Herb sweet clover medicinal properties and uses. Sweet clover contraindications

Why exactly sweet clover? Does it grow at the bottom, somewhere in swamps, ditches and forest holes? Or maybe he comes from the Don steppes? Nothing like that, that’s how the ancient Russians dubbed the fragrant herb sweet clover - its beneficial properties and contraindications were successfully treated with “bottom diseases” - ailments of the lower abdominal cavity and unpleasant gout. But the Greek name melilotus reveals another secret of sweet clover, combining the delicious words “honey” and “lotus”. What else will surprise you with this field lotus?

Clover Rival

Ground and Italian grass, sweet clover, burkun and wild buckwheat - all this is field sweet clover, a modest yellow and white flower that spikes in the meadows and fields of our entire vast homeland. The plant is modest, but at one time it aroused a lot of interest, research and even heated debate. They were started by ancient doctors - the Persian Avicenna, the Greek Dioscorides, the German alchemist Paracelsus, and ended... by Soviet agronomists!

Yes, yes, back in the 30s of the last century, discussions about the role of borkun in the agriculture of the young country unfolded on the pages of newspapers. “Pravda” published feuilletons about sweet clover, “Soviet Siberia” foreshadowed the glory of fragrant field grass as a great forage plant, citing the experience of American and Canadian agronomists...

Indeed, after a short time, sweet clover became an agricultural legend - the plant increased the yield of fields, which is why the grass was specially planted with wheat and rye, ideal for making hay. The bottom diet for animals turned out to be not only very tasty - some varieties are an excellent “milk and fattening” dish. Sounds intriguing, don't you agree?

The healing power of yellow clover

In the vast expanses of Russia, mostly yellow and white burkun bushes adorn themselves - usually side by side, in the same field. Their chemical composition and aroma are slightly different, so medicine has placed its main emphasis on one of the sweet clover, yellow, otherwise known as medicinal.

It is no coincidence that the medicinal sweet clover was so named - its medicinal properties are used for many ailments (not only “bottom” ones!), from hysteria and seasonal runny nose to female ailments and flatulence.

Decoctions, tinctures and ointments from wild buckwheat have absolutely amazing properties:

• Fights increased nervous excitability;
• Eliminates cramps;
• Improve blood supply to the abdominal organs and heart muscle;
• Reduce blood clotting and resolve blood clots;
• Stimulates the production of leukocytes in the blood;
• Increases milk production in nursing mothers.

Since ancient times, sweet clover decoction has been used to treat women's hysterics, insomnia, melancholy and headaches. The yellow burkun, we admit, has long been nicknamed the female sweet clover - because it treats a wide variety of women’s ailments, from pain during menstruation to inflammation of the ovaries, and helps with feeding the baby.

Modern medicine has also adopted yellow clover - its medicinal properties and contraindications are used for the most dangerous diseases. The ability to restore leukocytes in the blood is indispensable during recovery after radiation therapy, and the ability to thin the blood saves in case of vascular diseases. Sweet clover preparations are used for varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, postthrombophlebitis syndrome - the most dangerous venous pathology.

A box of dried flowers of this field miracle will also come in handy in your home medicine cabinet. Decoctions and infusions of Burkun are drunk for colds and bronchitis, hemorrhoids and flatulence, and genitourinary disorders. Baths and medicinal sweet clover ointments save from joint pain and rheumatism, speed up the treatment of purulent ulcers, boils and abscesses.

What is the snow-white sweet clover famous for?

White sweet clover is a plant with a special character. It is quite toxic, so only experienced herbalists dare to prepare recipes for internal use; other supporters of traditional medicine are better off sticking to external options - ointments, decoctions and lotions.

But if snow-white sweet clover grows near your dacha or country house, you are very lucky - this is an excellent natural insecticide. Grind the fragrant burkun inflorescences, pour them onto a plate and place them in your rooms - there will be no mosquitoes or blood-sucking midges nearby.

If you nevertheless decide to use white clover for home treatment, its medicinal properties and contraindications will pleasantly surprise and delight you.

• Herbal baths and ointments successfully treat radiculitis, rheumatism, and sprains.
• Baths with white sweet clover relieve symptoms of myositis – inflammation of skeletal muscles (neck, chest, hips or back).
• Plasters and lotions treat boils and accelerate the healing of purulent wounds, even the most problematic ones.
• The tincture is an excellent remedy for the complex treatment of atherosclerosis of the coronary and cerebral arteries (under the constant supervision of a cardiologist or therapist!).
• White Burkun roots help cope with thrombosis.

