Immortelle Sandy, Or Caraway Sandy.

Sandy immortelle, or sandy caraway

Perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, 15-60 cm high. Shoots are tomentose-woolly. The leaves are alternate, entire, the lower ones are petiolate, the upper and middle ones are petiolate, linear-lanceolate.

Blooms from June to October. Flower baskets are yellow, collected in a thyroid inflorescence. The tap root is dark brown. The flowers are tubular, yellow or orange with a tuft.

Sandy immortelle is widespread in the steppe regions of the European part of Russia, in the Ciscaucasia, Central Asia and Southern Siberia. Grows on sandy and rocky sunny slopes, in dry glades and dunes, on chalk soil, open copses, boundaries and fallow lands.

In culture it is propagated by seeds. The plant prefers low-humus, slightly alkaline loams and sandy loam chernozem. The area for immortelle cultivation has been prepared since the fall. When digging, add 2 kg of manure and 18-20 g of complex mineral fertilizers per 1 m2. Seeds are sown in rows or holes to a depth of 1 cm with a row spacing of 45 cm.

The shoots are tender, small, appear on the 7-10th day. After 1.5-2 months. Plant growth intensifies, they form a rosette of leaves, some of them bloom in the 1st year. Blooms 1 - 1.5 months. During the winter, the above-ground part dies off. In the 2nd year, in April and June–August, generative shoots are formed.

Without snow, when the soil freezes to a depth of 10 cm, plants die, so snow retention should be carried out. It grows in one place for 4-7 years.

Flowers serve as medicinal raw materials. The baskets are collected at the very beginning of flowering, when they have not yet fully blossomed. When harvested late, the flowers easily fall off and the raw material loses its biological activity. They are picked with stems no more than 1 cm long.

When collecting, do not pull out plants with roots. The flowers are folded loosely and dried no later than 3-4 hours in a well-ventilated area, laid out in a 2-3 cm layer on paper or fabric. When dried without ventilation (attic, dryer), flower baskets fall apart.

Store raw materials in a closed container in a dark, cool, well-ventilated area for 3 years.

Inflorescences contain essential oils, scopoletin, sitosterol, sterolin, resins, organic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, unidentified dyes, mucus; vitamins, inosine, steroid compounds, tannins, fatty acids, mineral salts and trace elements (potassium, calcium, iron, manganese).

Immortelle preparations improve bile secretion, reduce the acid content in liver secretions, increase the tone of the gallbladder, enhance the secretion of gastric juice, activate the activity of the pancreas, increase urine output, and are a disinfectant, hemostatic and astringent.

They are used as an anthelmintic to expel roundworms. Immortelle is prescribed for cholecystitis, cholelithiasis and hepatitis. It helps flush out sand and small stones with a diameter of 1-2 mm from the gallbladder.

Immortelle infusion has a positive effect on the course of gastritis with low acidity with a mild inflammatory process in the pancreas, as well as in cases where liver disease is combined with colitis.

For chronic inflammation of the kidneys with fluid retention, immortelle can be used as a disinfectant and diuretic that does not irritate the organ tissue. For leucorrhoea, its infusion is used both in pure form and in mixture with other means, for example with a cuff, in the form of douches.

At home, to prepare an infusion, pour 20 g of immortelle into 0.5 liters of boiling water, leave for 10-15 minutes and filter. Take 1/2 glass per day 15 minutes before meals. The course of treatment is 2-3 weeks.

In clinical practice, a decoction of immortelle flowers is used. To prepare it 3 tablespoons