Aspen.

Aspen

A large tree of the willow family, up to 35 m high. It blooms in April - May, before the leaves bloom. The flowers are hairy catkins that look like caterpillars.

Aspen is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Western and Eastern Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia. It grows along the banks of reservoirs, in forests, along the edges, occasionally on dry sands and clearings, in ravines, swamps and in the mountains, rising to the upper border of the forest.

Used for landscaping settlements as a fast-growing tree.

The wood is used for various economic purposes. The bark is used for tanning leather. It is used to produce yellow and green paint.

Bark and young shoots are fed to domestic and commercial livestock. Bees collect pollen from aspen flowers, and glue from the buds, which is processed into propolis.

Medicinal raw materials include bark, leaves, young shoots and buds.

The bark is harvested in early spring from trees to be cut down. It is advisable to take light green, smooth bark that has not yet cracked, since it can be easily removed from the tree after circular and longitudinal cuts. The raw materials are dried in the sun and dried for a long time in the shade in good weather.

Leaves are collected in early May - June. Dry in the shade or in a dryer at a temperature of 50–60 °C.

The buds are collected before blooming and quickly dried in a kiln or oven. Store in bags in a dry place for 3 years.

The bark contains carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc.), aromatic acids, phenol glycosides, tannins, higher fatty acids (capric, lauric, arachidic, behenic, etc.). Carbohydrates (raffinose, fructose, etc.), aromatic acids, tannins and triglycerides of phenolcarboxylic acids are found in the kidneys. The leaves contain carbohydrates, organic acids, carotenoids, vitamin C, carotene, flavonoids, phenol glycosides, anthocyanins and tannins.

Aspen preparations have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antitussive and anthelmintic effects.

The combination of antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties in aspen bark makes it promising in the complex treatment of tuberculosis, smallpox, malaria, syphilis, dysentery, pneumonia, coughs of various origins, diarrhea, rheumatism and inflammation of the bladder mucosa. Aspen is used as an appetite stimulant.

Externally, aspen decoction is used to treat wounds, ulcers and burns, and for inflammation of the skin and mucous membranes.

Infusion of the kidneys is used for gout, bedwetting, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bladder and as a diaphoretic. Well-ground fresh leaves are used to relieve pain in the hip joints and applied to boils.

To prepare a bark decoction, pour 1 tablespoon of crushed raw material into 2 glasses of hot water, boil in a water bath in a closed enamel container for 30 minutes, filter while hot through two or three layers of gauze and bring the volume to the original volume.

Take 1-2 tablespoons sweetened 3-4 times a day with meals. The same decoction is used externally.

When using buds, 1 teaspoon of raw material is poured into 1 glass of hot water, kept in a water bath in a closed enamel container for 15 minutes, cooled for 45 minutes and filtered.

Take 3 tablespoons 3 times a day before meals.

An infusion of buds and a decoction of the bark are used externally, applying moistened napkins to the affected areas.