Along with medicinal herbs that are beneficial to health, there are in nature poisonous plants with poisonous properties. According to scientists, there are more than 10,000 poisonous plants on Earth. Many of these plants are strong medicines, but it is necessary to know the dosage. Paracelsus, the eminent physician of the past, wisely declared: "Only the dose makes a substance a poison or a medicine."
Many serious diseases are treated with poisonous plants. More than 160 species of poisonous plants are already used in medicine. These poisonous plants have a number of remarkable properties. They can also be used for heart disease, as a hemostatic, analgesic.

Poisoning by plants occurs mainly in the spring and summer.

Most often, people who are unfamiliar with these plants are at risk, as well as children, who often grab and chew anything. Most often, when poisoning with poisonous plants, the nervous system is affected. Many poisonous plants act directly on the gastrointestinal tract, causing very severe poisoning, and can also act on the heart muscle, liver, and skin, causing various allergic reactions, blisters appear, and severe itching is noted.

Let's look at some of them to know how to use them if necessary and what to be wary of when using them. Be careful and attentive.

Acacia white.

It grows mainly in the southern regions of Russia. Its height can reach 15 m. It blooms in May with white fragrant clusters of flowers. Some of them love bees. Acacia flowers are used for medicinal purposes.
Acacia roots and bark contain substances that are harmful to our body, can cause poisoning.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, cramping abdominal pain, diarrhea. There may be bloody stools, blood in the urine, acute cardiovascular failure. There may be a sharp mental disorder, convulsions, loss of consciousness. First aid: Gastric lavage 2-3 times, add 2-3 grains of potassium permanganate to the water when washing. Give activated charcoal 2 tablets every 2 hours. In case of severe poisoning, give heart remedies - valocordin, hawthorn tincture ... And be sure to call a doctor.

Aconite (root-fighter, blue ranunculus, Issyk-Kul root).

A genus from the buttercup family. The poisonous properties of aconite have been known since ancient times. It occurs in forests and copses, in ravines and gardens, along the banks of rivers and lakes. The degree of poisonousness of the plant depends on the season, soil and age. The tubers of the plant are the most poisonous. Yellow aconite flowers are very beautiful, but it is not recommended to collect them for a bouquet.
Symptoms of poisoning:
salivation, burning in the mouth, numbness of the tip of the tongue, lips, tips of the fingers and toes, a feeling of crawling, sensation of heat and cold in the limbs, blurred vision, breathing quickens and shallow, sudden cessation of breathing may occur. Blood pressure drops sharply, cardiac activity is disturbed.
First aid: Gastric lavage, saline laxatives, activated charcoal every hour, 2 tablets. With weakening of the heart and weak breathing - artificial respiration and chest compressions. Call a doctor.

Belena is black.

Poisonous plant from the nightshade family. Belongs to the category of weeds. An inconspicuous plant with large flowers with a funnel-shaped off-white corolla covered with small purple veins. Blooms all summer long bad smell. The fruits appear in June-August. Seeds are located in a two-cell box, expanding towards the bottom. The top of the box is closed with a lid. The root at the age of two is turnip-shaped, up to 2.5 cm thick, gray-white inside. Distributed everywhere, grows in gardens, orchards, wastelands, fields, near housing. The plant is very poisonous. It produces up to 10,000 seeds in one season.
Symptoms of poisoning: after 30-40 minutes, dry mouth, thirst, motor agitation, impaired vision, breathing, dizziness, general weakness, nervous system disorder appear. The victim is behaving violently. "Helen ate too much" - they say among the people. In severe cases, loss of consciousness, convulsions, and death may occur. First aid: urgent gastric lavage, constant monitoring, hospitalization

Belladonna (beauty).

Perennial poisonous herbaceous plant from the nightshade family with a thick green or purple stem. Reaches a height of 1.5-2 m. The leaves are large, ovate, entire and pointed. The lower leaves are alternate, single, the upper ones are arranged in pairs, usually one of them is larger than the other, covered with small veins. Flowers are large, solitary, tubular-bell-shaped. Flowering in June-August, fruiting in September. The belladonna is more common in the southern regions of our country - the Crimea, the Caucasus. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Children are most often poisoned, who are attracted to the shiny, cherry-like berries of belladonna. 3-5 berries are enough to cause severe poisoning in a child.
Symptoms of poisoning: dry mouth, hoarseness, nausea, dizziness, fever, redness of the face, rapid pulse. In severe cases, seizures and hallucinations occur. Coma and death may occur. First aid: urgent gastric lavage, constant monitoring, hospitalization.

Hemlock.

Belongs to the genus of weeds. This is a biennial poisonous plant from the umbrella family, in the early years it looks like parsley. Has a mousey smell. It grows in neglected and abandoned areas, in weedy places, along the banks of lakes and rivers.
Symptoms of poisoning: there is a change in the central nervous system. The limbs become heavy and naughty, paralysis develops. Death occurs from paralysis of the respiratory center. First aid is the same as for henbane poisoning.

Hogweed.

Poisonous plant from the umbrella family. All parts of the plant are poisonous. When in contact with the plant and when the juice of the plant gets on the skin, inflammation develops.
First aid: rinse the skin with water, lubricate the damaged areas alcohol solution methylene blue, apply an ointment with hydrocortisone or anesthesin.

Elderberry smelly.

ELDER HERBAL. SMELLING ELDER. ELDER BIG (Zelenik)
Perennial, a shrub 50-60 cm high with a straight, branched furrowed stem and a white core. Leaves pinnate, with 5-9 oblong-lanceolate serrate-pointed leaflets. Stipules leaf-shaped, lanceolate, also serrated. Inflorescence - flat, thyroid erect panicle with three main branches. The flowers are small, with petals inside - white, outside - pinkish, with red anthers. Blooms in June-July. The berries are black, ripen in August-September.

The whole plant (and not just some leaves, like black elder) have a specific unpleasant odor. Mostly elder grass grows on the Right Bank of Ukraine and in its western regions: along roads, on pastures, in weedy places, in ravines, often forms thickets, loves clay soil.

The root of the plant is used for medicinal purposes. Elder grass is used only in folk medicine. Preparations from the root (when used internally) are a rather strong diuretic, which is recommended for inflammation of the kidneys (with nephritis) and mainly for effusions into the abdominal cavity and heart sac.

The root of elder grass is also useful for various diseases. Bladder, as well as in diabetes, often in combination with other herbs that have a similar effect on the body. Leaves and flowers are rarely used, and the berries are not used at all - they are poisonous, especially unripe ones. In case of poisoning, a neurotoxic effect is manifested.
Application:
A decoction of finely chopped roots: two teaspoons per glass of boiling water; take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day.
It is better to use in the form of tincture: 20 g of crushed root per 100 ml of alcohol or vodka, insist for 8 days in a warm place. Alcohol tincture take 15 drops, and vodka - 30 drops 3 times a day.
Infusion: 30 g of roots per 1 liter of boiling water, take 1 cup 3 times a day.

Wolf's bast (wolfberry).

Distributed in the Caucasus, in the middle forest and forest-steppe zone of Russia, in Western and Central Siberia. This is an upright shrub that blooms in May-April with fragrant pink tubular flowers that sit on leafless stems and twigs in clusters of 2-3 inflorescences. The fruits are bright red, juicy drupes in July-August cover the stem and twigs below the leaves. The whole plant is poisonous.
Symptoms of poisoning: when ingesting juice or berries, acute inflammation of the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is observed. The victim complains of pain in the throat, stomach, dizziness, convulsions, vomiting.
First aid: Gastric lavage, followed by the intake of egg white with water. Reception of activated carbon 3-5 grams 3 times within 1 hour. deep enema clean warm water. During the week, it is not recommended to take rough and hard food.
After touching the wet bark or getting the sap of the plant, blisters and sores can appear on the skin of a person.

Crow's eye (quatrefoil).

Belongs to the lily family, perennial, bare stem, up to 35 cm tall. At the top of the stem there are 4 leaves, collected in a whorl. Blooms in May-June. The fruits are a bluish-black berry that ripens in August. The plant is very poisonous. The fruits cause vomiting, and if you eat a lot, severe poisoning occurs.

In official medicine is not used. AT folk medicine use very carefully in the form of tincture: 1 tbsp. spoon per 1 liter of vodka, insist in a dark place for 14 days. Shake periodically. Strain. It is used for pulmonary tuberculosis, mental disorders, chronic headaches.
Symptoms of poisoning: vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dry mouth, photophobia, swallowing and speech disorders, convulsions, hallucinations, cardiac activity is inhibited. Coma and death may develop.

First aid: gastric lavage followed by ingestion of activated charcoal 3-5 grams and enveloping agents (egg white, starchy mucus, milk), high enema. Urgent hospitalization.

Field bindweed.

In total, there are more than 35 types of bindweed in the world. In Russia, the field bindweed is considered the most common. Field bindweed is a weed. The bindweed has a long curly or creeping stem up to 1 m long. The flowers are white or pink and have a pleasant smell. Grows in fields, vegetable gardens, along roads, on abandoned plots of land. The main active ingredient of the plant is convulvin, which has a strong laxative effect, especially a lot of convulvin in the roots of the plant. In folk medicine, field bindweed is used as a laxative, diuretic and hemostatic agent. Bindweed is used in the form of powder, infusion and tincture. Powder from the roots is used for severe constipation, drink 1 gram (on the tip of a knife).
Externally, the powder is used for purulent wounds in the form of powders.
Tincture: Pour 2 parts of grass and field bindweed flowers with 4 parts of vodka. Infuse for 14 days in a dark place, strain. Take 10 drops 2 times a day as a hemostatic and laxative.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain. When these symptoms appear, it is necessary to stop taking these bindweed preparations, cleanse the stomach and intestines by washing and enema. Bindweed preparations are contraindicated for children and pregnant women.


