Home Grape Buckwheat flowers useful properties. Himalayan black porridge, or the benefits of buckwheat. Buckwheat flour dumplings

Buckwheat flowers useful properties. Himalayan black porridge, or the benefits of buckwheat. Buckwheat flour dumplings

Buckwheat is a herbaceous plant known to many people. The height of the grass reaches approximately one meter, the stems of buckwheat are straight and slightly branched. The grass is characterized by a powerful rhizome with a huge number of branches. The lower foliage of the grass is located on short petioles, and the upper leaves are usually in a sitting position.

The grass blooms with beautiful white or scarlet flowers, and its perianth is pinkish. All flowers are collected in panicles and give out a spicy smell. The plant has fruits - these are nuts with sharp ribs, a brownish tint. Nuts are in a membranous shell.

When does the grass bloom? This activity continues from June to July. The fruits ripen only at the beginning of the autumn period. The popular opinion was that the grass was first grown in India, but now it grows successfully in different countries. Especially a lot of it in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia.

Useful qualities of herbs

Buckwheat is a useful herb. It is often harvested for medicinal purposes for the production of pharmacological and folk remedies. Often used in seeds and grass plants. Buckwheat is even used to produce extremely useful flour.

The herb demonstrates expectorant, hypotonic, anti-sclerotic effects. The product contains rutin in its structure, and this ingredient helps to increase the permeability of capillaries, and also reduces their fragility. Vessels become healthier after the start of consumption of the plant.

The structure of the product also contains lecithin, therefore the herb is recommended for use in hepatic ailments, to cure the nervous system, heart ailments and diabetes. An extremely useful buckwheat honey is produced from the grass.

The structure of the grass contains carbohydrates that are digested for a long time, many people after consuming buckwheat remain full for a long time and do not want to eat. The herb helps to cure even skin ailments, because productive ointments are produced from the plant.

In the structure of the plant there is a huge amount of vitamins, which can enhance the material metabolism and other mechanisms in the human body. The herb normalizes blood flow, has a beneficial effect on the removal of puffiness, and also removes spasms in the vessels. The plant prevents the occurrence of atherosclerosis, and if the patient has already manifested the disease, then the herb will begin immediate treatment. From the grass produce a lot of medicines that treat insomnia.

Indications and prohibitions

What can the herb heal? The first thing worth noting is the prevention and treatment of hemorrhages. The product helps to reduce the fragility of blood vessels, it also improves blood flow itself. The herb will allow you to completely restore the circulatory system, because it happens that it was injured after a course of treatment with powerful drugs or from X-ray exposure.

The herb has a positive effect on the skin, strengthens the dermis, hair and nails. It is recommended to take the grass in old age, because then the plant improves the elasticity of the joints and strengthens the skeleton.

The plant is extremely useful for anemia, diabetes, various nervous ailments and kidney ailments. Grass strengthens the entire body, gives it an energy charge, cleanses from toxins, negative products.

The structure of the plant contains folic acid, which helps to strengthen the immune system, so buckwheat is especially valuable during all kinds of epidemics and pandemics.

The plant productively and quickly cures insomnia, nervous stress, improves sleep, and calms the nerves. This is a useful herb that will help normalize all processes in the human body.

Are there any restrictions on the consumption of grass? It is worth mentioning right away that fresh grass and its flowers are a poisonous product, therefore, their high-quality drying is required before consumption. Do you have increased blood clotting? Then buckwheat products are prohibited for use.

