encyclopedia. - 1995. - 445 p.

Passing by a beautiful garden, it is impossible not to pay attention to some amazing flower. And as a rule, the thought comes, and maybe decide and plant a flower garden? The flower garden is a good decoration for the interior. When the source of the day begins with good feelings, then the whole day is transferred with minimal losses. Cultivation of plants is a pleasant activity for many, which provides positive emotions not only to relatives but also to all neighbors.

General information about the plant sorrel or hare cabbage

The plant is native to the tropics and subtropics of all continents. Today, dense thickets of oxalis can be found in forests. South America, Africa, Southern Europe, as well as in spruce forests middle lane Russia. Oxalis is a plant with sour-tasting leaves, which is also popularly called hare cabbage. And indeed, the leaves of oxalis contain salts of oxalic acid, are rich in carotene, vitamin C and are edible ... - "Hare Cabbage"

This herbaceous annual or perennial plant belongs to the oxalis family, numbering about 800 species of oxalis. Today, some types of oxalis are cultivated as houseplants: K. Deppe, K. Marcius, K. Ortgis. The leaves are heart-shaped, alternate, most often trifoliate on long stems. Their color varies from green to brown-red, with an unusual pattern, sometimes two-tone. Oxalis flowers form from April to October with regular five-petal or star-shaped flowers of various colors.

The flower looks ordinary, has many unusual features. It is interesting that with the onset of darkness, during bad weather or in the heat, the leaves gather on a fold running along the middle of the leaf and fall. If you touch the leaves of sorrel with your hand, then it will also fold its leaves in a few minutes.

Oxalis seeds are also unusual. If you find a small ripe fruit of a plant and press it lightly with your fingers, it will burst, scattering its seeds. This is due to the fact that under the outer skin of the seeds contains a layer of cells rich in sugar. In mature seeds, the cells swell, the skin covering them bursts, and the seed can bounce 1-2 meters to the side. In the natural environment, such cells attract ants, which take away the seeds with them and thus contribute to the spread of the plant.

The plant is 25-35 cm high, forms a stemless bush, with leaves located on long thin petioles, green with a purple-red pattern in the middle. root system is a dark brown bulb and underground shoots. It blooms in August-September with raspberry-red flowers collected in an umbrella-shaped inflorescence. May drop leaves in winter.

  • Oxalis Marcius is a low plant with variegated trifoliate leaves on long petioles, dark green in color with golden veins. The flowers are purple-pink, collected in a semi-umbrella inflorescence.
  • Oxalis Ortgisa is a herbaceous plant up to 30 cm high with pubescent stems and leaves grouped mainly at the top. The leaves are trifoliate, up to 7 cm long, red-brown, obovate heart-shaped, with deep notches. Flowers with a diameter of 1.5 cm, yellow color, collected in an umbrella-shaped inflorescence of 5-10 pieces. Oxalis Ortgis - a species grown in indoor floriculture.
  • Growing conditions and caring for sour

    To make the plant feel great, it is better to place the flowerpot in a well-lit, but not hot place, providing diffused light. The optimal location is windows facing the east side. If the plant is located on a windowsill facing south, then the flowerpot with a flower must be darkened at noon, covering the window with gauze or paper. If the plant is located too dark place, then the petioles of the leaves begin to stretch, and the leaf blades become smaller. It is enough to change the location of the flowerpot so that the flower comes to life again. In summer, a flowerpot with a plant can be taken out to the balcony on Fresh air but keep out of drafts and direct sunlight. In autumn or winter, the plant also needs to provide good lighting.

    in spring and summer period the temperature of the acid content should be moderate within 20-25˚С. In winter, sours begin a dormant period. Favorable temperature at this time is from 12 to 18˚С, depending on the species. For Ortgis acid, for example, 16-18˚С. In some species, the aerial part dies off in winter (K. Deppe), then it is better to move the flowerpot with the plant to a cooler place, but with sufficient lighting.

    The plant loves spraying with boiled water, but only in the spring and summer, it is not sprayed in winter. In summer, during active growth, the flower is watered abundantly, but you need to make sure that the water does not stagnate at the bottom of the pot. Oxygen is quite sensitive to an excess of moisture and it is better not to add water to the flowerpot than to pour it. Starting in autumn, watering is reduced. In winter, they are rarely watered, limited to a slightly moist state of the soil.

    Some types of oxalis have a rest in winter (K. Ortgisa, K. Deppe). During dormancy (1-1.5 months), the plant is kept in a cool and dry place, watering is stopped. As soon as the first shoots of the plant appear, it can be transplanted and watering resumed. The flowerpot with the flower is again placed in a warm and bright place, and after 30-40 days the oxalis should bloom.