Contraindications

Herbalists consider sweet clover to be a fairly safe plant - its medicinal properties and contraindications are still being studied, but no truly dangerous consequences have been identified. But the specificity of this field medicine unmistakably names the situations in which taking Burkun is strictly prohibited, and above all these are blood diseases:

• Increased blood clotting;
• Internal bleeding;
• Hemorrhagic diathesis.

It is also necessary to put the fragrant medicine aside in case of kidney disease and during the happy period of bearing a baby.

With an overdose of sweet clover - both medicinal and white - the central nervous system suffers. Side effects of sweet clover therapy are nausea, vomiting, lethargy, drowsiness and fatigue.

Medical recipes with sweet clover

Regardless of whether you collected dried sweet clover in an open field or bought it at a pharmacy, its use can be very different, and all recipes will have to be prepared in the usual home conditions. For treatment, leaves, bright flowers and roots of wild buckwheat are used, from which infusions and decoctions are steamed, ointments are mixed, compresses are made and baths are warmed.

The simplest recipe is a soothing sweet clover infusion for insomnia, increased excitability and headaches. Pour a teaspoon of burkun into a glass of boiling water, wait half an hour, strain and take half a glass before meals. For bronchitis and ARVI, the recipe needs to be slightly improved - take water at room temperature and boil for 30 minutes over low heat. Drink - a tablespoon.

Ointment from sweet clover of any color will help speed up the maturation and breakthrough of boils and abscesses, and heal purulent ulcers. Preparing it couldn’t be easier: mix 2 large spoons of finely ground herb and 50 grams of regular Vaseline. If you don’t have Vaseline on hand, replace it with a couple of tablespoons of fresh butter - this mixture will perfectly draw out the abscess and relieve inflammation.

The sweet clover herb will also help to cope with aching joints and muscle pain: using it in the form of a compress is very simple. Steam the herb, put it in a canvas bag and apply to sore spots for 15 minutes every day for a week and a half.

Sweet clover in cooking

No, it’s not for nothing that the sweet clover was given this name - it also works wonders at the bottom of the plate. The shoots and flowers of yellow and snow-white sweet clover are rich in all kinds of vitamins (especially) and aromatic essential oils, so green salads, cold soups and even cutlets with sweet clover acquire an unearthly aroma and a fresh summer taste.

If you want something sweet, then sweet clover honey is for you. Medicinal grass is an excellent honey plant, and it blooms until autumn and the bees have the opportunity to accumulate honey for as long as 4 months! The most amazing honey is made from white sweet clover; this dessert has a noble vanilla aroma. Sweet clover honey will not just replace candy and cookies at a family tea party - it perfectly calms, copes with insomnia, helps cure bronchitis, and removes flatulence.

What does a classic summer menu with fragrant clover look like? A classic healthy diet is a green salad and herbal tea.

For the salad you will need 3-4 cucumbers, a few green onions, a handful of sweet clover leaves and shoots, and a hard-boiled egg. Chop the cucumbers and onions, sprinkle with sweet clover and grated egg on top. Season with sour cream or any flavored vegetable oil. To make the salad more nutritious, you can replace the cucumbers with young boiled potatoes.

Herbal sweet clover tea is an ideal drink for any time of year, both hot summer days and long winter evenings. Required: 3 small spoons of dried leaves and inflorescences of burkun, 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, or honey (sugar). Pour the sweet clover with a liter of water, boil, add honey, then sour juice. Strain and cool if necessary.

This is how it is, the fragrant sweet clover - good in the medicine cabinet, on the kitchen table, and in a dessert bowl. Meet and enjoy!

Yellow clover (Melilótus officinalis) is a biennial herbaceous plant from the legume family, growing in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other countries. Due to its medicinal properties, it has found application in official and folk medicine. Indications and contraindications for recipes using sweet clover are due to the presence in its composition of coumarin, melilotin, coumaric and melilotic acids, cymarin, etc. During the process of plant decay, a substance is formed in it that prevents blood clotting - dicoumarin. This is why sweet clover herb is a good blood thinner.

Sweet clover herb: medicinal properties and contraindications

Melilótus officinalis is known for its anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antiseptic, and anticonvulsant properties. This plant is famous for its depressant effect on the central nervous system.