The structure of the plant contains fagopyrin and other anthracene derivatives. These are additives that demonstrate toxic effects, therefore it is not recommended to consume the green mass of the plant in huge portions. However, this applies to oral consumption, while externally the product shows a strong antibacterial effect, so fresh herb is often used as an antiseptic and hemostatic product.

medicinal prescriptions

  • We are cured of atherosclerosis thanks to a valuable decoction. Preparing the product is simple, you need to take a teaspoon of grass flowers, place them in a convenient bowl and pour five hundred milliliters of boiling water. Put the bowl on the fire and let the mixture boil for five minutes. Remove the product from the stove, close the lid and let the medicine infuse for two hours. The drug is filtered. Scheme of administration: one hundred milliliters three times a day.
  • Treating anemia is easy. To prepare the medicine, you will need to take buckwheat groats and calcine it in a pan. After the product is crushed into powder. Take a couple of tablespoons of chopped cereals, pour the substance with two hundred milliliters of warm milk, and let everything infuse for a couple of minutes. Drink a glass of the remedy three times a day. Hemoglobin will be within normal limits after a month.
  • We are preparing a delicious syrup for the treatment of colds, laryngitis. First you need to take a head of garlic and chop it. Take half a glass of finely chopped garlic, place in a saucepan. Pour the composition with buckwheat honey so that the garlic is covered. Put the products on the fire for twenty minutes, stir the composition. Garlic will dissolve during this time period, only this happens, remove the product from the stove. Let the mixture cool, and then reheat the consistency on the stove. Stir the mixture, filter the medicine. Syrup consume a tablespoon every hour, until the bangs are completely healthy.
  • Healthy tea cures a runny nose. You will need to take thirty grams of buckwheat flowers, five grams of mint leaves and one gram of celandine. Grind the entire composition. Take a teaspoon of the received collection, pour everything into a container and pour two hundred milliliters of boiling water. Let the products infuse for an hour, but it is better to wrap the container before that. Tea must be filtered and drunk. Drink about seventy milliliters of the drink five times a day.
  • Do you want to improve the condition of your blood vessels?? Then prepare a healing tincture. You will need to take two tablespoons of finely chopped grass flowers, pour boiling water over everything (one glass). Let the remedy infuse, then filter the product and take one hundred grams twice a day.

Healthy herbal products

Buckwheat honey is a high quality honey variety! When the plant begins to bloom, it produces a huge amount of nectar. Fresh honey is dark in color, but as soon as it begins to crystallize, the composition will brighten and become thick. Honey is characterized by an extraordinary aroma and specific taste, so it is difficult to confuse it with other varieties of honey. The structure of buckwheat honey contains a huge number of proteins, iron and mineral components.

Buckwheat honey helps to increase hemoglobin levels, treats anemia and anemia, and colds.

  1. For the first time, the plant was seen in Asia, namely in the Himalayas. The inhabitants of Nepal and India were able to appreciate the grass, its composition and functions. Grass has been known since the third millennium BC!
  2. Already in the fifteenth century BC, grass began to be in great demand among the inhabitants of China, Korea, Japan, and after that other states appreciated the grass.
  3. In Europe, buckwheat appeared only in the eleventh century, when the raids of the Tatar-Mongol hordes began. Therefore, the wild type of grass is called F. Tataricum.
  4. What can be said about sowing buckwheat? The Latin name is Fagopyrum. Translated means "beech-like nut". The presented name was given by Carl Linnaeus in the eighteenth century.
  5. Some European states still call the grass beech wheat.
  6. In Russia, buckwheat appeared from the Volga Bulgaria, but it became widespread after being imported from Byzantium in the seventh century. Its stems are called Greek grain.
  7. There is another version of the appearance of herbs in Russia. It was rumored that it spread thanks to the Greek monks who lived in Russian monasteries.
see also

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)- the most important cereal crop, belonging to annual plants of the buckwheat family.

Botanical description

The plant has a long branched, slightly fleshy stem, reddish-green in color, up to 150 centimeters long.

The leaves of buckwheat have a triangular shape in the form of a heart or an arrow, 2 to 5 centimeters long.

Buckwheat roots are powerful and have many ramifications and branches.

Buckwheat flowers are collected in a white or red semi-umbel with a simple pinkish perianth, have a spicy honey aroma.

Buckwheat fruits look like nuts with sharp ribs of dark gray or brown color, enclosed in a membranous shell.

Flowering begins in June, the duration of which is about a month. The fruits reach maturity only by September.