Datura ordinary.

This is an annual herbaceous plant with a forked-branched erect stem up to 1.5 m high. It belongs to the nightshade family. The leaves are large, alternate, on long petioles, pointed, serrated. The length of the leaves is up to 25 cm, the width is 4-6 cm. The leaves are dark green above, light green below. The flowers are white, large, solitary up to 6 cm. They are located in the forks of the stem. Datura blooms in June-August, bears fruit in September. The plant emits an unpleasant intoxicating smell. Datura grows in abandoned places, along roads and fences. Distributed in the south of Russia, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia.
Datura leaves are harvested for medicinal use. They are dried in the shade, crushed. In folk medicine, dope is used for bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, convulsive cough, spasms, convulsions. It is used as a tincture or powder of the leaves. Symptoms of poisoning and first aid measures for dope poisoning are the same as for belladonna poisoning.

Larkspur field (spur).

Larkspur belongs to the buttercup family. It is an annual or perennial plant. It has a straight bare and branched stem up to 1 m high. The flowers are purple, less often white or pink. Blooms from June to September. Widely distributed in the southern and middle regions of the country. Refers to weeds.
Some alkaloids contained in the plant are used in anesthesia during surgical operations. Traditional medicine recommends the use of larkspur in the treatment of helminthic invasions and jaundice. Outwardly, preparations from it are used in the form of compresses for fractures. It is not recommended to use the plant inside, as the plant is very poisonous.
Symptoms of poisoning: impaired breathing and cardiac activity, a sharp drop in blood pressure, convulsions.
First aid: gastric lavage, laxatives and emetics. In case of cardiac arrest - artificial respiration.

Indian hemp (hashish, marijuana, marijuana...).

Poisoning is possible by inhalation of tobacco smoke together with these substances, as well as by ingestion. These poisonous plants have a psychotropic effect on the body due to a narcotic, hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system.
Symptoms of poisoning: in case of poisoning, psychomotor agitation occurs, pupils dilate, tinnitus appears, and vivid visual hallucinations appear. After 2-3 hours, there is general weakness, lethargy, tearfulness and a long deep sleep. The pulse during sleep is slowed down, the body temperature is lowered. A drop in blood pressure is possible.
First aid: gastric lavage, activated charcoal 2 tablets every hour, diuretics, drugs that support the heart, call a doctor.

European hoof.

A perennial herbaceous plant from the family Kirkazonovy. Wild hoof - an evergreen plant is an adornment of our deciduous and mixed forests. Leaves are leathery and shiny. Flowers solitary, small, white on the outside, dark purple on the inside. The plant flowers in May and bears fruit in July.
In official medicine, the hoof is not used. In folk medicine, it is used as a mild laxative, choleretic and diuretic. Especially widely used for inflammation of the sciatic nerve. In some regions of Russia, the plant is used as an antihelminthic and anti-febrile agent, for the treatment of neurosthenia, alcoholism, in the treatment cardiovascular disease.
For the treatment of chronic alcoholism, European hoof root is used: 1 tsp. finely ground root, pour 1 cup boiling water, insist in a tightly sealed container for 3-4 hours, strain. Take with vodka (invisibly pour 1 tbsp into a glass of alcohol). The plant is efficient. After 3-4 single doses, most alcoholics develop a strong aversion to alcohol.
As an emetic, take 1/2 g of root powder per dose. M.A. Nossal recommends taking an infusion of hoof root with budry herb and agrimony herb for the treatment of chronic bronchitis.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. With severe poisoning, there may be an acute lesion of the renal glomeruli.
First aid: Gastric lavage with a solution of potassium permanganate. Inside mucous decoctions, egg white. High cleansing enema.

Buttercup is poisonous.

Belongs to the buttercup family. A poisonous herb that contains the toxic substance protoanemonin. It has a neurotoxic and local irritant effect on the human body.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. When taking large doses of a toxic substance, the victim's blood pressure drops and convulsions occur. When ranunculus juice gets on the skin, dermatitis occurs. especially in children.
First aid: Gastric lavage, inside castor oil, give any diuretics. Prepare a mash with 200 ml of 10% castor oil emulsion, add 2 grams of biomycin, 2 grams of anesthesin, 20 grams of sugar syrup, give 1 tbsp. 5-6 times a day. Enveloping agents (tannin, raw eggs...).

May lily of the valley.

Perennial herbaceous plant from the lily family. It has a creeping stem, from which two basal leaves emerge, surrounding a flower arrow with a raceme of white flowers, usually 10 - 12. The fruit is a red-orange berry. Lily of the valley blooms in May, bears fruit in August-September.
The active ingredients of lily of the valley are cardiac glycosides. In official medicine, lily of the valley preparations are of great use in the treatment of cardioneurosis and heart failure. In addition, preparations of lily of the valley are indispensable for those cores that do not tolerate digitalis and its preparations. Lily of the valley preparations do not accumulate in the body with prolonged use, so they are more harmless than any other glycosides. Lily of the valley cardiac glycosides regulate energy and fat metabolism in the heart muscle, improve myocardial blood supply, improve metabolic processes in the body, and have a calming effect on the central nervous system.

Lily of the valley preparations are contraindicated in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys. Lily of the valley is one of the plants that take energy. Therefore, if a bouquet of lily of the valley flowers is placed at the bedside for the night, a general malaise is noted, headaches appear.
Lily of the valley is a poisonous plant. All its parts are poisonous, especially severe poisoning develops in children after eating lily of the valley berries. There are known cases of fatal poisoning after drinking water in which there was a bouquet of lily of the valley flowers. In case of poisoning, the heart is the first to suffer. With mild poisoning, the case is limited to nausea and vomiting. It is necessary to wash the stomach, cleansing enema. Give carbolene (10-15 tablets) and small pieces of ice.

Almond.

A low fruit tree with falling leaves. It comes in two varieties - sweet and bitter. Bitter almonds are poisonous. Children can be poisoned by 5-10 fruits. Bitter and sweet almonds are similar in appearance, but differ sharply in taste and chemical composition. The composition of bitter almonds includes hydrocyanic acid, so the symptoms of poisoning and first aid measures will be the same as for stone fruit poisoning.

Digitalis.

This is a biennial herbaceous plant found in Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, in the southern regions of the Krasnodar Territory. It grows along forest edges, small groves and forests. All parts are poisonous.
Symptoms of poisoning: In case of overdose or prolonged use, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea may occur. Urination may decrease sharply, even in the presence of edema.
First aid: Gastric lavage, saline laxative, inside activated charcoal 2 tablets every 1 hour, general warm baths, administration of atropine preparations, urgent hospitalization.

Oleander.

A beautiful lush tree with large white, pink and red flowers. The whole plant is poisonous. It is dangerous to taste the shoots and leaves, it is dangerous to breathe the fragrance of beautiful flowers. In no case should oleander sap be allowed to get into the eyes when pruning trees. Even if you held leaves and flowers in your hands, you should wash your hands well with soap and water.
Symptoms of poisoning: cramps and pain throughout the abdomen, diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of skin sensitivity, convulsions. The pulse is first slowed down, then its rhythm is disturbed, the victim feels a lack of oxygen, suffocation. There is cyanosis of the skin.
First aid: Create complete rest for the victim, wash the stomach with water with activated charcoal and 0.5% tannin solution, cold on the stomach, swallow pieces of ice in case of nausea and vomiting, hospitalization is mandatory.

Male fern.

Perennial herbaceous plant. Found in raw shady places. All parts of the fern plant are poisonous. Even when harvesting plants, care must be taken.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, depression of cardiac activity and respiratory center, blurred vision, convulsions.
First aid: Saline laxatives and gastric lavage, introducing as much fluid as possible into the body, warm baths. It is strictly forbidden to take castor oil, as damage to the optic nerve may develop and blindness may occur.

Nightshade bittersweet

Poisonous berries, especially unripe, and grass.
Symptoms of poisoning: dizziness, dilated pupils, unsteady gait, tachycardia, diarrhea, psychomotor agitation, hallucinations.
First aid: Salt laxatives and gastric lavage, diuretics inside in therapeutic doses.

Sleep-grass (lumbago)

Belongs to the buttercup family. All parts of the plant are covered with whitish-gray fluff. Blooms in April - May before the leaves bloom. The flowers are broadly bell-shaped, purple, rarely white. The flowers of the plant are very beautiful, so they are often collected for bouquets. Sleep-grass is found in deciduous or mixed forests, more often on the edges, glades, or thawed patches, since the plant is photophilous. The plant gradually becomes rare and is listed in the Red Book.

In folk medicine, sleep-grass is used as an expectorant for whooping cough, bronchitis, pneumonia. It is often used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and sedative. Sleep-grass is used in gynecology, for diseases of the joints, for epilepsy, neurotic conditions, hysteria, insomnia, sexual overexcitation. Externally used as an antifungal and antimicrobial agent.

One of the old handwritten collections of the 16th century says the following about sleep-grass: “Sleep-grass is small by itself, grows in groves and on hills, the color is blue, it blooms about Nicholas-spring, and when it fades, all the columns are fluffy: it is good from the articular He will drive out aches and hernias, and cleans the womb, and induces sleep, but due to the negligence of acceptance, causes death.
First aid: Rinse the stomach, activated charcoal and other enveloping agents (eggs, milk)
With vomiting and pain in the stomach, swallow pieces of ice.

The celandine is big.