Indications for use of sweet clover

Yellow sweet clover is a medicinal plant. It is successfully used in the complex treatment of the following conditions of the nervous system:

• neurasthenia;
• nervous excitability;
• insomnia.

The plant serves to restore women's health:

• menopause;
• menstrual irregularities;
• mastitis.

The medicinal properties of sweet clover allow it to be used to heal purulent wounds, boils, and abscesses.

There are known recipes to get rid of otitis, bronchitis, intestinal and bladder diseases.

Of particular value is the ability of sweet clover to thin thick blood. Let's look at this in more detail.

Sweet clover for blood thinning

Dicumarin (dicumarol) is a substance that was isolated from rotting sweet clover in the 40s of the last century. Dicumarin prevents blood clotting and thins it. The plant not only prevents the formation of blood clots, but also promotes their resorption. Melilotus officinalis is actively used for the treatment of thrombophlebitis. The herb is often included in preparations for the treatment of hemorrhoids.

The main active ingredient coumarin itself helps fight many problems of the cardiovascular system. It helps increase systolic blood pressure and also improves cerebral, coronary and peripheral blood supply.

Contraindications for use of Melilótus officinalis

Sweet clover should not be consumed during pregnancy. In some sources you can find recommendations to take plants to improve lactation, but during breastfeeding any medicinal plants should be approached with great caution.

It is contraindicated in the presence of:

• increased number of leukocytes;
• internal bleeding;
• decreased blood clotting,
• hemorrhagic diathesis.

In large doses or with prolonged use, the plant is toxic. It is important to avoid overdose and take breaks in treatment, otherwise the medicine may turn into poison.

Recipes with clover

If there are no contraindications, then the medicinal properties of the sweet clover herb can be used by using one of the following recipes.

Important! Do not confuse yellow sweet clover (medicinal) with white one. The recipes below are based on raw materials from a plant with yellow flowers.

Decoction

2 tablespoons of sweet clover should be poured into two glasses of clean water and kept in a water bath for 30 minutes. Take the strained broth, 1 tablespoon 3 times daily.

Tincture

For the tincture, dry grass is used, which needs to be poured with 500 ml of vodka. Infuse the composition for 14 days, strain. Take 15 drops three times a day with water.

Collection for blood thinning

• sweet clover;
• sagebrush;
• meadowsweet;
• mountain arnica.

Mix the listed herbs in equal proportions. Pour 1 tablespoon of this mixture into a glass of boiling water and leave for at least 8 hours (possibly in a thermos). Take 1/3 cup 20 minutes before meals. The course takes one month, after which a break is required.

If there is no desire or opportunity to create the medicine yourself, then you can purchase a ready-made extract at the pharmacy. Take it in accordance with the instructions.

Before starting to use any prescription, you must consult a doctor.

The yellow sweet clover plant has found wide use in traditional medicine. On branched beautiful stems there are panicles of bright yellow flowers. Sweet clover, being a biennial plant, belongs to the legume family. Its root system is branched and taprooted on the sides.

The leaves are shaped like eggs, they are serrated at the edges, colored bluish-green on top, while their bottom color is slightly paler. The flowers, collected in clusters of six, completely cover the plant during flowering. The fruit is a brown bean containing yellow oval seeds. The beans ripen in early autumn. Yellow clover blooms all summer.

The plant grows in Russia (in the Caucasus and Crimea), in Ukraine. It can be found along the road, at the edge of the forest, in fields, meadows and ravines. Often yellow sweet clover, the properties of which will be described in this article, grows among bushes.

Beneficial features

This plant has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times due to the fact that it contains a huge amount of different beneficial substances: lactone, coumarin, coumaric acid, melotin and others. The herb sweet clover, due to coumarin, increases arterial systolic pressure, increases the content of leukocytes in the blood, and normalizes blood circulation in the abdominal cavity. Also, under its influence, peripheral blood supply improves.

Sweet clover flowers are used to produce essential oil. They contain tannin, coumarin, choline and resinous substances. Preparations created from the plant are used as antiseptic, wound healing and painkillers. But this is not the only place where sweet clover has found its use. The medicinal properties of the plant allow it to be used as an anticonvulsant and expectorant. In traditional medicine, the herb is mainly used for gynecological diseases and as an effective laxative.