Habitat

Buckwheat is a cultivated plant that is not found in the wild, the birthplace of which is considered to be India, from where buckwheat was distributed in the ancient and Middle Ages by man, almost all over the world.
But due to its excellent nutritional characteristics and undoubted benefits, buckwheat cultivation has received the widest distribution in Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Medicinal properties of buckwheat and application

For medical purposes, buckwheat grass and seeds are harvested, from which various preparations and buckwheat flour are produced. Due to the presence of iron salts, rutin, phosphorus, calcium, malic and citric acids, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins B1 and B2 in the composition of buckwheat, the culture has excellent taste and dietary qualities.

Buckwheat has a healing anti-sclerotic, expectorant and hypotonic effect on the human body, improves permeability and reduces capillary fragility.

Medicines based on buckwheat are recommended in the treatment of atherosclerosis, hypertension and radiation diseases, some infectious diseases, rheumatism, skin diseases and other indications.

In folk medicine, herbal tea from buckwheat leaves and flowers is used as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent for atherosclerosis, a decoction of flowers is used to alleviate coughs and expectorate sputum. Outwardly, fresh buckwheat leaves are used in the treatment of skin diseases, applied crushed or whole, in several layers, to abscesses and festering wounds. Sifted buckwheat flour is used as baby powder.

Buckwheat honey is classified as a valuable variety of honey, which contains a greater amount of iron, proteins and minerals than other types of honey.

Cooking

  • To prepare buckwheat tea, you need 2 tsp. herbs pour 1/4 l of boiling water and boil for about a minute, leave for 10-15 minutes. Take 2-3 cups for 4-8 weeks.
  • During radiation therapy, pour 10 g of flowers and leaves of grass on the floor with liters of boiling water, insist in a closed thermo-ware for a period of up to 5 hours. Strain and drink three times a day for half a cup before meals. Take during the entire course of radiation therapy.
  • For the treatment of hypertension, pour 15 g of buckwheat flowers and 10 g of calendula flowers into 0.5 liters of boiling water and leave for 2 hours. Take 3 to 4 times a day before meals for half a cup.

Buckwheat is one of the main cereal crops, which firmly holds its position in the consumer market. Calling it a strategic product is a stretch, but there is always a demand for it. At the same time, many farmers prefer not to get involved with buckwheat, as it has a reputation for being a rather troublesome and low-yielding crop, which does not always pay off the investment. Nevertheless, subject to all the rules of cultivation, buckwheat is capable of producing very high yields.

Ordinary (sowing) buckwheat is a species of herbaceous plants included in the botanical genus of the same name of the Buckwheat family. Buckwheat grain is a popular cereal widely used as food in the post-Soviet space and in some other countries.

Buckwheat has a straight, ribbed, reddish stem with a cranked structure. The height of an adult plant reaches an average of 50-120 cm, but individual plants are able to stretch to a height of more than 2 meters.

The shape of the leaves is different within the same plant. Closer to the ground are petiolate heart-shaped-pointed leaves, and closer to the top and edges of the branches - arrow-shaped.

The root has a rod structure and penetrates the ground to a depth of about a meter, but most root branches are located within 40 cm from the ground surface.

Buckwheat flowers are collected in inflorescences and consist of five petals with large columns of pistils. Color - white or pale pink, cream. Buckwheat seeds, which are commonly called grains, usually have the shape of a dihedral pyramid.

Buckwheat produces both male and female flowers. One plant can have flowers of only one type. Pollination between plants is carried out predominantly by insects, but wind pollination also occurs.

Although about half a thousand flowers are formed on one plant, only about 5% of them produce a grain crop, while the rest simply fall off. It is believed that this feature of buckwheat is the main reason for the low yield of this crop.

Modern cultivated buckwheat is believed to have been bred about 5-8 thousand years ago in Northern India, Tibet or southwestern China, where its wild relatives still grow in natural conditions. Over the next one and a half millennia, buckwheat spread throughout China, and from there it came to Korea and the Japanese islands. A little later, this culture was brought to Central Asia, the Middle East region and the Caucasus.