    The plant is fed from April to August (every two to three weeks), during the period of its active growth, with complex mineral fertilizers for indoor plants. Experienced flower growers advise using fertilizers half as much as indicated in the instructions so as not to burn the roots. The soil around the plant can be slightly loosened to provide good access to fertilizers. Due to the enrichment of the soil with useful elements, the aerial part of the acid plant turns green more actively and the growth of the plant accelerates.

    A young oxalis plant is transplanted annually, an adult - once every 2-3 years. A thin layer of expanded clay can be placed at the bottom of the flowerpot to avoid constant contact of the plant with water, since the bulbs and tubers of oxalis are prone to root rot. The soil for growing oxalis should consist of peat, leaf, sod, humus soil and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1: 1: 1. The soil should be light and loose. When transplanting, the plant is cleaned of old roots, tubers or bulbs, which contributes to a more lush growth and flowering of sour.

    Reproduction of sour at home

    Oxalis propagates, depending on the species, by daughter tubers, bulbs (K. Deppe), cuttings and leaves (K. Ortgis). Oxalis seeds reproduce only in vivo. Bulbs or tubers formed around the tap root of the plant are separated and planted separately in the ground in an amount of 5 to 10 pieces, sprinkled with a small layer of earth. The flowerpot is placed in a not very warm place and occasionally watered. As soon as the first shoots appear, the flowerpot is rearranged closer to the light. After 30-40 days, the oxalis will become a fairly lush plant.

    A leaf with a small cutting is cut off and placed in a glass of water. After 2-3 weeks, thin roots 1-1.5 cm long will appear on the handle. Then the plant can be transplanted into loose soil and after 1.5 months the first leaves will appear. You can also root cuttings in wet sand, covering the container with glass or plastic. As soon as the cuttings have roots, they can be planted in a flowerpot in several pieces.

    Oxalis is rarely affected by pests. But if aphids or mites appeared on the plant, it is enough to treat the leaves and stalks of oxalis with the appropriate preparations.

    Houseplants

    Flowers in the house: sour

    Oxalis (Oxalis) is familiar to everyone since childhood: it was curious to chew on three-lobed leaves to make sure that its popular name is correct - "sour clover". It remains to be guessed about the nickname of oxalis "hare cabbage", but why "cuckoo clover" is still not clear. The botanical name "oxalis" in Greek means "sour salt" - sour leaves have a sour taste due to the presence of oxalic acid and vitamin C in them. That's why sour is added to tea instead of lemon and used in cooking instead of sorrel.

    There are about 800 known species of oxalis, common in South Africa, South and Central America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Central Europe are a variety of annual and perennial plants. Among the oxalis there are herbs, shrubs and semi-shrubs; some oxalis have rhizomes, bulbs, or edible tubers. The leaves of the oxalis consist of three, four, five, six or more leaflets, there are oxalis completely without leaves - they are replaced by an extended petiole. Many oxalis fold their leaves at night, in bright sun or before rain. Oxalis flowers are regular, five-petal - white, pink, lavender, purple or yellow; they are usually collected in umbellate inflorescences. The fruit of the oxalis is a box that, when ripe, bursts with a bang, scattering the seeds over a distance of up to two meters. Among the oxalis there are weed species, and very decorative ones, which have been introduced into culture since the 17th century and have since been widely grown in gardens and as houseplants.

    The greatest distribution in indoor floriculture under common name"clover of happiness" (it is considered the best gift for good luck for Christmas) received types of sours:

    Deppey's sorrel (O. deppei) is a perennial herbaceous plant with nodules from Mexico, height 25-30 cm. Collected in umbrellas of 5-10 pieces, raspberry-red, with a yellow base, flowers adorn Deppey's sour, growing in a bright room, all summer and until late autumn, and with additional lighting in winter.

    Acid purple. or Oxalis boveya (O. purpurea, O. boviei) from the Cape region of South Africa with rounded, trifoliate, obverse heart-shaped leaves and an umbrella-shaped inflorescence of 8-12 pink flowers on short pedicels. Purple sorrel blooms in late autumn and winter.

    Oxalis red (O. rubra) from Brazil with thin green leaves on long petioles and pink red-veined flowers in few-flowered umbels.

    The following deciduous types of oxalis are also grown in the rooms:

    Oxalis Marcius (O. martiana), 15-30 cm high, has variegated trifoliate leaves with golden veins and purple-pink flowers collected in a semi-umbrella.

