Celery

ApiumgraveolensL.

In our gardens, although celery is losing its value, and they believe that it is useful only for its aroma, for many, however, it comes to the aid of medicines with its Properties; If you take its seeds crushed, then, they say, you will break urinary retention, which brings torment, and if you chew it along with the tender leaves, it will digest the food that wanders in the depths of the stomach. If the ruler’s body is oppressed by a sickening nausea, one immediately drinks celery with water and bitter vinegar, and the suffering, struck down by quick treatment, recedes, - this is what Valafrid Strabo wrote about the plant that is well known to us.

The aroma of flowering celery attracts bees, hence its Latin nameapis - "bee". It grows wild on the Mediterranean coast.

Due to its special properties, celery was one of the sacred plants in the Ancient world. In Ancient Greece and Sicily, images of celery were minted on coins. Wreaths woven from it were presented at the Isthmian Games to the winners of gymnastic, equestrian, poetic and musical competitions.

«Apium»- there is celery decorating the head - «apex» The winner, according to the custom of the ancients, has a triumph at the hour. The first to crown himself with such an award was, they say, Alcides and his descendants kept the custom.

In Europe, celery began to be grown as a vegetable during the Middle Ages. In the East it was more often used for medicinal purposes. Celery was believed to be very beneficial for cancer patients. Avicenna claimed that “from lichen to wounds until they close, with inflammation of the sciatic nerve, cough, as well as asthma, tightness and difficulty breathing,” celery helps. It also “resolves mucous tumors.”

Odo of Mena dedicated the following lines to celery:

If you rub it with juice and stir it a little
White bread, then you can hear the swelling in the eyes settle,
If the medicine is applied to the eye, like a plaster, at night;
And they say it helps with swollen breasts.
The heat calms in the stomach and the bloating expels it
Just like everything that creates or conceals harmful winds,
The product, when you take it, drains through the pores.
If you eat it raw or take it, it causes urine.
Returns the color to the face that the patient has lost due to illness,
If raw on an empty stomach it will be eaten repeatedly.
That fever that torments the body every day,
The herb cures with water if you drink it for a trembling attack.
Treats patients with dropsy, swollen spleen, and liver,
If it is crushed and drunk with dill juice;
If you apply grass, you will drive away ugly freckles.

Essential oil is found in all parts of the plant, but most of all in the seeds. From 30 kg of seeds you can get 1 kg of aromatic spicy oil, which contains about 60 different components, the main of which is limonene (up to 80%).

Medicinal properties

1. It has a beneficial effect on inflammation of the upper respiratory tract.
2. Stimulates appetite, improves digestion and colon activity. Recommended for gastric and duodenal ulcers, decreased secretion of gastric juice, hypacid gastritis, constipation, dyspepsia.
3. It has a restorative effect on the liver, and has an anti-inflammatory effect on kidney diseases. Recommended for congestion in the liver, jaundice, urolithiasis and kidney stones.
4. Effective for menstrual irregularities and painful periods.
5. Reduces lactation.
6. Useful for neurocirculatory dystonia with low blood pressure.
7. Reduces thirst in diabetes mellitus.
8. Regulates water-salt metabolism.
9. Effective for gout, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis.
10. Antioxidant agent.
11. A good blood purifier, used for anemia and the accumulation of toxins in the blood.
12. General strengthening agent, increases physical activity.
13. Prescribed for the treatment and prevention of obesity and exhaustion.
14. Used for allergic urticaria, lichen ruber, blistering dermatitis, xanthoma, xanthelism, psoriasis, vitiligo, purulent wounds, ulcers, bruises, erysipelas, viral skin diseases.
15. In folk medicine it is known as promoting hematopoiesis, antispasmodic, antiallergic, antiscorbutic, carminative, antipyretic, strong diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent. Used for inflammation of the respiratory tract and nasopharynx, prostate gland, impotence, malaria, kidney disease, gout, urticaria, dermatitis, scurvy, lack of appetite, poor digestion.
16. Stimulates mental activity. Effective for neuroses, increased fatigue, nervous excitability, post-stress disorders.
17. Aphrodisiac.
18. Recommended for early graying, baldness, thinning and splitting of nails.

Dosage

Oil burner: 3-4 k.

Internally: 2-3 k. with 1 tsp. honey 1-2 times a day.

Massage: 4-6 k. per 10 ml of base.

Inhalations: 1-2 k.

Enrichment of cosmetics: 4-5 k. per 10 ml of base.

Contraindications. Individual intolerance, pregnancy, lactation period.