It is believed that in Europe the cultivation of buckwheat began after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, although the Slavs learned about it much earlier - from the Byzantines (which is why we call it buckwheat - that is, "Greek groats").

However, there are alternative versions that do not fit in with the above at all. Archaeological finds show that buckwheat was grown on the territory of modern Finland as early as 4-5 thousand BC, which makes it very difficult to justify the Himalayan region as the homeland of cultivated buckwheat.

First of all, buckwheat is a cereal crop. The fruits or grains of buckwheat go to human food and to feed agricultural and domestic animals.

In Russia, buckwheat goes on sale mainly in the form of whole cereals that have undergone heat treatment. This cereal is great for making porridge, various casseroles, meatballs, as well as for soups. Milled buckwheat flour is a rarer and less popular product, since it is more expensive than wheat flour and inferior to it in most parameters. In particular, due to the absence of gluten in buckwheat flour, it is impossible to make pastries and bread from it. Finally, unroasted (green) grits are considered healthier than regular roasted grits, but are used in the same dishes.

In the post-Soviet space, including Russia, buckwheat is a fairly popular product. Consumers prefer almost exclusively roasted buckwheat, which is used to prepare cereals, soups and other dishes. Green buckwheat is almost never in demand in our country. In Western countries, the ordinary consumer does not know the usual fried buckwheat for us, and only those who are very concerned about their health and figure occasionally buy green buckwheat as a dietary product.

In the East, in particular in Japan, their wheat and buckwheat flour is used to make traditional noodles (soba) and other pasta. A similar tradition exists in Alpine Italian cuisine. The French make the famous Breton pancakes from buckwheat flour. Finally, in the national cuisine of Jews living in Eastern Europe, there is porridge "varnishkes", which is made from buckwheat boiled with noodles.

Buckwheat is the most important honey plant in regions with light sandy soils. In such an area, the success of beekeeping and the volume of honey production directly depend on the presence / absence of buckwheat fields in the vicinity. In a favorable year, one hectare of buckwheat can produce from 50 to 80 kg of high-quality honey.

Today in New Zealand, buckwheat is used as a biological pest control agent. Plantations of this crop, rich in pollen and nectar, attract predatory insects, which, using safe biological methods, drastically reduce the number of insect pests that destroy crops of other crops.

Finally, buckwheat is widely used in folk and modern scientific medicine. For example, processing buckwheat in a certain way allows you to obtain the raw materials necessary for the production of rutin. This substance is used in the treatment of certain vascular diseases, diathesis, hypertension, measles, scarlet fever, atherosclerosis, and even radiation sickness. Also, buckwheat in one form or another is used in the treatment of many other diseases, including varicose veins, hemorrhoids, rheumatism, arthritis and sclerosis.

Buckwheat has long been used in folk medicine. So a decoction of flowers and leaves of buckwheat was used in the fight against colds, as well as for dry coughs. Buckwheat porridge was fed to the sick and wounded, who had lost a lot of blood. Ointment and poultices from buckwheat flour were used to treat skin diseases, and fresh leaves - wounds and abscesses.

Currently, more than 60 varieties of buckwheat have been zoned in Russia, most of which are local, that is, purely regional. The most widespread are:

  • Bogatyr. Suitable for cultivation in almost the entire European part of the country, with the exception of the north and southwest, as well as in some regions of Siberia. The variety is considered high-yielding, with high quality grain.
  • Bolshevik. Designed for the southern regions of the central black earth zone and the North Caucasus.
  • Kazansky. Variety zoned for Tatarstan and adjacent regions. The variety is characterized by precocity.
  • Slav. Designed for the southern regions.
  • Tepexovsky. Bred in Belarus, but according to climatic conditions it is also suitable for the Amur and Nizhny Novgorod regions of Russia. The variety is high-yielding, but the grain quality is average.