    Oxalis ferruginous (O. adenophylla) from Chile and Argentina forms small tubers and has compound leaves with 22 bilobed leaflets. The flowers are white with purple veins on the petals.

    Oxalis meat-red (O. incarnata) from South Africa with creeping, slightly rising stems and light green trifoliate leaves, among which single lavender-pink flowers appear. This type of oxalis has spindle-shaped roots and tubers.

    Kislits have one very nice feature - their leaves close. like umbrellas when night falls or just cloudy weather. But if the day is bright, then the leaves of the plant open again towards the sun. Therefore, it is very interesting to observe the sour when it stands in a room on the windowsill.

    In European countries, it is believed that sorrel brings happiness. She is called there - “clover of happiness”.

    Therefore, traditionally, the peak of sales of oxalis in pots falls there on New Year's Eve. Kislitsa is given with wishes of happiness in the new year. It is believed that it will bring good luck if it changes its owner on the last day of the year.

    Room sour

    As a houseplant (and as a gift for the New Year), the four-leaf sorrel is most often used. She has green leaves with a red inner corner and cute bright pink flowers. It is recommended to keep it in a cool room and water it regularly.

    For balcony boxes variegated sour is well suited - she has unusual flowers, white inside, outside the petals are decorated with a red stripe along the edge, and their lower corner is yellow. The unopened flowers of the variegated oxalis resemble cheerful multi-colored spiral lollipops.

    Oxalis tetraphylla (Oxalis tetraphylla) - good gift to whom you wish happiness and good luck.

    Oxalis, Oxalis - Oxalis

    Oxalis, or Oxalis (Oxalis) unites about 800 species of plants of the oxalis family. Natural distribution - South Africa, South and Central America, and only a few species are found occasionally in Central Europe. The plant got its name because of the sour taste of the leaves, which can be used as food by adding them to salads. In the people, the plant is also known under the name "hare cabbage".

    Since ancient times, certain types of plants have been eaten. The Indians were specially engaged in the cultivation of oxalis and ate boiled tubers containing a large number of starch. As an indoor culture, oxalis appeared in the 17th century. and conquered with her amazing appearance and unpretentiousness.

    Healing properties.

    Kislitsa (hare cabbage)- a perennial plant, a representative of the Kislichny family. The people call the plant "hare cabbage" and "cuckoo clover". The botanical name is Oxalis acetosella. Translated from Greek, the word Oxalis means "sour salt". The name "cuckoo clover" indicates the similarity of sour and three-leaf clover, and it is called "rabbit cabbage" because it grows on lawns and fields where hares often graze.

    Scientists consider the subtropics to be the birthplace of the plant, it is common in Europe, the Caucasus, North America, and Asia. Oxalis is a squat plant with small green leaves and white and pink flowers (see photo).

    Oxalis is an excellent natural barometer: before the rain, it inclines the flowers to the ground.

    Flowers can be closed and in sunny weather from sunlight in order to protect themselves from moisture loss. The plant can be found on the banks of reservoirs, in humid forests.

    Growing: planting and care

    You can grow sour on suburban area or at home as indoor flower. The plant is decorative. Leaves in the shape of a heart, as well as small delicate flowers will not leave anyone indifferent. Bunny cabbage blooms from April to October various shades. If you touch the plant with your hand, it will quickly fold its leaves. Hare cabbage seeds are considered very unusual. If you press on them, they will burst, scattering seeds. This is because the seeds contain a layer of cells with sugar under the skin, so they attract ants, which helps them to spread.

    It is cultivated as an annual or perennial plant. There are its species that are pollinated by insects, and those that self-pollinate. Self-pollinating flowers are closed, they are more like buds. In such flowers, seeds are formed, which are thrown out, and then carried by insects.

    Depending on the type of plant, the methods of planting it also differ. Some of them are planted directly in open ground while others require more attention. As ornamental plant oxalis can be planted under trees. Homemade varieties look great in clay pots. The plant can grow both in the shade and in partial shade, but it is still better to plant it in a sunny place. When planting, use normal soil or with high acidity. The plant propagates by seeds, rhizome, tubers. Care consists of watering and fertilizing. Mullein infusion is used as a fertilizer. In winter, the plant is covered with dry leaves.

    Collection and storage

    Hare cabbage is harvested in May and June. For medicinal purposes, flowers, leaves, stems of the plant are harvested. Take only healthy parts, without damage. The collected raw materials are washed, dried in the shade. You can also dry the plant in dryers at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. Store sour in bags. Shelf life - 1 year.