Perennial poisonous herbaceous plant of the poppy family. Reaches a height of 1 m, the stem is straight, branched. All parts of the plant contain a yellowish milky sap. It grows in shady, damp places, along the banks of rivers and lakes, in neglected gardens, thinned out forest areas. Celandine grass is harvested at the beginning of flowering.
Celandine is one of the most popular medicinal plants in the middle zone and south of Russia. But before using it as a remedy, you need to know that celandine is considered a strong poisonous plant and poisoning can follow in case of an overdose (see below).

In the treatment, it is used as an anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antimicrobial agent. Celandine and preparations from it heal wounds well, cope with fungal diseases. Inside, an infusion or decoction of the herb is used for diseases of the liver, pancreas, gout, cholelithiasis. Externally used in the treatment of psoriasis, skin tuberculosis, lichen, eczema ... Used for gynecological diseases.

In folk medicine, an infusion of herbs, juice and celandine powder are used. Difficult-healing wounds and ulcers are sprinkled with celandine powder.
Celandine is a strong convulsive poison. In case of an overdose, paralysis of sensitive nerve endings occurs, then paralysis of motor endings occurs. With severe poisoning, paralysis of the heart muscle and death can occur. With local exposure, celandine preparations cause inflammation, hyperemia.
Symptoms of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. Sometimes cause convulsions.

First aid: gastric lavage and the introduction of as many liquids into the blood as possible.
Celandine preparations are contraindicated in pregnancy, epilepsy, bronchial asthma, angina pectoris. They should also not be given to children.

Folk remedies used to treat poisoning

In ancient Tibetan and Indian medicine, potato juice was considered and is considered one of the best antidotes for various poisonings. A mixture of milk and egg white is given in case of poisoning to support vomiting.

Orchid tubers powder is used as an enveloping agent for poisoning. Before use, the tubers are cleaned, strung on a string and immersed in boiling water for a few seconds. Then dried in the shade and ground into powder.

In case of poisoning with hemlock, belladonna, bleached or foxglove, patients are given to drink large amounts of vinegar diluted with water. If there is no vinegar at hand, then traditional medicine recommends giving the patient a glass of sorrel, cranberry or currant juice. You can also use cucumber juice, beetroot juice, cabbage or cucumber pickle, or very sour kvass.
If the liver is affected as a result of poisoning, then good effect has a decoction of elecampane root 20 grams per 300 ml of water, take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day before meals.

Since ancient times, dill has been used as an antidote in Russian folk medicine in the form of a powder, herb or ground seeds - 1/2 tsp each. every 15 minutes, three times.
Valerian root has always been considered an ancient antidote for various poisonings: 1 tsp. crushed root per 500 ml. water, boil for 5 minutes, strain, take 100 ml every hour.

Or a decoction of anise, depending on the degree of poisoning, take from 6 to 15 anise fruits per 400 ml. water, boil for 12-15 minutes. Drink 100 ml and try to induce vomiting. After cleansing the stomach, drink another 100 ml of broth.

The ancient Greeks, explaining the action of medicinal plants, sometimes endowed them with supernatural power. In ancient Greek, the word "pharmakon" means both poison, and medicine, and witchcraft. From the same word, the science of medicinal plants is now called, about medicines in general -, and those who make medicines in pharmacies are called pharmacists.

At different times and in different countries, potions were prepared from poisonous plants for criminal purposes. "Insidious", "harmful", "enemy plants" - as soon as these plants are not called! Many of them have also been known since ancient times to have wonderful healing properties when taken in small doses. Ancient doctors said that poison, skillfully applied, can serve as a medicine. Only Russian medicine used more than 160 species of poisonous plants. There are many of them in the medicine of India, Tibet, China, Africa, America.

For the most part, poisons are curable, if you only know how and in what quantity to use them. Small doses of poison contain painkillers, sedatives, healing medicines, medicines for infections, diseases of the heart, liver, kidneys.

In the plant kingdom, scientists count 10 thousand species of poisonous plants. This is a lot.

True, most of them are not always dangerous, but only at certain periods of their development.

It happens that the same plant is poisonous in different ways depending on the conditions in which it grows. A plant grown in the shade is more poisonous. There are more poisons in it in the morning than in the evening or at night. It also depends on the composition, its temperature, humidity.

Celery that grows in marshy places tastes disgusting and poisonous, but grown in a garden bed is pleasant, nutritious and medicinal.

Poisonous substances are distributed differently in different parts of plants. In some, the bark is also poisonous, in others - flowers and leaves, in others, almost the entire set of poisons is concentrated in the roots. Everything about the potato is poisonous, except for the tubers. A poisonous substance, solanine, accumulates in sprouted or green tubers. True, it is partially destroyed during cooking. Tomatoes (and fruits and seeds) are not poisonous, but leaves, stems, roots are poisonous. Sometimes the whole plant is poisonous.

There is no single sign that would help distinguish a poisonous plant from a non-poisonous one.

There are still cases of poisoning by poisonous plants - the result of the fact that people, especially children, carelessly handle unfamiliar herbs. They don’t know that there are some among them that you can’t even touch, much less take in. To avoid trouble, poisonous plants that you can meet in the forest, in the field and even in your flower garden, you need to know.

Among the hundreds of thousands of plants known on Earth, about ten thousand species are considered poisonous to humans. Even in the most familiar corner of nature, you can find plants that can be dangerous. Of course, you should not be afraid of them, but you need to know and treat them with respect. Any person should be able to distinguish common poisonous plants from ordinary ones so that an unknown herb or bright fruits do not cause irreparable trouble.

poisonous plants called plants that contain substances that are potential danger for the human body and domestic animals.

The study of poisonous plants is important not only from the point of view of preventing and treating poisoning or preventing harm to the human body, but also for understanding the evolution of wildlife and determining the possibility of medical use of biologically active substances contained in such plants.

Hornbeam Arts

Poisonous plants affect humans in different ways. This can be poisoning by ingestion or skin burns on contact with the leaves. Poisoning can cause weakness, dizziness, pain in various parts of the body, visual and hearing disorders, and in severe cases, paralysis and even death. The time after which the symptoms of poisoning appear is also different - in some cases it is minutes, in others the effect of poisonous plants on the body becomes noticeable only after a few days.

Poisonous Plants:

Poisonous plants are not necessarily guests from exotic countries, many of them grow in middle lane Russia, they are inconspicuous and rarely pay attention to them. Leaves hemlock spotted (Conium maculatum) are very similar to parsley, it has red spots on the stem, it grows in wastelands and is considered a weed. But cicuta(poisonous milestone) lives in wetlands, along the banks of lakes and rivers, often in water. The hemlock has dissected leaves with narrow lanceolate lobes and umbrellas of whitish small flowers.

Andrea Moro

Veh poisonous (Cicuta virosa) or hemlock - one of the most dangerous plants, all parts of which, especially the rhizome, contain cicutotoxin and other potent alkaloids. The poisonous alkaloid in hemlock is horse meat, which produces the same effect as curare poison. Signs of poisoning to these plants are convulsions, unconsciousness, paralysis, ending in respiratory arrest.

Tragedy may end home use yew berry (taxus baccata) as a medicinal plant. Young yew needles containing the alkaloid taxane can even poison animals. This alkaloid affects the central nervous system.

Since the 1990s, yew tree alkaloids have been used for the manufacture of anticancer drugs in official medicine.

naturgucker

Kleshchevin (Ricinus) is often grown as an ornamental annual. Its large seeds are shaped like a tick. They are not only a source of castor oil, but also contain a poisonous protein enzyme - ricin, which causes paralysis of the nervous system.

F. D. Richards

The smell and appearance of poisonous plants sometimes suggests, and sometimes hides the danger that threatens us upon contact with them. Pink periwinkle and purple colchicum can kill a person. in bulbs autumn colchicum (Colchicum autumnale) accumulates colchicine, which has the same effect as arsenic. Periwinkle pink, or pink catharanthus (Catharanthus roseus), or Pink Periwinkle is also poisonous, but its potent alkaloids are used in modern medicine as an antitumor agent.

Carl Lewis

AT wolf berries (Daphne mezereum), which temptingly turn red on the trunk of the plant, contains the glycoside daphne and the poisonous resin meserine, which at the initial stage causes an unbearable burning sensation in the throat, severe bitterness in the mouth, dizziness and swelling of the tongue. When you admire the lilac flowers of the wolfberry in spring, do not pluck or bite off the twig with your teeth, this is very dangerous.

kras3

bright orange berries lily of the valley (Convallaria) are also dangerous. Glycosides lily of the valley, digitalis, bought affect the rhythm of the heartbeat, the nervous system and the stomach. Even the water in the vase containing these flowers is dangerous.

Irina Durnova

At the end of summer in a coniferous forest you can meet raven eye (Paris) - a black-blue berry between large leaves. Make sure that when walking in the forest, your children do not mistake the crow's eye for blueberries or blueberries.

Be careful with plants with bright and juicy fruits if you don't know exactly what kind of plants they are!

Ruud de Block

Contains alkaloids hyoscyamine, scopolamine and atropine henbane juice, which causes hallucinations, delirium, heart palpitations and confusion. A small amount of these substances was used in ancient times for pain relief during surgical operations.

Henbane black (Hyoscyamus niger), like potatoes, belongs to the nightshade family. It grows on the outskirts of fields and wastelands. The height of this poisonous plant is about 1 meter, burgundy venation appears on yellowish flowers. After flowering, pitcher-shaped white boxes with rounded seeds appear on the henbane. People who chew these seeds to pacify toothache, feel dry mouth, their speech is disturbed, and the pupils dilate, mental excitement can turn into insanity. The same symptoms appear from red berries. black nightshade and bittersweet nightshade.

Rolf Muller

Grows in dumps and wastelands dope smelly, it is better not to breathe its smell, and touching its flowers is very dangerous. The fruits of "stupid - herbs" contain the alkaloid daturin, which also contains henbane.