It should be noted that there is also Tatar buckwheat. But this is not a variety, but a separate independent plant species of the same botanical genus. Tatar buckwheat is considered a weed plant, but if desired, it can be grown as a fodder crop for animals.

Buckwheat is a fairly thermophilic crop. Seeds germinate at a temperature not lower than 6 °C, and the crops really germinate en masse when the earth warms up to 15-20 °C. At optimal temperature and soil moisture, no more than a week passes between sowing and germination - an average of 5-6 days.

If frost hits after germination and the temperature drops a couple of degrees below zero, young shoots can be severely affected, up to a complete loss of the crop. Oddly enough, but high temperatures for buckwheat are contraindicated to the same extent. If the heat comes above 30 ° C, the rate of pollination decreases sharply, the ovaries are formed much worse, and, as a result, the yield decreases sharply.

Capricious buckwheat is not only in relation to temperature, but also in relation to humidity. It has a fairly high transpiration coefficient: it consumes 500-600 g of water to form 1 g of dry plant mass. It is for these reasons that it is believed that growing buckwheat is troublesome.

But the requirements for the composition of the soil of this crop are quite liberal. Buckwheat grows well on both podzolic and gray podzolized soil, and on all types of chernozem. The plant gives poor yields only on very acidic podzolic (pH 4.5 and below) and heavy alkaline soil.

Soil preparation for buckwheat

The method of tillage for buckwheat is highly dependent on the predecessor crop. If before that there were winter cereals or legumes on the field, it is necessary to stubble the stubble to a depth of 10 cm and then autumn plowing. If in a farm a field was taken for buckwheat, on which tilled crops had previously grown, it is necessary to plow to the full depth.

In the spring, early sanding should be performed, and then harrowed and two or three cultivations should be carried out. For the first time, cultivation is carried out to a depth of up to 12 cm, the second time - up to 8-10 cm, and the last time - to the depth of seed placement. On heavy soil in early spring, it is recommended to plow the field to a depth of 18 cm, and then carry out harrowing and rolling.

Since buckwheat is very active in sucking nutrients out of the soil, fertilizing is very good for crop size. The effect will be especially noticeable on poor podzolic soil.

On fertile loams, a high yield increase can be obtained through nitrogen fertilizers. Potash fertilizers for buckwheat need to choose those that do not contain chlorine, since it suppresses buckwheat. On chernozem and acidic soils, phosphorus fertilizers perform best. On soddy-podzolic and gray podzolic soils, it is recommended to use boric, copper, molybdenum and zinc microfertilizers.

Sowing buckwheat

In the technology of buckwheat cultivation, the right time for sowing is one of the most important conditions for obtaining a high yield. It is very important to guess the time so that early shoots do not die from spring frosts, and flowers and ovaries from heat. However, there is no particular need to guess, since maps of the optimal sowing dates for this crop have long been drawn up for each region.

Also, one should not ignore the questions of the correct application of sowing methods. Wide-row crops perform especially well, as they reduce the likelihood that plants will lack moisture or nutrients in the soil. However, if the soil is well fertilized and there are no problems with its moisture, then to save area and suppress weeds, methods of continuous row sowing can be used, which will also give a good harvest in such conditions.

Oddly enough, but the capriciousness of buckwheat comes to the point that even the direction of the lines can affect the size of the crop. It has been experimentally proven that rows running along the north-south axis give higher yields than the west-east axis. This factor alone gives an increase in wide-row crops from 150 to 200 kg per hectare.

The first thing you may have to do is to break up the crust on the soil if it formed before the seedlings appeared.

With a continuous sowing method, buckwheat quickly covers the soil surface, so the need for weeding and herbicide treatment is eliminated. But in the fields where a wide-row or tape scheme was used, immediately after the emergence of seedlings, it will be necessary to carry out inter-row cultivation of the field, and shortly before the plants close, the procedure must be repeated. If you do not fight weeds on wide-row and tape crops, then you can not count on a high yield of buckwheat.

To increase the yield, it is highly desirable that the field be pollinated by bees. Ideally, if there are 3-4 bee colonies per hectare of buckwheat.