    Types of oxalis

    There are many types of this plant, the most common are:

    Beneficial features

    Useful properties of acid are due to its valuable chemical composition. The plant is rich in rutin, carotene, ascorbic acid. Oxalis contains one of the most controversial substances - oxalic acid. This substance is necessary to stimulate peristalsis in the body. Also, oxalic acid is involved in the process of hematopoiesis, fills the body with iron, magnesium, increases the secretion of the stomach and pancreas. It helps the body absorb calcium more easily. It would seem that this is a very useful component, but it is far from being the case. It is believed that at high concentrations, oxalic acid precipitates in crystalline form. The resulting crystals irritate body tissues, form kidney stones, bladder. Oxalic acid through heat treatment becomes inorganic, which leads to a deterioration in the absorption of calcium, and this is fraught with bone decay. This acid is especially dangerous for people who suffer from kidney diseases.

    The leaves of the plant are recommended to be consumed in the spring in order to avoid beriberi. Hare cabbage regulates digestion, eliminates bad breath, helps with skin diseases. The juice of the plant is a well-known remedy for wounds and ulcers, it has antiseptic properties. Bunny cabbage helps relieve fever due to the acid it contains. Outwardly used for wounds, ulcers, boils, diathesis.

    Use in cooking

    In cooking, sorrel is used as a food plant. Our ancestors annually collected oxalis and sorrel in early spring to fill the body with vitamins. It is still used in modern cooking. For example, they prepare a very tasty and vitamin drink from pounded hare cabbage leaves with sugar.

    Oxide goes well with cheeses, eggs. Fresh leaves can be added to salads, scrambled eggs, omelettes. Infusion of acid is drunk instead of tea.

    Do not get carried away with this plant, as it can provoke kidney disease.

    Hare cabbage has long been valued for its delicate sour taste, which goes well with the main products. Its leaves are added to salads, cabbage soup. A few grams of sorrel will completely replace a slice of lemon in a tea drink. Also, the plant is used instead of vinegar in order to acidify the dish.

    Fresh leaves are great for cooking meat sandwiches. Some housewives add the plant to cottage cheese pancakes, thanks to which they acquire an incomparable taste. Also, the leaves are added to potato pancakes - and they turn out ruddy and tasty.

    The benefits of sour (hare cabbage) and treatment

    The benefits of the plant have long been known to folk medicine, it is used as a choleretic agent.

    In folk medicine, this plant is considered an antidote.

    For medicinal purposes, decoctions, infusions and tinctures of the plant are used.

    Oxygen is used as an antiscorbutic agent, due to the high content of vitamin C. Oxide powder was used to treat purulent wounds and wounds from scrofula. Decoctions are effective in inflammatory processes, they also have anthelmintic properties.

    Harm of sour (hare cabbage) and contraindications

    The plant can cause harm to the body with individual intolerance. Due to the high content of oxalic acid, it is not recommended to use rabbit cabbage for people suffering from gout, because this may worsen their well-being. V large quantities oxalis is poisonous: It can irritate the kidneys and urinary tract.

    Oxalis vulgaris is a conspicuous forest plant. Features of common sorrel, its photo and description. How is sour used?

    Hello dear reader!

    In childhood, we called this forest grass “hare cabbage”. Why - I still don't know. "Hare" - even more or less understandable. But why "cabbage"?

    Common sorrel in moderation is edible and even useful. It is used to treat a number of diseases ethnoscience. Noticeable flowers and peculiar leaves of common oxalis decorate the forest very much, especially in late May - early June. The plant is used, as well as its "foreign" relatives, by gardeners.

    Interesting features of common sorrel

    Oxide in flora stand somewhat apart. Biologists classify them as special family sour ( Oxalidaceae ). In total, about 800 species of oxalis are known in the world. The most common in Russia, neighboring countries of Europe and Asia is our "hare cabbage".

    It grows in forests - coniferous, deciduous and mixed. In gloomy and shady spruce forests, this is one of the few flowering plants, along with and . Often, acid can be seen in ravines, along the banks of forest streams.

    It is a perennial with a creeping rhizome. Interesting leaves on long petioles grow from the rhizome in spring. The leaves are trifoliate and look a bit like clover leaves. But the common sour trefoil is formed by leaves with a cutout at the top - they are called obverse heart-shaped.

    A little later, flowers appear on long peduncles. The flower is quite large - about 2 centimeters in diameter. It has five petals, five sepals. The petals have pinkish-purple veins. From this, the flowers sometimes seem not white, but pinkish. At the base of each petal is a yellow spot. Merging, these spots make the center of the flower yellow.