Spreading

Yellow clover is found in New Zealand, Great Britain, North America, and also in southern South America. Although its homeland is considered to be Europe, Central, Middle and Asia Minor.

In our country, the plant is distributed everywhere: on roadsides, meadows, wastelands, and quarries. It often grows next to white sweet clover, which differs from its counterpart in the color and shape of the beans.

Growing

Sweet clover seeds germinate at a temperature of 4°C. A year after planting, the plant blooms. At the end of summer it already enters the time of active fruiting. It should be noted that seeds that have just ripened or are slightly unripe are considered viable. While they are stored, their shell becomes compacted, therefore, before sowing, they must be scarified. Due to the fact that the plant has a very strong root system, it is not demanding on soil conditions. In addition, sweet clover is drought-resistant, so it does not need constant watering. At the same time, acidic soil and excess moisture will be destructive for it.

Sweet clover reproduces exclusively by seed, and it tolerates the application of various fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium. In the prepared soil in early spring, seeds that have passed the scarification stage are sown. It is necessary to leave a distance of about 3 centimeters between the rows; the approximate sowing density is 200 seeds per 1 meter.

In the first year of life, the plant is covered with a beautiful green mass, its root is fully developed. In the fall, all this dies off, and only the root collar, on which the renewal buds are located, remains to winter. If the sweet clover is flooded with water, it will die in two weeks.

During flowering, it is necessary to begin harvesting and preparing the plant for medicinal purposes. Using pruners or scissors, cut off the tops along with the shoots. Rough thick branches should not be touched. Drying of the resulting raw materials is carried out in a barn or under a canopy. The collected grass must be tied into bunches, and then hung in the form of garlands.

Next, the dried grass must be threshed and passed through a wire sieve. The finished raw materials include leaves, flowers, small stems and fruits. It has a strong coumarin aroma. It should be noted that the beneficial properties of the herb can be preserved if you keep it in closed containers.

Blank

Sweet clover, the medicinal properties and contraindications for use of which will be discussed below, is of great medical importance. Harvesting of grass should occur at the time of flowering, since it is during this period of time that the plant contains the maximum amount of biologically active substances.

The yellow sweet clover is cut with a knife, but not the whole one is taken, but only the top, the length of which reaches 30 centimeters. Thick and rough stems are not suitable as medicinal raw materials. You should only use grass that grows away from roads and large populated areas.

Collection must be done in dry weather, since the raw plant deteriorates very quickly. Drying cannot be delayed for the same reasons. It is produced using the standard technology described above, or in ovens and stoves at temperatures reaching 40 degrees. Raw materials are stored in airtight containers for up to two years. It has a strong smell of freshly cut hay and has a specific salty-bitter taste.

Use in medicine

Sweet clover has different medicinal properties and contraindications. It has long been successfully used in folk medicine as a treatment for varicose veins. It is also used for hemorrhoids. The plant is an auxiliary remedy for the treatment of post-thrombotic syndrome, lymphostasis and thrombophlebitis. Preparations from it are used internally and externally. As a local remedy, sweet clover is used for sprains, superficial hemorrhages and various bruises. It is used to make herbal cushions that help heal tumors or inflamed joints. A tea is made from the plant, which is drunk for colds and coughs.

Infusions of sweet clover are used for inflammation of the ovaries, bronchitis, pain during menstruation, swelling, to increase lactation and for insomnia as a sedative. Yellow sweet clover is widely used as a decoction for medicinal baths. It is included in various ointments. Crushed dry herb helps with cracked nipples, skin diseases, inflammation of the eyelids, and mastitis.

Sweet clover is a honey plant

All summer long, bees collect pollen from this plant. Miracle sweet clover honey tones the human body and supplies it with energy for the whole day. It is consumed internally and used externally. Honey has a diuretic, antispasmodic and analgesic effect. Used for respiratory diseases, it eliminates pain and relieves inflammation. People who suffer from hypertension or heart disease only need to consume honey a couple of times a week, after which their health will noticeably improve.

This miracle medicine can normalize the condition of a person who has suffered a serious illness, relieve him of dizziness, shortness of breath and headaches. Honey is also useful for nursing mothers, as it stimulates increased lactation. Due to its unique beneficial properties, it is used for a variety of diseases. This medicine smells very pleasant and also has a very delicate taste. Experts say that such a delicacy is useful for regular use even by a healthy person.

