Zherukha Pharmacy

Cruciferous - Brassicaeae (Cruciferae). Parts used: primarily fresh leaves and fresh herbs, very rarely the whole dried plant. Pharmacy name: watercress herb - Nasturtii herba (formerly: Herba Nasturtii).

Botanical description. This perennial plant with predominantly recumbent shoots, 30-90 cm in length, forms dense turf. The shoots can overwinter. The stems are hollow, ribbed and furrowed. The leaves are dark green, fleshy, odd-pinnate, the lower ones are trifoliate, and the upper ones are 5-9-lobed. White flowers with yellow anthers are collected in an umbrella-shaped inflorescence.

The bitter core, found in the same places, is very similar to watercress. But it has purple anthers. (Mixing these two plants is not dangerous, since their action and taste are similar.) Watercress blooms from April to June. Loves clean, slow-flowing springs with moderate water temperatures, streams, rivers and ditches.

Collection and preparation. Fresh grass is best picked in the spring, but can be collected throughout the year. Since it only works fresh, it is not dried. It is only rational to prepare juice from fresh plants. The pharmaceutical industry produces canned watercress juice. For the spring course, it is advisable to collect only the leaves of young plants that have not yet bloomed.

Active ingredients: gluconasturtin, senfol-glycoside, phenylethylsenfol, potassium, iron, arsenic, iodine, bitterness, vitamins A, C, D.

Healing action and application. If we assume that scientific medicine is interested in refreshing and energizing spring courses to improve metabolism and non-specific stimulating therapy, then we can say that watercress is also used for medical purposes. This medicinal plant is used in the form of fresh juice and as a salad together with fresh dandelion and nettle leaves (in case of insufficient renal function - with the addition of young birch leaves), as a stomach remedy, for disorders of the liver and gall bladder, metabolic disorders, which should be treated also include rheumatic diseases and gout.

My special advice. I am one of the people who classify fresh salads as health benefits because they have a much broader effect than we think based on their constituent substances. There are many medicinal plants whose fresh shoots in spring can be beneficial. Along with the leaves of birch, dandelion and watercress, I can also recommend young basal leaves of yarrow, fresh leaves of sedum and spoonwort, very young shoots of chistya, as well as all the kitchen herbs. A salad, half consisting of leaf or head lettuce, and half of those numerous greens that grow in spring in our meadows, forests and gardens, thoroughly flavored with green and onions, with a little oil and lemon juice, is an excellent health remedy against decline strength and spring fatigue. There should always be fresh greens, and not only in salads, but also with scrambled eggs, soups, various kinds of snacks, and also mixed with soft cheeses.

Use in folk medicine. Everything that has been said still applies to folk medicine, in which they prefer salad or mashed watercress leaves with a small amount of sugar. Indications: general weakness, metabolic disorders, constipation, skin diseases, nervousness, cough, lung diseases, rheumatism and gout, diseases of the gallbladder, liver, stomach, intestines, bladder and kidneys.

Side effects. Excessive enthusiasm for watercress can lead to slight irritation of the gastric mucosa, and sometimes the kidneys.