    The pistil with five stigmas is surrounded by ten stamens with anthers. Five stamens are long, five are short. Stamens and pistils ripen at the same time. But self-pollination in this case is impossible - the pistil column is a third higher than the stamens. For pollination of these flowers, the visit of insects is necessary. large, bright flowers, clearly visible in a shady forest, and are needed to attract them.

    However, the plant does not fully rely on pollinators that are rare here. Uses common sorrel and self-pollination. Only for this it forms special, cleistogamous flowers. They look like unopened green buds only a few millimeters in size. Such flowers appear later, in the middle of summer.

    In a closed cleistogamous flower, pollen does not spill out of the anthers. It germinates, forming a pollen tube. When the tube reaches the ovary, fertilization occurs. A back-up pollination mechanism works, in case cross-pollination has not occurred.

    However, two types of flowers are an interesting feature not only of common sorrel. After all, growing in thickets of shrubs also forms open flowers, chasmogamous - for insects, and inconspicuous, cleistogamous - for self-pollination.

    Similar features of reproduction with the formation of cleistogamous flowers are different and.

    The ability of common sorrel to close flowers and fold leaves is interesting. This happens in bad weather. The flowers wilt and close, the leaves fold and also fall down. The plant protects its tender parts from rain. With the establishment of sunny weather, everything is revealed again.

    But even in good weather, every evening the common sorrel folds the leaves and closes the flowers. And every morning opens up sunbeams. Such a plant is a "sun worshiper"!

    If you tap on the leaves or flower of an oxalis with your finger, it will also close. This does not happen as quickly as the "mimosa" - yellow acacia. But sour works in a similar situation in a similar way.

    The methods used by the plant to distribute seeds are also interesting. When the seed boxes ripen, they open, as they say, "with a bang." And the seeds are thrown to the side with force, flying off at a distance of at least a meter. Considering the small growth of oxalis - no higher than 10 cm - this is very far.

    Ants are involved in the further distribution of oxalis seeds. She is also a plant myrmekochore. Such as, .

    But this is not enough! Seeds are able to move in space and on their own!

    Curious experiments were made with the seeds of oxalis by natural scientists. If you put such a seed for visibility on a sheet of paper and breathe on it, the seed will jump to the side!

    The air we exhale is always more humid. Apparently, at high humidity tension arises in the shell of the seed, and it works like a spring. But in nature, the humidity of the air is constantly changing. A seed thrown out by a plant and not yet germinated lies on the ground. But the air is getting humid. The result is a jump! And further away from the mother plant.

    Oxalis "hare cabbage" was named for the sour taste of its leaves, due to the high content of oxalic and ascorbic acids. It also contains malic and succinic acids. but chemical composition Oxalis vulgaris has not yet been studied enough.

    The use of oxalis vulgaris

    Oxalis vulgaris is not officially considered a medicinal plant. But traditional medicine has been using it for a long time. For gastritis, diseases of the liver and kidneys, an aqueous infusion of its herb is used. It is believed that it has a diuretic and choleretic effect.

    To prepare the infusion, pour one teaspoon of grass with two cups of boiling water. Infuse for two hours and drink the infusion during the day in 3-4 doses

    In case of metabolic disorders, an alcoholic tincture of sour herb is also used.

    A stronger water infusion treats festering wounds, tumors. Fresh crushed leaves are also used for this.

    The recipes on the blog are provided solely for the sake of acquaintance with the properties of plants! It should be treated according to the recommendations of a doctor - a specialist!

    grass for use in medicinal purposes can be prepared ahead of time. It is dried in the shade under a canopy, like most medicinal plants.

    Oxalis vulgaris is an early wild vegetable. It is used in salads, put in soups and green cabbage soup. Prepared from the leaves and vitamin drinks.

    One of the drink recipes is as follows.
    200 g of fresh acid grass are washed with water, finely chopped with a knife, poured with cold water and infused for two hours. A drink with a sour "lemon" taste is ready!

    Kislitsa can also be prepared for the winter. To do this, it is salted or poured with sugar syrup. Vitamin C is perfectly preserved.

    With all this, it is useful to remember that common sorrel is still slightly poisonous ! In large quantities, it can not be used either for medicinal or food purposes. There are also contraindications in its application. These include acute diseases of the liver and kidneys.

    Veterinarians know cases of poisoning and even death (!) of livestock - mainly goats and sheep - as a result of immoderate eating of this grass.

    So everything, as usual, is good in moderation!

    I hope that those who are familiar with the plant have learned something new about it. Well, those who learned about it for the first time were convinced that common sorrel is a really interesting forest plant!

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