Other plants from the nightshade family are also dangerous: belladonna, magic mandrake, tobacco from South America and Peruvian coca.

NYSIPM

dangerous to humans and hogweed, from its poisonous stems it is impossible to make either pipes or sprinklers. The leaves of the cow parsnip secrete essential oils that burn in the sun. They also act on human skin. caucasian ash-tree and narrow-leaved ash-tree.

Poisonous and many buttercups, they produce dangerous glycosides and essential oils that irritate the nose, throat and eyes. And buttercup juice leads to sharp pains in the stomach. Among the ranunculus there are many poisonous herbs: Adonis, hellebore, catchment, lumbago, black cohosh and other plants.

Adam Gor

But poisonous plants can bring not only harm, many of them are useful. In folk medicine in Russia, about 160 species of poisonous plants were used.

tanja niggendijker

It is hard to imagine that a very tasty Indian cashew nuts the peel contains poisonous cardolum, from which abscesses can occur on human skin. In India, this substance is used to protect building materials from ants.

tropical fruit mango useful and pleasant to the taste, but the smell of its flowers can cause allergies in humans. The unripe peel, twigs, and trunk of the mango tree contain poisonous gum, which causes blisters and swelling on the skin.

You can get poisoned and poppy sleeping pills. Unripe boxes and ovary of poppy are poisoned by poisonous milky juice.

Celandine also contains milky juice, which can cause a burn on the skin. Great trouble will bring celandine juice when it enters the stomach. Currently, celandine alkaloids are being studied for use in medicine as inhibiting the growth of malignant tumors.

fifeflora

It should be understood that most poisonous plants do not pose a serious danger in case of accidental contact with them. Much depends on the dose of their application. As a rule, poisonous plants can be poisoned if you use them for self-medication, without consulting a doctor, relying on the advice of “knowledgeable people”.

What amazing powers
The earth has invested in stones and flowers!
There is no such fiber in the world,
That she wouldn't be proud of
How can you not find such a basis,
Where there would be nothing wrong.
Everything that is useful, by the way, and not on time -
All blessings turn into vice.
For example, vessels of this flower:
One of them is good, the other is bad.
In its flowers - a healing aroma,
And in the leaves and roots - the strongest poison.
So they split our souls in two
The spirit of kindness and evil self-will.
However, in those where evil wins,
The black hollow of death gapes

Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare.
Translation by Boris Pasternak.

MBOU DO "Station of tourists of the Nadezhdinsky district"

Topic: Medicinal and poisonous plants. What is there when there is nothing to eat?

I've done the work : Mashkin Anatoly Mikhailovich - teacher

additional education, methodologist

MBOU DOD SUT, Full member of the Russian

Geographical Society since 1989

Work address: 692481 Primorsky Territory, with. V-Nadezhdinskoe,

per. Trade, 12

With. Volno-Nadezhdinskoye, 2015.

Introduction.

Currently, much attention in the circles of institutions of additional education is paid to environmental problems. In particular, the study of medicinal and poisonous plants. It is especially important for tourists to know medicinal properties plants and methods of preparing food in the conditions of autonomous human existence in nature. Also, the materials can be useful for team leaders in preparing them for a tourist rally, where there is an “Ecological platform” stage. For this work, scientific, reference and popular science literature was used.

The work is intended for teachers of additional education dealing with children in the field of ecology and tourism.

medicinal plants

Actinidia kolomikta (kishmysh)- woody vine. The flowers are white. The fruit is sweet and sour. Flowering in June, fruiting in September. It grows in all mountain forest regions of Primorye, Amur Region and in the south of Sakhalin. The fruits contain ascorbic acid, carotene, sugar, organic acids, tannins and pectin. The fruits are a valuable delicacy, as well as a preventive and curative property against scurvy.

Aralia high- a small tree with sharp thorns. Blooms in August; fruits are black, berry-like, ripen in September-October. Grows throughout Primorye. Found in mixed and broad-leaved forests. The roots are used in medicine. Aralia root tincture is recommended as a tonic for nervous and mental diseases, for the treatment of low blood pressure.

Badan pacific– Herbaceous plant, rhizome long, creeping, with numerous scars. Height up to 70 cm. Occurs in the mountain-forest belt of Primorsky Krai and the south of Khabarovsk. The rhizomes are used in medicine. Badan preparations are used for bleeding, with inflammatory processes in the oral cavity.

Amur barberry- a thorny shrub 1-3 m high. The flowers are pale yellow, fragrant. The fruits are sour, dryish red berries with large seeds. It grows throughout the Primorsky Territory, without penetrating high into the mountains.

Leaves, rhizomes and roots are used. A tincture of the leaves is used as a hemostatic agent, and berberine sulfate tablets are used as a choleretic agent.

Amur velvet- the bark is gray, cork, under it is a lemon-yellow bast (living bark). The flowers are inconspicuous, the fruits are black berries with bad smell. Ripen in August-September. It grows almost throughout Primorye and the Amur region. It does not rise high in the mountains. To get a drug

berberine use bast. Can be used as a diuretic.

Manchurian birch– Wood, white bark, red-brown young shoots. Blossoms in April-May, fruits ripen in August. Distributed throughout Primorye, especially in the mid-mountain zone. The kidneys are used. The tincture is used orally for edema of cardiac origin as a diuretic and disinfectant. It is used for diseases of the liver and biliary tract, as an expectorant, as well as for poorly healing abrasions, ulcers and bedsores. Birch sap is used for bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis and tonic. Leaf infusion is used for cholecystitis

Hawthorn- shrub or tree with thorns on the shoots. Fruit with bones. Flowering in May, fruiting in August. Distributed throughout Primorsky Krai. In medicine, the fruits and flowers of hawthorn are used. Hawthorn tincture is used for insomnia, high blood pressure, tachycardia, and general sclerosis.

You can use the fruit to make tea

Common lingonberry- perennial evergreen shrub. Height up to 25 cm. The berries are bright red. Distributed in Primorye in northern regions, in the south in the highlands. The leaves are used in medicine. Decoction and infusion (tea) from lingonberry leaves are used in the treatment of kidneys, gallbladder, as a diuretic and disinfectant, used for cystitis. Relieves joint pain, fatigue.

Valerian- a herbaceous plant 0.5 - 2.0 m high. The smell of the roots is strong, the taste is spicy. Flowers fragrant, pink. Blossoms in May, fruits ripen in June-September. It grows throughout Primorye, excluding the highlands. The roots and rhizomes of valerian contain essential oil, tannins, iridoids. The drugs are used as sedatives for nervous excitement, insomnia, vascular spasms, heart neuroses, spasms of the gastrointestinal tract. It is used in the form of infusion, decoction, tea.

Highlander snake (serpentine, cancer necks) perennial herbaceous plant up to 1 m high. Blooms in June, fruits are brown trihedral nuts. Distributed in Primorsky Krai (throughout the Far East). The rhizomes are used in medicine. It is used for acute and chronic diarrhea of ​​non-dysenteric origin. Externally used as an astringent for stomatitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane oral cavity)

Ginseng real- a perennial herbaceous plant from the Araliaceae family, 30-80 cm high. The stem is single, the leaves consist of 205 elliptical leaves. The fruits are bright red berries. Distribution Primorsky and south of the Khabarovsk Territories. In medicine, roots weighing at least 10 g are used. They are used as a tonic and stimulant, as well as for some nervous and mental diseases, diseases of cardiovascular diseases.

lure high- a thorny shrub from the Araliaceae family up to 1 m high. The trunk and leaves are covered with thorns. Distributed in the south of Primorsky Krai in the forest belt 800-1200 m. Rhizomes and roots are used. Listed in the Red Book. It is used as an aphrodisiac for nervous and mental diseases, for physical and mental fatigue, and for low blood pressure.

Stinging nettle- perennial herbaceous plant. The stems are tetrahedral, covered with burning hairs. Blooms from June to September. Distributed throughout Primorsky Krai. Collection of leaves is used in medicine as a hemostatic agent, prescribed for atherosclerosis, gastritis, peptic ulcer. For colds - hot foot baths.

Burnet officinalis- a perennial herbaceous plant 20-100 cm high. The flowers are small dark brown, distributed throughout Primorye. In medicine, rhizomes and roots are used. Preparations from burnet are used as an astringent and hemostatic agent for diarrhea, hemoptysis, as an anti-inflammatory for stomatitis (gargling)

May lily of the valley- a perennial herbaceous plant with two or three broadly lanceolate leaves and one peduncle bearing 5-12 bell-shaped white fragrant flowers. Blooms in May-June. The fruits are red very poisonous berries ripen in August. It occurs throughout Primorsky Krai no higher than 600-700 m above sea level. In medicine, flowers, leaves are used in the form of an infusion for heart neuroses and mainly in combination with valerian and hawthorn.

Schisandra chinensis- a liana from the lemongrass family with a woody climbing stem up to 15 m long. The flowers are white, the fruits are orange-red, collected in a brush of 10-40 pcs. Distributed in Primorye, Amur region and southern Sakhalin. In medicine, seeds and fruits are used. It has a stimulating effect, similar to ginseng, has a tonic effect, can be used as a tonic. It is used in the treatment of certain cardiovascular diseases, increases low blood pressure.

Linden Amur. Flowers are yellow-white. The fruit is a small nutlet up to 0.5 cm. Blooms in July. Use inflorescences. In medicine, decoction and infusion are used as a diaphoretic and antipyretic, as well as an antiseptic.

