Squirting cucumber

An annual rough plant of the pumpkin family. The stem is recumbent or ascending, 50-150 cm long. The leaves are heart-shaped or slightly lobed, crenate along the edge, grayish-tomentose below.

Blooms in June - July. The flowers are yellowish, collected in racemes on long peduncles. The fruit is a juicy pumpkin; when ripe, it separates from the stalk.

The mad cucumber is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of Russia, but is more often found in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Grows in trash areas, fallow lands, near hedges, along roadsides and in vegetable gardens. The plant is poisonous.

The aerial parts and roots serve as medicinal raw materials. The above-ground part is harvested during flowering. The stems are cut into pieces and dried in sunny weather in the shade.

The raw material is considered ready if the stems do not bend when bent, but break. The roots are collected in the fall, shaken off the ground, washed with cold water, dried in the sun or in a room with good ventilation and dried in a dryer or heated oven. Store in a closed container for 1 year.

The raw material contains triterpenoids (curbitacins), carotenoids, steroids, alkaloids, organic acids, nitrogen-containing compounds (allantoin), vitamin C, higher fatty acids and other substances.

Preparations from various parts of the plant have laxative, diuretic, antimalarial, anthelmintic, antibacterial and antitumor effects. Decoction and powder are used for malignant neoplasms of the uterus.

Infusion and decoction of the roots are prescribed for edema, malaria, inflammatory liver diseases and hemorrhoids. The powder is used for fungal skin diseases.

For the treatment of long-term non-healing trophic ulcers, the aerial part of the plant is used. In this case, prepare a decoction at the rate of 1 tablespoon of raw materials per 1 glass of hot water. Boil in a closed enamel container in a water bath for 20 minutes, filter while hot and bring the volume to the original volume with boiled water.

Then 1 tablespoon of the decoction is mixed with 1 teaspoon of flour, applied to the ulcer and bandaged. In case of fungal infection of the skin, wipe the affected areas with a decoction. A decoction of the fruit is also used to treat rheumatism, abscesses, diarrhea, inflammatory kidney diseases, intestinal colic, hemorrhoids, inflammation of the nasal mucosa and as a pain reliever.

Fresh juice diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4 gives positive results for diseases of the paranasal sinuses. After instilling 2-4 drops, sneezing appears, followed by suppuration. The procedure is repeated only after 3 days.

If no positive effect is observed after instilling the decoction twice, then further use of the drug is useless.

You can use crazy cucumber for medicinal purposes only on the recommendation and under the supervision of a doctor.