Calming Infusion

As already mentioned, sweet clover herb is actively used as a component of decoctions, infusions, teas and ointments. In addition, the plant is included in various preparations, which are then used for various diseases.

To prepare a soothing infusion, you need to take 2 teaspoons of powdered sweet clover herb and pour them with two glasses of clean water. The resulting mixture should be left to brew for 2 hours. Take 70 milliliters 5 times a day as an effective sedative.

Root decoction for flatulence

This remedy is prepared quickly and easily. You will need 15 grams of dry plant roots. They are filled with 200 milliliters of hot water and heated over low heat for 10 minutes. The finished broth should be cooled and filtered thoroughly. You should take it one tablespoon three times a day.

Tincture for headaches

You need to take the grass and fill a third of a half-liter jar with it. Fill the container to the top with vodka and leave to infuse for two weeks, remembering to shake occasionally. Strain the finished tincture. That's it, now you can use it. You should put a few drops on your fingers and rub them on your temples if headaches occur.

Infusion for external use

You need to take 30 grams of grass and pour a glass of hot water over it. Leave the mixture for half an hour without shaking or touching. After filtering the resulting product, it is used as compresses, lotions and for baths. Using this infusion, you can cure mastitis, ulcers, articular rheumatism and boils.

Contraindications

Do not forget that yellow clover is a poisonous plant. It can be used for medicinal purposes only after consultation with a specialist. It is not recommended for pregnant women to take herbal preparations. In addition, it is necessary to observe the dosage, since in case of overdose, severe headache, vomiting and insomnia may occur. Sweet clover, taken in too large doses, depresses the human nervous system.

The herb should not be used if there is any internal bleeding. Be sure to visit a doctor before starting treatment using sweet clover, since only a specialist, based on your state of health, can give accurate recommendations for the use of this plant.

Sweet clover is a perennial herbaceous plant, belongs to the genus Sweet clover, from the legume family, subfamily Moths. People call it: yellow sweet clover, yellow burkun. The plant has a strong coumarin odor. The root of the herb is the tap root. The stem is straight and branched, 1–1.5 m high. The leaves consist of three leaflets, lanceolate, serrated along the edge. Near the base of the petiole there are stipules, whole or serrated. The petioles of the middle leaf are longer than those of the lateral leaves. The flowers are in narrow and long axillary and apical loose racemes, drooping, yellow in color. It begins to bloom from June to September, several days earlier than white clover. Flowering duration is more than a month. Sweet clover fruits are brown beans. It contains yellow oval shaped seeds. The fruits ripen from July to early September.

Distribution area: Europe, Asia, Caucasus. Brought to Britain, New Zealand, America, on these lands it has successfully taken root. Quite common in Russia. It grows mainly in quarries, wastelands, roadsides, and fields. It often creates mixed thickets with white sweet clover, which is quite similar in appearance, differing in white flowers and wrinkled beans.

Preparation and storage of sweet clover

They begin to harvest sweet clover during its flowering period, from June to August inclusive. When collecting the medicine, cut off the tops and side shoots with a knife; their length is no more than 30 cm; the thick and rough stem is not suitable for preparing medicines.

It is better to collect the herbal plant in dry weather, because a wet plant that was collected immediately after rain quickly ripens and darkens. Under such circumstances, donium loses its medicinal properties. The plant must be dried immediately after collection. To do this, the grass must be spread on paper under a ventilated canopy, not in a thick layer, and mixed regularly. The plant is considered dried out when the stem becomes brittle; it is very important not to miss this moment. Because the plant cannot be allowed to dry out, as this will cause the leaves to begin to fall off.

To dry sweet clover, you can use an automatic dryer, but the temperature in it cannot exceed 40 C. If the medicinal plant has been dried correctly, it will smell like fresh hay and taste salty-bitter. The shelf life of the dried plant is 2 years; it is also recommended to store it in airtight packaging due to its specific smell. The place should be protected from light.

Use in everyday life

Sweet clover serves as an excellent feed for livestock and is also used as a soil fertilizer. This medicinal herb is also considered a honey plant. Sweet clover honey is first-rate and has high taste qualities. It comes in a light amber or white color with a very pleasant vanilla aroma. It contains 39% fructose and 36% glucose. Bees can collect 200 kg of honey from 1 hectare of wild sweet clover, and 600 kg of cultivated honey. The herb also serves as a flavoring agent for several foods and tobacco. In some areas, sweet clover is used as a spice. Fresh leaves or dried leaves and flowers ground into powder are added to soups, salads and okroshka.