Dandelion officinalis- a perennial herbaceous plant from the Asteraceae family, with milky juice in all organs, 10-30 cm high. Blooms - April - September. Distributed throughout Primorsky Krai, except for highlands and mountainous wooded areas. Dandelion roots are used as bitterness to stimulate appetite, constipation, gastritis with low acidity and as a diuretic.

Common tansy- a perennial herb from the Compositae family, 50-150 cm high. The flowers in the basket are yellow. Blossoms in July-September, fruits ripen in August-September. Distributed Primorye, Amur region. It is often found near dwellings, roads, ditches and on coastal pebbles. In medicine, tansy inflorescences are used, they contain essential oil, tannins and bitter substances. The infusion is used to treat cholecystitis, hepatitis and other diseases of the liver and gallbladder. Also used as a remedy for worms and acute intestinal diseases.

Plantain large- a perennial herbaceous plant from the plantain family. The leaves are wide, the flowers are small, collected in spike-shaped inflorescence. Blooms throughout the summer, fruits ripen in July-September. It grows in all valleys and low-mountain regions of the Far East. Leaves are used. Fresh leaves are applied to boils and wounds to stop bleeding and heal quickly.

The infusion is used as an expectorant for bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, whooping cough. The juice of fresh leaves can be used for gastritis, coalitis, peptic ulcer.

Chamomile- an annual plant 15-60 cm high. Mass flowering in June. Distributed throughout Primorye. In medicine, blossoming inflorescences (baskets) are used. Chamomile is prescribed for acute and chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, colitis, diseases of the liver and biliary tract.

Creeping thyme (creeping thyme, Bogorodskaya herb)- semi-shrub. Blossoms in June-August, fruits ripen in August. Found only in southern Primorye. Collect grass during flowering. The infusion and extract are used internally as an expectorant, less often as an analgesic for radiculitis and neuritis. The extract is part of the drug Pertussin.

Yarrow- a perennial herbaceous plant from the Compositae family, 20-80 cm high. It has a peculiar smell and a bitter taste. Blooms from June until frost, seeds ripen in July-September. Distributed throughout the Far East, except for the Magadan region. In medicine, the entire flowering ground part or only inflorescences is used. Used for various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as a hemostatic agent. Outwardly, yarrow extract is used as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Horsetail- a perennial spore herbaceous plant from the Horsetail family, 10-50 cm high. Distributed throughout the Primorsky Territory. In medicine, green shoots of horsetail are used. Infusion, liquid extract and decoction are used as a diuretic for heart and other diseases accompanied by stagnant (edematous) phenomena. It is prescribed for heart defects and cardiopulmonary insufficiency. Outwardly, a decoction of horsetail is used as a disinfectant, prescribed for washing poorly healing ulcers and purulent wounds.

Chaga (birch mushroom)- a barren stage of a fungus from the tinder family. Mushroom outgrowths can reach 2 kg, dark brown, almost black on the surface. Found throughout the Far East. In medicine, the growth is used. Chaga infusion is used as a symptomatic remedy for gastric ulcer, duodenum, gastritis, malignant tumors.

Three-part series- an annual herbaceous plant from the Asteraceae family, height 10-60 cm. Blooms from June to September. Distributed in the southern and western regions of Primorye, in the Amur Region, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk Territory. The herb is used. In medicine, an infusion and decoction of the herb is used for scrofula and other metabolic disorders, scabies, lichen, as a diaphoretic for colds.

Common bird cherry- a tall shrub or tree up to 2 - 10 m high from the Rosaceae family. The flowers are white, the fruits are round, black. Blossoms in May, fruits ripen in August. Distributed throughout the Far East. The fruits are used in medicine. Bird cherry berries are used as an astringent for non-infectious diarrhea and other disorders of the stomach and intestines.

Large celandine- a perennial herbaceous plant from the poppy family, containing orange milky juice in all parts. Blooms from May to autumn. It grows in all inhabited plains and low-mountain regions of the Far East. In medicine, dried grass collected during flowering is used. Used for diseases of the liver and gallbladder. Juice - to remove warts.

Rosehip Daurian- a shrub from the Rosaceae family up to 1.5 m high. It blooms in June-July, the fruits ripen in September. It is found in the low-mountain regions of Primorye and the Amur Region. Rose hips are used in medicine. Used for the treatment and prevention of beriberi in the form of infusion, syrup. Perfectly used for the preparation of medicinal tea in combination with other vitamin fees.

viburnum. Flowers are white, fruits are red. Berries are used. Distributed in valleys and on gentle slopes throughout the Primorsky Territory. In medicine, it is used as a hemostatic agent and to regulate cardiac activity.

Pine. Infusions and decoctions of pine buds are used as a disinfectant, expectorant and diuretic. Used for scurvy.

Oak. Oak bark is used as a good astringent and anti-inflammatory agent.

Rowan. Rowan fruits relieve fatigue, headache, stimulate appetite. Used fresh and as a decoction.

Raspberry ordinary. Perennial shrub. Berries are used as a diaphoretic for colds.

Wild strawberry. Leaves - as a weak diuretic for gout, stones in the liver and kidneys, for beriberi and colds. Berries - for hypertension, atherosclerosis, stomach ulcers, arthritis and other disorders of salt metabolism in the body.

Alder. Alder cones are used. In medicine, a decoction or infusion is used as an astringent for gastrointestinal diseases.

poisonous plants

Of the 300,000 plant species that grow on the globe, about 700 can cause severe or fatal poisoning of people and animals.

Classification of plants according to the degree of toxicity.

(according to V.S. Danilenko, P.V. Rodomtsev)

Poisonous

Highly poisonous

deadly poisonous

White acacia

Common privet

Smelly elderberry

oak anemone

Wisteria

Gorse, all kinds

Zharnovets panicled

Honeysuckle and other species

Calmia broadleaf

Laurel mountain and other species

May lily of the valley

Clematis, all types

Buttercup, all kinds

Ivy

Aronic spotted

Marsh calla

Euonymus european

Digitalis, all kinds

Olendr ordinary

Bittersweet nightshade and other species

Bobovnikovy broom

Rhododendron, all types

Yew berry and other species

Aconite, all types

Colchicum, all types

Henbane black

Belladonna

hemlock spotted

Milestone poisonous

Wolf's bast

Datura vulgaris

castor oil

Juniper Cossack

Oriental sumac and other species

Thuja western and other species

The concentration of poisons depends on climatic conditions, soil, period of development. Poisonous substances are contained both in the whole plant and in individual parts. As a rule, plants have a selective effect on the human body. Some cause damage to the central nervous system ( henbane, aconite, milestone poisonous, hemlock), others are hearts ( May lily of the valley, common oleander, raven eye). Third plants - digestive tract, central nervous system, heart, kidneys, liver (juniper, wild rosemary, crow, colchicum, step). Some plants cause skin burns (ash tree, Steven's hogweed , buttercups)

The plants shown in fig. one. a) hellebore Lobel, b) celandine, c) hemlock (poisonous milestone); rice. 2. a) red nightshade, b) black henbane, c) common dope, d) common belladonna; fig.3. a) hemlock, b) ordinary kirkazen, c) tall aconite, d) oak aconite ; rice. four. a) Steven's hogweed, b) common wolfberry, c) autumn colchicum

Rice. 1 Fig.2

Rice. 3 Fig. four

First aid for ingestion: immediately rinse the stomach with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, take activated charcoal (table 2-3), drink plenty of strong tea, coffee, in case of severe poisoning - emergency medical care.

Symptoms of poisoning, poison.

(according to A.A. Ilyichev)

poisonous plant

Dangerous part of the plant

Symptoms

Akongit(wrestler, blue buttercup). Height 1-1.5 m., yellow flowers

The whole plant is poisonous, especially the tubers.

Aconitine

Causes bitterness in the mouth, tinnitus, dizziness, vomiting, convulsions, in severe cases, death

Belena is black.

Henbane white(height 35-90 s.)

All parts of the plant are poisonous, especially the seeds.

Hyosycyamine

Drying of the mucosa, clouding of consciousness, possible respiratory arrest

Belladonna(belladonna).

The flowers are brown-violet, the fruits are black berries.

The whole plant is poisonous

Atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine

Pupils dilate, breathing is depressed and gradually fades

Death cap

Mushroom (smell of rotting raw potatoes)

Poisoning begins after 8-10 hours. Mortality in 50% of cases.

Hemlock

(height 1.5 m) resemble parsley leaves, when rubbed between the fingers - the smell of cat urine.

Poisonous fruits and leaves

Vomiting, speech disorder, dizziness, paralysis, in severe cases death

Milestone poisonous(cicuta)

Poisonous sweet stem and rhizomes

(smell of dried apples)

cicutoxin,

Convulsions, respiratory arrest, death

Wolf's bast(wolfberry, lavrushka)

The whole plant is poisonous, especially the fruit.

Burning mouth, convulsions, loss of consciousness, respiratory arrest

false white or satanic mushroom, fly agaric red

After 5-6 hours. Cutting in the abdomen, salivation, delirium, convulsions.

Nightshade bittersweet

The whole plant is poisonous, especially the berries and roots. May cause rash and skin inflammation if touched.

Datura

The whole plant is poisonous

Stephen's Hogweed

The plant, which has an unpleasant odor, contains an essential oil that causes skin irritation.

Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, difficulty swallowing

What is there when there is nothing to eat?

Edible wild plants.

Pine - young shoots, cones, needles as a vitamin drink

Birch - sap, buds, young leaves (23% protein, 12% fat)

Oak - acorns (cut, soak for 2 days, boil: 2 parts of water to 1 part of acorns). Dry, grind, cook porridge or bake cakes.

In trees, sapwood (bast) is used, the most nutritious in birch, willow, pine, spruce, poplar.