Buckwheat harvesting begins after 2/3 of the grains turn brown. If you are late with the harvest, the harvest will crumble.

Buckwheat, or edible buckwheat, or common buckwheat- a species of herbaceous plants of the genus buckwheat, cereal culture. Buckwheat groats are made from buckwheat ( uncle) - whole grain (buckwheat, buckwheat), prodel(crushed grain with broken structure), Smolensk groats(heavily crushed grains), buckwheat flour as well as medical preparations.

Buckwheat is native to northern India, where it is called "black rice". Wild forms of the plant are concentrated on the western spurs of the Himalayas. Buckwheat was introduced into culture more than 5 thousand years ago. In the XV century BC. e. it penetrated into China, Korea and Japan, then into the countries of Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and only then into Europe (apparently, during the Tatar-Mongol invasion, because it is also called the Tatar plant, Tatar). In France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, it was once called "Arab grain", in Italy and Greece itself - Turkish, and in Germany - simply pagan grain. The Slavs began to call it buckwheat because it was brought to them from Byzantium in the 7th century. According to another version, it - for many years - was cultivated mainly by Greek monks at monasteries.


Flowering buckwheat

In many European countries, it is called "beech wheat" due to the similarity of seeds in shape with beech nuts. After the plants have faded, small triangular seeds are tied on them, ripening in September - October. They have a trihedral shape, light green color and dimensions from 5 to 7 mm in length and 3-6 mm in thickness. The fruit of buckwheat is a trihedral nut. The fruits ripen very unevenly: the lower, ripe ones, easily break off and crumble, while the top is still covered with flowers. Buckwheat is a late culture. In Russia, the harvest begins in late August - early September.


Buckwheat has two main types - ordinary and Tatar. Tatar is smaller and thick-skinned. Ordinary is divided into winged and wingless. Common buckwheat(buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat, Greek wheat) is a bread and honey plant, the seeds of which are eaten by humans and partly by animals (pigs, horses, etc.). Buckwheat Tatar- grows wild in Siberia and is sown for green fodder. Also, its biomass in the flowering phase is crushed and incorporated into the soil as a fertilizer. The yield of buckwheat in Russia is about 8-10 centners per hectare, which is almost two times lower than, for example, wheat. The maximum yield is 30 q/ha (3 t/ha or 300 t/sq.km).


Buckwheat field

Buckwheat contains a lot of iron, as well as calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, fluorine, molybdenum, cobalt, as well as vitamins B1, B2, B9 (folic acid), PP, vitamin E. The flowering aerial part of buckwheat contains rutin, fagopyrin, protechic, gallic, chlorogenic and caffeic acids; seeds - starch, protein, sugar, fatty oil, organic acids (maleic, menolenic, oxalic, malic and citric), riboflavin, thiamine, phosphorus, iron. In terms of the content of lysine and methionine, buckwheat proteins surpass all cereal crops; it is characterized by high digestibility - up to 78%. Carbohydrates in buckwheat, as in other cereals (barley, millet), about 60%; the available carbohydrates are absorbed by the body for a long time, so that after eating buckwheat, you can feel full for a long time. When stored for a long time, buckwheat does not go rancid like other cereals, and does not grow moldy at high humidity.


Buckwheat is the main honey plant for many regions of Russia with light sandy loamy soil. In favorable years, up to 80 kg of honey is obtained from 1 hectare of crops in areas with normal moisture. Buckwheat flowers produce a lot of nectar and greenish-yellow pollen. Abundant nectar secretion is observed in warm and humid weather in the first half of the day (in hot and dry weather, bees stop taking nectar bribes). Buckwheat honey is dark, brown with a reddish tint, fragrant, spicy. Buckwheat honey is used for anemia, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and skin diseases.


