Medicinal properties and contraindications of horse chestnut

Contentsbelonging to the family konskokashtanovyh. It has a strong root system, which lies deep in the soil. The trunk is a powerful, dark brown color, crowned with a sprawling crown in the shape of a dome. A tall tree can reach up to 35 meters .

Horse chestnut

Leaves are pale green, palate-complex and practically without denticles with oblong petioles. In spring, vegetation begins, and white flowers, enclosed in panicles, bloom. Each panicle has from 1 to 5 fruits that look like boxes covered with a large number of thorns.

If you open these boxes, you can find one or several nuts, which everyone calls chestnut. Walnut shiny dark brown, with a small rough constriction in the middle.

How and where does the

tree grow? The horse chestnut came to us from the south side of the Balak peninsula. To be more precise - this is Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia. Mostly this plant in the wild grows in deciduous forests and feels comfortable next to ash, alder, linden, maple .In the open spaces of the Russian Federation, ordinary horse chestnut is planted in a temperate zone.

Fruit horse chestnut need to collect , when they independently begin to fall off, this is a signal that they have already matured, mostly it happens in October.

How to eat fruits

Despite the fact that nuts are similar to each other, but the fruits resemble only externally. Not all chestnuts can be eaten .That is why it is not for nothing that horse chestnut has such a name, sinceits fruits can not be eaten by people. In places where it grows, it is given in pet food. To taste, these nuts gorchat, so the animals do not immediately begin to eat them. Usually, they are simply ground into flour and added as an additive in animal feed. What chestnut can you eat?

Roasted Chestnuts

But the real chestnut can be eaten. In the south of Europe, it is eaten baked, raw, fried and boiled .They make flour from dried fruits and add it to pastries, sweets and cakes. They can also be made a worthy replacement for coffee.

Useful properties and application in traditional medicine

Chestnut is a valuable nut that has a large number of useful properties. It includes :

• Saponins .They have a positive effect on the increase in the tone, permeability and elasticity of venous vessels, thereby removing blood stasis. Activates the production of catecholamines. Makes the walls of the venous capillaries stronger and eliminates pastoznost by lowering the lymph flow.
• Tannins .They are necessary to create protection, due to its bactericidal and astringent properties.

• Starch - the most important source of energy. When it enters the body, it turns into glucose. He is also responsible for coordinated muscular work.
• A large amount of vitamins that are so necessary for the human body: A, C, E, K, vitamins of group B.
• Glycosides are necessary for proper cardiac performance, improvement of the nervous system, sputum, and removal of mucus from the lungs.
• Many macro and micronutrients : Ca, Fe, Ni, Zn, B, Cr, Se, I, Ag.

Chestnut is also enriched with pectin, lecithin, carotene, flavonoids and organic acids, globulins, fatty oils.

Horse chestnut tincture is useful for varicose veins

This rich composition can significantly improve human health, therefore, has found wide application in traditional medicine. How can chestnut help the body :

• Eliminates pastosnost and inflammatory reactions.
• Prevents blood thinning of .
• Reduces blood viscosity .
• Reduces the permeability of capillaries .
• Prevention of for thrombosis of .
• Normalizes pH pH gastric juice.
• Relieves muscle spasm .
• Normalizes the secretion of the gallbladder.
• Increases the speed of blood flow .
• Expands vessels.
• Reduces Cholesterol .
• Improves the performance of heart and liver .
• chestnut extract removes toxins, heavy metals, salts and radionuclides.

There are plenty of options for how to use chestnuts. For therapeutic purposes, flowers, bark of young branches, seeds, seed skins, leaves, and fruits are used. Of them make infusions, decoctions, drops.

Contraindications to receiving :

• individual intolerance ;
• disease thrombocytopenia , or decreased blood clotting;
• acute gastritis and gastric ulcer;
• violation of menstrual cycle ;
• pregnancy , especially in the first trimester;
• atonic constipation ;
• hypotension - lowering blood pressure.

How to plant an ordinary chestnut

Flowering chestnuts - just a sight for sore eyes. Many people dream of planting this tree in their yard or dacha, but few know how to do it right. In order to get accustomed to horse chestnut and delight you with its beauty, you should familiarize yourself with the following rules:

• To plant a chestnut you do not have to buy seedlings, will only need one mature chestnut .

Germinated horse chestnut

• In order for the chestnut to germinate it is necessary to soak it in water , and when it swells and becomes saturated with moisture, you can safely put it in the ground.

• After 14 days the first shoots will occur.
• When a chestnut has sprouted, you can put in an pot with soil and leave it in a cool room until spring comes.
• At the end of May, you can begin landing .Better if it is not a particularly hot day.
• In order for the seedlings to be stable and hardened, you can take them out to the fresh air a few hours before planting and leave them for a couple of hours. Next you need to leave for more time.
• Before planting chestnuts they should be on the street all day, and then another day.

First of all, you need to choose the right place for the future cultivation of chestnut. We must choose the territory so that it is well lit and has a lot of space and space. It is better not to plant chestnut in front of houses, outbuildings and enterprises of .Also within 5 m there should not be any buildings that would prevent the penetration of the sun into the crown. Another important point is that nothing obscures the seedlings.

The land should be fertile, excellent if it is black soil. If the soil is sandy or clayey, it can lead to rotting and acidification. Also, the roots will get a little oxygen.

If the soil does not have any particular minerals or elements, it is necessary to replenish the balance. For example, if it is a loamy type of soil, then you need to add sand, and if it is a sandy type, then clay. You can also use organic fertilizers such as compost or manure.

Horse chestnut planting depth - 5-7 cm

Planting a chestnut is not at all difficult. To do this, must dig a hole with a width of 55-65 cm. . .Next, you need to make fertilizer and mix it with the ground. Here you can use humus and dolomite flour.

Next, put a sapling and bury it with earth. After we tamp the earth with our hands and water it. It is worth remembering about weeding, in order for the roots to develop faster. You can also make a backup so that the tree does not break if there is a strong wind.

Care and reproduction of chestnut

Although the horse chestnut tree is not capricious, however, you should take care of it and properly care for it. Top dressing should be made in the fall. nitroammofosc can be used as a fertilizer, and a year later you can make the following fertilizer: pour 20 g of urea and 1 kg of mullein into a bucket of water. All components mix and water the seedling.

To saturate the soil with oxygen, you must not forget to mulch it and add peat or wood chips.

Summary

Horse Chestnut is an amazingly beautiful chestnut tree with a wealth of nutrients. They are favorite plants that are used in landscape design. The most important thing to remember is that horse chestnut can not be consumed, and allowed only real chestnut .

Acceptance of infusions, decoction or self-use will significantly improve health and enrich your body with vitamins and minerals.

Thus, this tree not only carries beauty and purification of air, but also significantly affects the internal state of .Since it is not expensive and easy to maintain, it is very advantageous to plant it on country sites, parks, highways.