Salads, first courses.

sour- Leaves and stems. Clover- fruits, stems, leaves go to the salad. Nettle- young leaves dipped in boiling water for 5 minutes go to the salad, rubbed into gruel, seasoned with oil, pepper, salt. burdock- young peeled stems and dipped in boiling water for 1-2 minutes or leaves collected before flowering. Meadow onion, wild garlic- rhizomes, leaves. Dandelion- almost the entire plant, soaked in salted water for 30 minutes. Plantain- young leaves, lowered for 1 min. into boiling water. The salad is tastier with the addition of sorrel. Daurian rhododendron (ledum)- flowers in the salad. Sorrel- leaves. Horsetail- you can stems and spikelets-pistils, you can make a casserole from them, mix pestles with mushrooms and fry.

Main courses

Badan thick-leaved- grows on the slopes of the mountains - use rhizomes soaked in water. water chestnut- fruits are consumed raw and boiled. Boil in salted water or bake in ash. You can cook flour and bake bread . reeds- white stem bases when raw. You can boil the young roots and make a puree. Caps (water lilies)- seeds and rhizomes are eaten fried or boiled in salt water, because. raw they are poisonous. Cut, soak for 6 hours, changing the water, cook for 40-50 minutes. bracken fern- soak the stems, boil. The rhizomes are also edible if baked over a fire. cattail- boil young shoots and rhizomes in salted water, drain the soda, simmer with the addition of fat. From flour, you can cook porridge, cut the crusts, dry, grind and bake bread.

Bread can be baked, make tea, coffee drinks and replace sugar, salt

Blooming Sally- from the dried and crushed roots make flour and bake pancakes, flat cakes.

Fern - bracken- from rhizomes ground into flour, you can get sourdough for bread.

To link a test, you can add bird eggs.

Can eat nuts- cedar, hazel (hazelnut), Manchurian walnut (throw into the fire). Tea can be prepared from overwintered, blackened bergenia leaves, hawthorn berries and leaves, lingonberry leaves, blackberries, raspberries, currants, oregano, mint, St. John's wort, grapes. Coffee can be prepared from viburnum seeds, burdock roots, dandelion. Must be collected in the fall. Wash, dry, fry, crush 1-2 teaspoons in a glass of boiling water. As a substitute, you can use asparagus seeds, cane rhizomes, juniper tubers, cattail roots, you can make pine nuts crushed with water milk or cream.

Drinks, fruit drinks prepared from cranberries, lingonberries, young pine needles (50 g. Pine needles are rubbed, insisted in 2 glasses of water, sugar is added), grapes, lemongrass, sultanas.

Replace sugar you can use the rhizomes of the lake reed (finely cut, pour water 1: 1, boil for an hour). Strain the resulting juice and boil to the desired acid.

Birch juice evaporate, bring to a sweet syrup. Honey wild bees can be found by tracing the flight from flower to hive. Salt can be added by evaporating from sea water (salt water), you can find animal salt licks to look for accumulations of salt.

Starch can be obtained from the rhizomes of a large water lily, bergenia and yellow capsule.

Mushrooms(white, boletus, boletus, chanterelles, russula, boletus, mushrooms, etc.) is better to collect young. Avoid mushrooms with leathery sacs at the base of the stem, with white dots and scales on the upper surface of the cap and mushrooms with pure white plates and agaric that secrete milky juice; mushrooms eaten by insects and their larvae. All mushrooms must be opened.

Seaweed. There are no harmful and poisonous algae in the seas washing the shores of our country. Their digestibility by the human body is 65% -80%.

Alaria- brown thalli 60-70 cm long. Edible raw, but soaked and boiled is much tastier . sea ​​kale - cook soups. It can be eaten raw or pre-dried, crushed and made into flour.

freshwater algae greenish-bluish in color, floating on the surface of stagnant water and emitting an unpleasant odor should not be used. They are poisonous.

Non-traditional food

snakes- separate the head, remove the skin, cook. Reminds me a little of fish and chicken.

Frog- dip in boiling water, remove the skin, cook until tender. The broth is slightly bitter - it resembles the taste of chicken or hare.

Toads are not suitable for food, there are many “wart glands” on the skin

Turtles- smeared with clay and put the skull on the coals.

Any shellfish(bivalve shells) - boil or scald with boiling water, the wings will open, cook the meat.

Birds– any – there is no better carrion birds. Eggs of birds and chicks.

edible gophers, dogs, badgers etc.

Dried up grasshoppers, ground are suitable for cereals and bread cakes. 100gr. grasshoppers - 225cal., 100 gr., fried termites - 560 cal.

locust fry, tear off the paws, removing the head, at the same time, the green mass from the belly and eat like shrimp.

The Chinese eat dried spiders, Japanese - dragonflies.

Most nutritious ant eggs.

It is better not to eat insects and larvae found on dunghills, living on the underside of the leaves / emitting strong-smelling liquids / having a bright color.

Cooking

Most are consumed raw - you can wrap the larvae in leaves, grind until smooth; cooking - it is advisable to gut large larvae, ants and termites can be ground to a paste-like state and cook soups and cereals.

Snails and slugs- starve them for several days so that they have time to remove the poison, then throw them into saline to clean the digestive tract and boil for 10-20 minutes. with the addition of aromatic herbs.

Worms- drag between fingers, clean from waste products, boil or dry, grind into powder, add to food. At bees and wasps you need to remove the stinger, cut off the wings, then fry or boil. Honey in hollows is taken out by filling the hollow with smoke.

Can eat crabs, lobsters, lobsters, hermit crabs, shrimp cook for 10-20 min.: mussels, oysters eaten raw, boiled, dried. edible octopus, squid, cuttlefish, trepang. Bird eggs are best boiled hard-boiled in boiling water for 4-5 minutes.

Bibliography.

Balenko S.V. School of survival. – M.; 1994.

Volovich V.G. Survival Academy. – M.; 1996.

Davis B. Encyclopedia of Survival and Rescue. – M.; "Weight", 1997.

Ilyichev A.A. The Great Encyclopedia of Survival. – M.; "EXMO-PRESS", 1999.

Kostrub A.A. Tourist medical guide. – M.; Profizdat, 1990.

Soviet encyclopedic dictionary. – M.; " Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986.

Tourist Encyclopedia. – M.; "Great Russian Encyclopedia", 1993.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...3

1. Medicinal plants………………………………………………..4

1.1 Dandelion officinalis…………………………………………….…9

1.2 Yarrow……………………………………………………………………13

2. Poisonous plants…………………………………………………..……16

2.1 Hemlock spotted or speckled……………………………….16

2.2 Hellebore……………………………………………………..………..19

Conclusion…………...…………………………………………………………..25

Literature………..…………………………………………………………..….26

Introduction

For thousands of years, herbs have served man. On their own experience, primitive people comprehended their healing properties and passed on the accumulated knowledge from generation to generation. Since ancient times, healing has been a sacrament, so healers chose their students very meticulously. The collection, manufacture of medicines and treatment were accompanied by magical techniques and spells.

Already an outstanding ancient Greek physician and thinker Hippocrates (about 460 - about 370 BC) described 236 plants that were used in medicine of that time. Among them are henbane, elderberry, mustard, iris, almonds, mint. In Russia, herbal treatment has been known and popular for a long time: even the princes were interested in the cultivation and use of medicinal plants. At the beginning of the 18th century, under Alexei Mikhailovich, the Pharmaceutical Order was created, supplying the court and the army medicinal herbs, and Peter I ordered the creation of pharmaceutical schools and pharmaceutical gardens - the first plantations of medicinal plants in Russia. Much has changed since then, but interest in medicinal herbs has not faded - on the contrary, now it is especially great. Thus, the share of preparations from plants accounts for more than 40 % all medicines, the rest 60 % - artificially synthesized substances.

The golden fund of wild medicinal plants, alas, is exhausted. Many medicinal plants listed in the Red Book of endangered species. To preserve the possibility of obtaining valuable drugs based on medicinal plants, special plantations are created. All plants with medicinal properties are comprehensively studied by pharmacists - specialists in the creation of drugs: they determine their chemical composition, identify biologically active substances, and conduct drug tests. And only after that the plant receives a medicinal "passport": it is included in the official list - the State Pharmacopoeia.

Even the Roman physician Claudius Galen, who lived in the 2nd century, emphasized that the effect of medicinal plants can be both healing and harmful.

1. medicinal plants

By chemical composition medicinal plants are not similar to each other, and their practical application is very diverse. Some plants are used as vitamin carriers, others as a remedy, and others as a source of nutrition.

Before describing individual plants, I would like to introduce the reader a little to the main chemicals that make up plants and determine their beneficial or medicinal effect.

All useful plants are valued primarily for the presence of biologically active substances in them, which have a certain therapeutic effect on individual organs or the entire human or animal body. These substances in the plant, as a rule, are few, but they often have a strong effect.

The composition of plants, in addition to a large amount of water, up to 90 percent, includes various organic and mineral substances. Among the organic substances mentioned in plant descriptions, the most important biologically active substances are alkaloids. In their composition, these are complex nitrogen-containing compounds of alkaline origin, found mainly in flowering plants. Approximately 10 percent of the world flora are considered to be alkaloid carriers, and the number of alkaloids isolated from plants has reached five thousand names. In its pure form, alkaloids are a crystalline substance of a bitter taste without color and odor. By the way, the toxicity of plants is most often due to the presence of alkaloids. Their content in the plant varies depending on the vegetation phase, season, climate, growing zone, soil, etc., usually it is insignificant - from traces to three percent of dry weight. Wherein the largest number alkaloids is observed in the plant at the stage of budding and flowering.

