Real honorary award
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Speedwell ( veronica officinalis ) |
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The true speedwell ( Veronica officinalis ) or forest speedwell is a species of plant in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). Popular names include medicinal prize, basic healing herb, wound healing herb, Allerweltsheil and Frauenlist.
description
The real speedwell is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 10 to 20 centimeters. The prostrate to ascending stem is gray-green, softly hairy, glandular above and sometimes rooted. Vegetatively it often forms small carpets. The broadly lanceolate to egg-shaped leaves are short stalked (2 to 6 mm) and finely serrate on the edge.
The flowering period extends from July to September. They form dense, stalked racemose inflorescences . The light blue, pale purple or whitish flowers are 6 to 7 mm in diameter. The flower stalks are shorter than the triangular, flattened capsule fruit .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36, less often 18 or 34.
Occurrence
The distribution area of the real honorary award includes Europe, the Middle East and Macaronesia . In the Allgäu Alps, it rises to an altitude of 1880 meters. The forest speedwell likes to grow on moderately dry, nutrient-poor, more or less base-rich, acidic, musty or peaty-humic, mostly stony-sandy loam soils. It occurs in Central Europe in societies of the associations Quercion roboris, Luzulo-Fagenion, Epilobion angustifolii, but also of the class Nardo-Callunetea, more rarely Vaccinio-Piceetea.
Systematics
One can distinguish the following subspecies:
- Veronica officinalis L. subsp. officinalis :
- Veronica officinalis subsp. alpestris (Čelak.) Holub : It occurs in the Czech Republic.
Illustrations
The ovate to elliptical leaves are densely hairy.
The flowers are very short stalked, the calyx is hairy with dense glands.
The infructescence is densely hairy glandular. The fruits are inverted triangular.
ecology
The forest speedwell is a creeper with roots up to 50 centimeters deep. He loves summer warmth, shy away from moisture and is hostile to fertilizers. The flowers are pollinated by insects or self-pollination.
Important phytonutrients
Iridoid glycosides (0.5-1%) such as Aucubin , Catalpol and Catapol ester ; also flavonoids , especially flavones ( apigenin , luteolin ), triterpene saponins, small amounts of tannins , mannitol , β-sitosterol , chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid .
Medical use
The dried above-ground parts of the plant, collected at the time of flowering, serve as medicinal drugs - Herba Veronicae (synonyms: Veronicae herba , Herba Betonicae ).
Well-known active ingredients of the speedwell are iridoid glycosides such as Catalpol , Veronicosid , Verprosid , Mussaenosid ; Flavonoids , triterpene saponins , phenol carboxylic acids ( chlorogenic acid , caffeic acid ), tannins .
The speedwell herb is now practically only used in folk medicine for a variety of ailments, primarily for diseases and complaints of the respiratory tract, gout , rheumatism and digestive problems. Today it is only recommended sporadically in cold tea mixtures, where it is said to have a slight cough-promoting effect. Outwardly it is mentioned as a gargle for inflammation of the mouth and throat mucous membranes. Since the effectiveness has not yet been proven, its use is not recommended.
However, the Real Speedwell is used in homeopathic medicines.
history
The real honorary award was mentioned for the first time under the names "erenbris", "veronica" and "über arzt gruntheil" in the small distilling book of Hieronymus Brunschwig from the year 1500. Brunschwig attributed the name to a French king who, through external use of the honorary award Juice has been cured of a chronic skin condition. To make the distillate, the herbs collected in the beginning of June should be marinated in wine for a night and a day and then distilled in Marienbad . The indications given by Brunschwig for the Ehrenpreis water were - according to the name "über arzt grundtheil" - very numerous. They can essentially be classified under the headings “non-toxic” and “blood-purifying”.
In his Latin and German herbal books (1530–1537) Otto Brunfels did not mention the real honorary award. His student Hieronymus Bock, however, described him in detail following the Gamander Prize and he remarked:
"Our doctores also need the herb / how don't / they know nothing about it in the scriptures / learn daily from the empirical women / those of the Circes artists can."
The Commission E of the former Federal Board of Health, published in March 1989, a (negative) monograph on Veronicae herba (Speedwell herb).
Others
The Association of German Perennial Gardeners (BdS) selected the honorary award ( Veronica and Veronicastrum ) as “ Perennial of the Year 2007”.
Like watercress, the young herb can be used in the kitchen to make salads or vegetables.
swell
- Lexicon of medicinal plants and drugs . area Verlag, in cooperation with Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-89996-682-4 .
- Dietrich Frohne, Birgit Classen: Medicinal Plant Lexicon . 8th edition. Wissenschaftliche Verlags-Gesellschaft, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-8047-2316-0 .
- Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
- Ingrid and Peter Schönfelder : The new book of medicinal plants . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-440-12932-6 .
References and comments
- ↑ a b c Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp. 843 .
- ↑ Veronica officinalis in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 448.
- ↑ a b Karol Marhold, 2011: Plantaginaceae : data sheet Veronica officinalis In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
- ↑ Pharmacy review: drug information on Lymphomyosot N drops ( memento of the original from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ This description was illustrated with a printing block of a Strasbourg edition of the Hortus sanitatis from 1497, where it had served to illustrate the chapter Serpillum .
- ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig . Small distilling book . Strasbourg 1500, sheet 43v-44v Erenbris (digital copy )
- ↑ Hieronymus Bock . New Kreütter book. Strasbourg 1539, book I, cap. 68 Ehrenbreiß (digitized version)
- ↑ Leonhart Fuchs . New Kreütterbuch. Strasbourg 1543, 59 Cap. 59 Erenbreiß (digitized version )
Web links
- Real honorary award. In: FloraWeb.de.
- Real honorary award . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
- Profile and distribution map for Bavaria . In: Botanical Information Hub of Bavaria .
- Veronica officinalis L. In: Info Flora , the national data and information center for Swiss flora . Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- Distribution in the northern hemisphere
- Thomas Meyer: Ehrenpreis data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
- Real honorary award at Herbaversum
- Bad Heilbrunn database