Buckwheat honey

Buckwheat fruits are a common food product. Several varieties of cereals are known: unground - whole grain, large and small prodel - chopped grains, Smolensk groats - crushed unground. The groats that go on sale, which have undergone hydro- and heat treatment (from black to light brown), are used to make buckwheat cereals, casseroles, puddings, meatballs, soups. Buckwheat grain is ground into flour, but due to the lack of gluten, it is unsuitable for baking bread, and it is used for pancakes, fritters, tortillas, and dumplings. Unroasted cereals (green-grassy color) are much less often used for making cereals, less common on sale and less known to consumers in the territory of the former USSR.


Grechaniki - lean buckwheat cutlets

From a mixture of buckwheat and wheat (or other) flour, noodles and pasta are obtained, which are traditional for Japanese (soba) and Alpine Italian (pizzoccheri) cuisines. In France, traditional Breton pancakes (French galette bretonne) are made from buckwheat flour. A traditional dish of Eastern European Jews is "kasha varnishkes" - buckwheat porridge mixed with noodles. It is widely used as a garnish in the countries of the former USSR and very little in European countries, with the exception of the above examples. In recent years, a slight increase in the consumption of buckwheat products in the West is associated with its use for dietary purposes.


Salted Breton pancakes with egg, cheese and ham

In China, unroasted buckwheat grains are used to make a tea believed to lower blood pressure. Buckwheat and flour are stored for a long time and are very suitable for storage in army warehouses, since the fats that make up them are resistant to oxidation.


Buckwheat tea

The tops of flowering plants serve as raw materials for the production of rutin, which is used in medical practice for the treatment of diseases accompanied by increased permeability and fragility of blood capillaries. There are many rutin and fagopyrin in the flowers and upper young leaves of buckwheat, a decoction or infusion of which is indicated for hemorrhagic diathesis, hypertension, measles, scarlet fever, atherosclerosis, radiation sickness and other serious health disorders. Buckwheat is used for varicose veins, hemorrhoids, rheumatic diseases, arthritis and as a prevention of sclerosis. The high content of lecithin determines its use in diseases of the liver, vascular and nervous systems. It is able to raise the level of dopamine (a neurohormone that affects motor activity and motivation).


In folk medicine, a decoction of the plant is recommended for colds, as well as an expectorant for dry coughs. For medicinal purposes, flowers and leaves are used, harvested in June - July, as well as buckwheat seeds - as they mature. In old manuals, buckwheat porridge was recommended for large blood loss, colds. Buckwheat is rich in folic acid, which stimulates hematopoiesis, increases the body's resistance to ionizing radiation and other adverse environmental factors. The significant amounts of potassium and iron contained in it prevent the absorption of their radioactive isotopes. For diabetics, this cereal replaces the consumption of potatoes and bread. Poultices and ointments made from buckwheat flour are used for skin diseases (boils, eczema). Fresh leaves are applied to wounds and boils. Flour and powdered leaves are used as powders in children.

Rounded inflorescences, consisting of small goblet flowers, adorn these evergreen perennial herbaceous plants or shrubs in summer. Plants have an elegant habit, which makes them excellent for display in rocky gardens. Often after flowering fruits are formed, painted in warm colors.

Well-drained soil and a sunny position are vital.

The birthplace of the genus is the mountains of S. America.

E. umbellatum (E. umbrella)

Carpet-shaped perennial herbaceous plant with tiny yellow flowers collected in dense inflorescences up to 7.5 cm in diameter on long peduncles that appear in mid-summer. Shortly after flowering, copper-colored fruits are formed. The leaves are elliptical, 2 cm long, dark green, pubescent with white hairs below. The height and diameter of the plant is 30x40 cm.

cultivation

Plant in spring in a sunny location in well-drained but moisture-retaining soil. The plant is drought tolerant, grows best in dry, rocky or sandy soils and can go without water for some time. Frost-resistant plant (up to -39°С). In winter, it needs protection from high humidity.

reproduction

Seeds are sown after they ripen in autumn or early spring in pots and placed in a cold greenhouse.

Semi-woody cuttings are cut and rooted from mid to late summer.

Pests and diseases

Usually not affected.

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