Glycosides depending on the binding beginning of the two main parts - a sugar derivative and aglycone, which has pharmacological activity, they are divided into several groups. Among them is a large group of flavonoids, which received its name for its yellow color. This group of substances is endowed with a bactericidal, choleretic effect, the ability to reduce the permeability and fragility of capillaries, remove radioactive substances from the body, it is used as a cardiac, expectorant; there is evidence of its antitumor activity.

Tannins (tannins)- these are complex nitrogen-free non-toxic compounds that have a yellowish color and darken when in contact with light, that is, they are oxidized in air. Their content in plants ranges from traces to 35 percent of dry matter. AT medicinal purposes tannins are used as anti-inflammatory, astringent, antiseptic, hemostatic agents due to their ability to coagulate protein and form a protective film on the mucous membranes. Tanides precipitate not only proteins, but also alkaloids, glycosides, heavy metals and are used in practice for poisoning with these substances.

Essential oils- Aromatic, highly volatile, water-insoluble substances that give the plant a specific smell. Currently, more than 2500 species of fragrant plants are known for which essential oils are protective or attractive. Their content in plants ranges from traces to 20 percent. Plants containing esters or preparations from them are widely used in the perfumery and food industries, some are used for medicinal purposes as sedatives, expectorants, analgesics, antimicrobials and antihelminths.

Resins and balms close to essential oils in chemical composition and are often found in the same plants. By appearance they are usually semi-liquid, sticky, with a specific odor, as a rule, insoluble in water. Balms are resins that do not dry out for a long time. Resins and balms have bactericidal and antiseptic properties, they are used as a diuretic and laxative in medicine, are used in cosmetics, and also for the production of varnishes, plastics, paper, paints, etc.

organic acids are an indispensable component of all plants along with proteins and carbohydrates. The most common are malic, citric, acetic, oxalic, formic, and benzoic acids. They give taste, and sometimes smell to the plant, are in it in a free state or in the form of salts. All organic acids are widely used in medicine, food and perfume industries and other industries.

vitamins- it is effective medicines needed to sustain human and animal life. Violation of their balance in the body can lead to severe diseases. In composition, they are very complex and diverse compounds, which are united only by their biological role and physiological effects on the body. Some of them are soluble in water, others in fats. Each vitamin has its own role and purpose in the body.

enzymes, or biocatalysts, are substances that accelerate biochemical processes in plants and animals.

Carbohydrates. Among this group of organic compounds found in plants, the simplest are monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, etc.). Connecting with each other, they create more complex connections. - disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, etc.), tri- and tetra-saccharides, polysaccharides, which include starch, inulin, pectin substances, gums, mucus, fiber, etc. All of them are widely used primarily in medicine, as well as in other branches of the national economy.

A very significant pharmacological role in plants is played by minerals. They include a very large group macronutrients(iron, potassium, phosphorus, silicon, magnesium, etc.) and trace elements(copper, manganese, cobalt, arsenic, nickel, molybdenum, zinc, etc.). And although the content of mineral substances in plants is negligible, their role in the life of the human and animal organism is undeniable, and the lack of one or another element can lead to serious diseases and disorders of body functions.

In addition to a description of each plant and its distinctive features, information about the places of growth and chemical composition, the reader will also find here information about how the plant was used or is used now, how, when and what parts of it to collect, how to properly dry and store.

Speaking about the use of medicinal plants in scientific and folk medicine, the author by no means recommends using them as a means of treating a specific disease - this is the business of physicians. General information on the appointment of a particular plant are gleaned from the special literature listed at the end of the book. And this information will be useful to those who are interested in medicinal plants both for the purpose of collecting them in order to help medical institutions in their preparation, and for their own use on the advice of a doctor. The recipes given in some cases for the preparation of preparations from the most famous medicinal plants are taken from the same special literature, which has gone through more than one edition. In this regard, we also present methods for preparing simple preparations from medicinal plants at home.

Infusion and decoction are extracts from medicinal plants. Infusions are prepared from loose parts of plants - leaves, flowers, stems, as well as from coarse parts - woody stems, bark, roots and rhizomes, if rapidly volatile substances (essential oils) or easily decomposing under the influence of high temperature (glycosides) are extracted. Decoctions are prepared from the coarse parts of plants that do not contain volatile and decompose active substances during prolonged heating.

Raw materials are pre-crushed: leaves, stems, flowers to a particle size of not more than 5 millimeters, roots, bark -3, fruits and seeds up to 0.5 millimeters. The crushed raw materials are weighed or measured and placed in an enameled or porcelain dish, poured with boiled water. room temperature, cover with a lid and put on a boil water bath. The infusion is heated for 15, and the decoction for 30 minutes with frequent stirring. After that, the infusions are cooled for at least 45, and the decoctions are 10 minutes at room temperature, filtered, the residue is squeezed out, and water is added to the finished extract to the desired volume.

Decoctions and infusions are prepared, as a rule, in a ratio of 1:10, that is, 10 parts of infusion or decoction are obtained from one part of the raw material, but other ratios are not excluded. Due to the fact that infusions and decoctions deteriorate quickly, they are stored in a cool place for no more than 3-4 days.

Often at home, infusions and decoctions are prepared without boiling, pouring boiling water over raw materials. In this case, it is necessary to insist at least 4-8 hours, and use the drug within one day.

For external use of infusions and decoctions for the treatment of skin diseases, mucous membranes, gargling, for baths, lotions, compresses, etc., you can use a more concentrated preparation - 1: 5, which is prepared as described above.

Powders are the simplest means of using medicinal raw materials prepared from dried flowers, leaves, stems, roots and seeds of plants. After separating the rough stems, the plants are passed through a coffee grinder or thoroughly crushed in a mortar, then sifted through a sieve. Store powders in closed glass jars. Also prepare dry seasonings from food plants.

Ointments for external use consist of medicinal substances evenly distributed on the base. They are prepared from powders of dried plants, extracts, tinctures and fresh juice. Vaseline, unsalted lard and cow butter are most often used as the basis. Ointments prepared with lard and cow's butter are more effective, but deteriorate quickly.

Often, for medicinal purposes, fresh plant juice is used both externally and internally. Finely chopped parts of fresh plants are passed through a meat grinder or juicer. The resulting slurry is squeezed out, a small amount of water is added to the residue and squeezed again. You can prepare vegetable juice for the future by adding at least 20 percent alcohol.

Collections and teas are mixtures of dried and crushed medicinal plants, sometimes with the addition of mineral medicinal substances. Fees are intended for home preparation of infusions, decoctions, rinses and poultices, as well as therapeutic baths. In pharmacies, packages of fees always indicate in what proportions they need to be prepared.

1.1 Dandelion officinalis

It is a perennial herbaceous plant with golden-yellow reed flowers collected in baskets. It blooms in April - June. The fruits ripen in May - June. Propagated by seeds. Dandelion roots are used. They are collected by digging up during the period of wilting of the leaves (from August). The roots are washed in cold water, dried in the air until the milky juice ceases to stand out from the incised root. They are dried in the shade under a canopy, in ovens or dryers at a temperature of 40 - 50 °.

Shelf life is 5 years. Preparations (decoctions, extracts and pills) are used to stimulate appetite and improve the activity of the digestive tract. Dandelion officinalis grows almost throughout Russia, except for the Arctic, Eastern Siberia and the desert regions of the Far East. It usually grows in meadows, on roadsides, in parks, gardens and orchards, on forest edges and glades.

Dandelion is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Compositae family. Only in our country there are about 200 of its species. It is so widespread and ubiquitous that it is known to everyone from young to old in the city and in the countryside. It scatters like millions of little suns (following the flowers of the coltsfoot) in green meadows, roadsides, gardens, orchards - in a word, wherever there is a lot of sun and no dampness. The dandelion lives and blooms according to its own law: at sunrise the yellow disks of flowers open, at sunset they close for the night, as if following their giant brother. It is interesting to watch the meadow with dandelions - in the daytime it is covered with a yellow veil, and in the evening someone invisible rolls up this veil. In hot weather, the flowers close during the day. In our conditions, this is a rare occurrence among wild plants.

Dandelion begins to bloom early and blooms until late autumn, changing generations. A flower in the form of a yellow basket, standing on a hollow, leafless tube of a peduncle, rises above the leaves with pinnately incised edges, which form a basal rosette. The length of the leaves can reach 15, even 25 centimeters in length and 5 in width. The root of a dandelion is taproot, thick, sometimes penetrating to a depth of up to 60 centimeters.

Dandelion leaves contain ascorbic acid, vitamins A and B, manganese, boron, strontium, copper and other trace elements are found in the pollen of the plant. The root is extremely rich (dried contains up to 40 percent) inulin. Inulin is a starch substitute that turns into fruit sugar when the roots are roasted. The dried root contains up to 20 percent of sugars, up to 15 percent of proteins, a large number of macro- and microelements, and many other foamy substances for the body.

In a dandelion, like no other plant, everything - from a flower bud to the roots, is suitable for writing. Salads, all kinds of seasonings for meat and fish dishes are prepared from the early leaves, cabbage soup and soups are cooked. Flower buds are pickled and then added as seasonings to vinaigrettes, saltworts and game dishes. Amber-colored jam is brewed from the flowers themselves. Fried basal rosettes are a delicacy dish. Fruit sugar is obtained from the roots (it is twice as sweet as usual), and if the dried roots are roasted and ground in a coffee grinder or crushed in field conditions, you will get good coffee. The ground root can be added to flour. This is a great food reserve for expeditions, tourists and people who often visit nature.

Unfortunately, all parts of the dandelion contain a bitter milky juice and need to be pre-treated before being eaten. To eliminate bitterness from leaves and flower buds, they are soaked in salted (3-5-1 trots) cold water for 30 minutes. Basal rosettes are boiled in a 5% saline solution for 5-10 minutes before frying. Rosettes are usually harvested in early spring, when the leaves are just beginning to break through, they are cut from the root 2-3 centimeters below the leaves. The bitterness in the roots is destroyed by roasting.