Composition and medicinal properties of sweet clover

1. Sweet clover, especially its leaves, is used in the drug “Meliocin”; it has a high level of biostimulation, much higher than that of aloe extract.
2. Sweet clover is recommended to be drunk as tea as a sedative for insomnia and flatulence. For external use, it is used for abscesses, ulcers, ulcers, boils, inflammatory processes of the mammary glands, and articular rheumatism. The medicinal plant promotes speedy recovery after radiation therapy.
3. A hot decoction of the plant is used for instillation for ear inflammation, and compresses are made for toothache. Inhaling the smoke from the smoldering of this herb relieves asthma attacks.
4. Sweet clover has such exceptional healing properties: it is used for hysteria, for headaches, and for migraines, too, for spasms of the esophagus.
5. The medicinal plant is used for diseases of the respiratory organs.
6. Coumarin contained in sweet clover, which can prevent convulsions, helps to increase blood pressure, improve blood circulation in the gastrointestinal tract, brain activity, and is taken in cases of cardiac dysfunction.
7. Used for irritability, neurasthenia, melancholy.
8. Sweet clover is taken when the menstrual cycle fails, during menopause.
9. Promotes an increase in leukocytes in the blood; atherosclerosis, lung diseases, hypertension.
10. Decoctions of sweet clover are taken for gynecological diseases, hemorrhoidal diseases, and gout.
11. Acts as an analgesic, antibacterial, sedative, expectorant (it is prescribed for abscesses, mastitis, furunculosis).

The use of sweet clover in folk medicine

Compresses for boils and other purulent skin lesions, mastitis

For the infusion you need: 10 g of dried chopped herbs. Add 1 tbsp. boiling water, heat in a water bath for about 15 minutes. After cooling, filter, add another 1 glass of boiling water to the resulting broth and use for its intended purpose.

For gynecological diseases

For the infusion you need to take: sweet clover (flowers), centaury, coltsfoot - equally. Chop and mix. Take 1 tbsp. mixture for 1 tbsp. boiled water, leave for 1 hour. Drink 1/3 glass 6 times a day. Duration of treatment is 3-4 weeks. You will have to give up intimate life until the course of treatment is completed.

For sleep disturbances, neurasthenia, hysteria, melancholy, headaches

To 1 tbsp. l. chopped herbs add 1 tbsp. boiled water, leave for 30 minutes, covered, in a water bath. Let cool, separate the grounds. Take 15 ml 3 times a day before meals.

Sweet clover to increase leukocytes

To 2 tsp. chopped clover, add 2 tbsp. chilled boiled water. Leave for 2-3 hours. Separate the grounds and drink 12 tbsp. 2-3 times a day before meals.

For hypertension - infusion of sweet clover herb

For infusion you need:

• 1 tsp chopped grass;
• add 1 tbsp. boiled chilled water;
• leave for 2 hours, separate the grounds.
• drink 12 tbsp. 2-3 times a day. Contraindication: increased level of leukocytes.

For chest diseases

For tea you need:

Add 1 liter of boiling water to 30 g of sweet clover flower steam. Drink 50 g every hour for a week. You can add honey or sugar. It’s even better to caramelize the sugar: heat it in a spoon until brown, cool it and then stir the tea with this spoon. Excellent expectorant effect.

Contraindications

This plant is absolutely contraindicated for pregnant women and those with kidney disease. When consuming, you must always remember that this plant is poisonous and in no case should you exceed the indicated dosage. It is better to use it in preparations.

Large doses have a depressant effect on the central nervous system and have a detrimental effect on the intestinal muscles. Long-term use may cause headache, drowsiness, and dizziness. Cases of hemorrhage of internal organs and paralysis of the central nervous system have been recorded. Do not use if you have poor blood clotting. It is necessary to take sweet clover only after a doctor's prescription.

Mention of the healing properties of sweet clover ( Melilotus officinalis) found in the works of such famous ancient Roman healers as Galen, Dioscrides, as well as the Persian physician Avicena. In the Middle Ages, sweet clover was used by Paracelsus.

This is a herbaceous plant, the height of the stem can reach one and a half meters, the leaves have a matte green color, the shape of a trefoil, the flowers are bright yellow, small, collected in a straight raceme, the corolla resembles a moth. The fruit is a single-seeded bean with green-yellow elliptical-shaped seeds.

Herbal healers use the tops and leafy part of sweet clover in their recipes. Harvested during the flowering period. Properly dried grass should be green in color, without dark spots. When properly stored, it does not lose its properties for 2 years. It contains coumarin, coumaric acid, dicumarol, melilotin, essential oil, mucus.

Herbal medicines of sweet clover have a mild expectorant, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulating, anticonvulsant, hypotensive, sedative fibrinolytic, as well as diaphoretic, emollient, antiseptic, laxative and wound-healing effect. In Chinese medicine, sweet clover is successfully used to treat epidemic encephalitis.

Coumarin in sweet clover relieves muscle cramps, increases the minute output of the heart muscle and the number of white cells in the blood (used in patients with radiation sickness), and helps improve blood circulation in all organs and systems.

Chemical composition

Recipes

Medicinal preparations based on sweet clover are used in the form of decoctions and infusions for internal external use.

Sweet clover infusion. Mix forty grams of sweet clover herb (chopped thoroughly) with three mugs of chilled distilled water. After standing for four hours, strain. It is recommended to take a cold infusion of a third of a mug (eighty milliliters) every eight hours (before eating food).

Cold infusion of sweet clover is taken for diseases: chronic bronchitis, tracheitis, atherosclerotic vascular lesions, deposition of stones in the kidneys and bile ducts, as well as colic in these organs, helps with sleep phase dissonance, migraine conditions, neurasthenia, pelvic inflammation in women, menopause. With a tendency to constipation, gout, rheumatoid attacks.

Decoction of sweet clover herb. Pour dry sweet clover herb (ten grams) into one mug of distilled water, boil over low heat or in a steam bath for half an hour. After straining, drink twenty milliliters every eight hours.

The decoction is used for acute viral infections, bronchial edema, sleep phase disturbances and liver cell diseases.

Compresses and local baths. An infusion of sweet clover herb for compresses and baths is prepared as follows: 40 grams of raw material is poured into two mugs (400 ml) of boiled water, after standing for half an hour, filtered and used as a wound-healing, anti-inflammatory agent.

In case of severe pain in large and small joints, cloth bags with sweet clover herb (steamed with boiling water) are placed on them for several minutes. Course – ten procedures.

Alcohol tincture

Mix 100 grams of dried herb with half a liter of vodka or 40% percent alcohol. Stand in a dark cabinet for fourteen days. After filtering through two layers of fabric, the product is ready.

Take 15 drops per 200 ml of water orally half an hour before meals 3 times a day.
The tincture is used in the treatment of female infertility, endometriotic growth of the uterine mucosa, hormonal imbalances, and also for severe migraines.

Sweet clover extract

Finely chop freshly picked sweet clover herbs (fifty grams), pour in 500 ml of alcohol, and leave for about fourteen days in a dark cupboard. After double straining, the product is ready.

Take 2 times a day, 12 hours later, after meals, 15 drops per cup of water, best after breakfast and dinner.

Ointment recipes

• Dried flowers of yellow sweet clover 40 g are processed into powder, combined with petroleum jelly to form an ointment. Used for furunculosis, carbunculosis, wounds with purulent discharge.
• Butter ointment - 50 grams of butter are combined with 50 grams of sweet clover flowers, ground to a powder. The ointment perfectly draws out pus and reduces inflammation.

Therapeutic collection for compress against pancreatitis

Calendula flowers (two parts), thyme (one part), plantain leaves (two parts), sweet clover (two parts), chamomile (two parts), ashberry (two parts), galega (three parts), calamus leaves (one part), marsh cudweed (three parts). Mix everything thoroughly.

Fifty grams of herbal mixture are poured into two mugs of boiling water. Leave for 45 minutes, wrapped in a warm towel. The water is filtered out, and the steamed gruel is applied warm to the left hypochondrium, with a film and cloth placed on top. The compress is applied for sixty minutes. The course is fourteen days.

Contraindications for use

The most important contraindications for taking medicinal clover are: lack of blood clotting factors, severe damage to the kidneys and liver cells, pregnancy, hemorrhagic diathesis.

Uncontrolled use of sweet clover preparations can provoke headaches, dyspeptic disorders, drowsiness, internal hemorrhages, and central nervous system paralysis.

Before using any medicine, do not rely on your intuition; consult a specialist who is supervising you.