For medicinal purposes, the root, sometimes dandelion leaves, are most often used as bitterness to stimulate appetite, as a choleretic and diuretic, as a mild laxative.

To prepare a decoction, pour 3 tablespoons of crushed roots with 2 cups of boiling water, boil for 15 minutes, filter and drink a glass twice a day for half an hour before meals.

The healing properties of dandelion have been known since antiquity. Theophrastus and Avicenna, for example, dandelion juice was recommended for the destruction of freckles and icteric spots on the skin, for the treatment of dropsy and the removal of eyesores.

In Russian folk medicine, dandelion is called the elixir of life. It is used in the treatment of skin diseases - rashes, acne, eczema and others. The juice of fresh roots is included in the composition of ointments, they are lubricated with warts, calluses. Powders from dried dandelion roots have a beneficial effect in atherosclerosis - they help to remove cholesterol from the body. Dandelion is used as an expectorant, sedative, wound healing agent.

By the way, it will probably be said here (and not only in relation to the dandelion) that even the most famous and tested folk remedy with the same ailment, for some people it may be effective, for others it may be less or completely ineffective, and for others it may be completely contraindicated. Therefore, to get carried away with any plant and consider it the only salvation from any disease is a deep delusion.

Dandelion roots for medicinal purposes are harvested in September - October, during the withering of the leaves. They dig up the plant, cut off small roots and the aerial part, wash it with cold water, dry it for several days in the air under a canopy and then dry it in a dry, well-ventilated room or dryer at a temperature of 60-70 degrees.

When using dandelion in writing, it must be remembered that in urban conditions it is able to absorb and accumulate lead and other harmful substances from exhaust gases. It is best to collect the plant in meadows, forest clearings, near rivers, where it is extremely abundant, and in terms of weight it is more impressive under these conditions.

In many foreign countries, dandelion is cultivated in vegetable gardens, which is very convenient from an economic point of view - it can be harvested at any time without much difficulty.

In our region, dandelions grow everywhere, but they are used in food or for medicinal purposes extremely rarely. Although there is evidence, in some places sweet lovers make jam from dandelion flowers.

1.2 Yarrow (cut grass, bloodwort, trees, mother liquor, whitehead )

This unpretentious plant from the Asteraceae family is found everywhere on dry forest edges, borders, along roads, paths, near fences, in yards and gardens. In spring, rather large lanceolate leaves on high petioles grow from a perennial creeping rhizome with thin adventitious roots. They, like openwork lace, consist of many small, repeatedly pinnate narrow slices. Also, a straight stem appears from the rhizome, up to half a meter high, with small sessile leaves. At the top of the stem, several branches grow, which are covered with small flowers of white or pale pink color. The flowers are very small, collected in small baskets, forming many corymbs. The yarrow blooms from June to October, when it proudly rises above the dry grass that has long since drooped.

Yarrow leaves and flowers contain essential oil - thanks to it, the plant emits a specific tart but pleasant smell, resins, bitterness, a fairly large amount of vitamin K, vitamin C, tannins, glycosides, flavonoids, organic acids and other substances.

In folk medicine, yarrow has been known since the time of Dioscorides as a means of stopping bleeding and healing wounds. In addition, infusion and decoctions of yarrow herb are drunk for diseases of the kidneys and bladder, nephrolithiasis, dysentery, for pain and cramps in the stomach, internal bleeding, especially uterine and hemorrhoidal, for headaches and even with a lack of milk in nursing mothers. Infusions and decoctions are used as an expectorant for colds, as a gargle for toothache and halitosis. In kits with other herbs, yarrow is used to treat tuberculosis. Fresh juice of the plant with honey is very effective in the treatment of liver, gallstone disease and metabolic diseases. Compresses from the infusion of flowers and taking it inside help get rid of acne, boils and rashes on the skin of the face.

Uses with success beneficial features yarrow and scientific medicine. Due to the presence in the leaves and flowers of the alkaloid achillein and vitamin. Yarrow is used as a hemostatic agent for local bleeding - nasal, dental, from small wounds, with pulmonary, uterine and hemorrhoidal bleeding. Proazulene, which is part of the essential oil of yarrow, has a beneficial effect in the treatment of inflammatory and allergic diseases. Yarrow preparations treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - chronic colitis, gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers. Treatment with infusions of gastritis with low acidity is especially effective. Infusion and decoction are taken as bitterness to stimulate appetite. They have astringent, diuretic, antimicrobial, insecticidal, sedative and anticonvulsant effects. Yarrow herb is a part of gastric, appetizing and other fees, teas.

Yarrow infusion is prepared as follows. A tablespoon of chopped herbs is poured into a glass of water at room temperature, boiled for 15 minutes, insisted for at least 45 minutes, filtered. The infusion can be stored in a cool place for no more than 3-4 days. Take a tablespoon 3-4 times a day after meals.

Collection with an unstable stool with diarrhea: yarrow 30 grams, wild rose 50, St. John's wort 30, oak bark 30 grams, sugar syrup to taste, water 1 liter.

Yarrow essential oil has found use in the perfume industry in the manufacture of some lotions and creams to nourish the skin, and the flower tops are used in alcoholic beverages and dairy production.

In veterinary medicine, yarrow infusion is used to treat gastrointestinal diseases in young animals; in crop production, it is used as an insecticide to control certain pests of cultivated plants.

For the future, the yarrow harvests the apical part with leaves and flowers, tearing or cutting with a sickle, scissors. Dry in bunches outdoors protecting from direct sunlight. Healing properties dried herbs are stored for at least two years. When brewing and infusions, it is crushed.

In our region, despite its wide distribution, yarrow is harvested in small quantities only by pharmacies. The reason for this neglect of the plant is most likely in ignorance of its value.

Contraindications. Pregnancy. Prolonged use and taking large doses causes dizziness and skin rashes.

2. Poisonous plants

2.1 Spotted or speckled hemlock - Conium maculatum (L.)

Umbelliferae - UMBELLIFERAE. A biennial bare herbaceous plant (from 90 to 200 cm high), forming in the first year a rosette of basal leaves, in the second - a strongly branched furrowed stem up to 2 m tall. The stem is bare, with a bluish bloom and dark red spots in the lower part, which is why the plant got its name. The leaves are bare, thrice pinnate, with ovate-oval pinnate leaves on long petioles (carrot-like), reminiscent of parsley leaves, when rubbed, there is a sharp smell reminiscent of the smell of cat urine. Stem in thin furrows, with a bluish tint, hollow inside, in the lower part with clearly visible dark red spots, not quite faceted, with powdery coating. Flowers small white flowers arranged in complex umbels with 10-15 main rays; the fruit is a two-seed. The fruit is a two-seeded, the fruits are small, grayish-green, ovate-spherical, laterally flattened. It blooms from the end of June and all July. Seeds ripen in August-September.

The plant is very heat-loving, weedy, finds optimal conditions in thickets of burdock, on littered forest edges. Belongs to the number of the most poisonous plants, especially fruits and leaves.

It is used to prepare drugs that reduce pain. It is taken only under the prescription of a doctor.

The whole plant is poisonous. Contains toxic alkaloids coniine, conhydrin, pseudoconhydrin. Koniin has a nicotine-like effect, in small doses it causes muscle contraction, in toxic paralysis. In ancient times it was used as a deadly poison.

Poisoning occurs when stems enter the mouth, mistakenly taken by children for angelica, from which whistles are made, when eating seeds similar to dill, when clogging ridges with vegetable crops. Causes contact damage to the skin and mucous membranes, proceeding according to the type of severe allergic reactions. There are known cases of poisoning of starving cattle. Poisoning occurs when horses eat 2-3 kg of fresh grass, cattle - 4-5 kg, ducks - 50-70 g. Not the best plant for prevention, official medicine does not recommend it, folk medicine uses it.

The plant is official in many countries of the world, however, the use of Hemlock spotted for medical purposes is prohibited in Russia.

Chemical composition. The plant is very poisonous, and all its parts are toxic, especially immature seeds. The active substances are represented by alkaloids, the most poisonous of them is coniine, which, like nicotine and curare, paralyzes the endings of the motor nerves.

The most poisonous rhizome of the plant, especially in late autumn and early spring. Contain cytotoxin. Neurotoxic (anticholinergic, convulsive) action. The lethal dose is about 50 mg of the plant per 1 kg of body weight.

Tannins were also found in the juice, essential and fatty oils in the fruits, flavonoids (quercetin and kaempferol), vitamin C and carotene in the leaves.

They are poisoned by hemlock when mistakenly using its herb and roots instead of parsley and carrots.

Spotted hemlock (Conium maculatum) looks very similar to wild carrot (Daucus carota): both plants belong to the umbrella family and have a fleshy tap root. All parts of the hemlock contain an alkaloid that paralyzes the respiratory muscles.

It was the juice of this plant, and not hemlock (i.e. milestone), as is usually believed, that Socrates was poisoned.

Signs of poisoning.

With a mild form of poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea appear.

Signs of poisoning: in the mouth, behind the sternum, in the epigastric region, itching occurs, partial numbness of the skin occurs, dizziness, headache, visual and hearing impairment. Pupil dilation. Paleness of the face, salivation, vomiting. Shortness of breath with difficulty exhaling, rapid heartbeat, abnormal pulse. Twitching of individual muscle groups.

The poison is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. The initial symptoms of poisoning appear after 1.5 - 2 hours, sometimes after 20 - 30 minutes. Salivation, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dilated pupils, tachycardia, tonic-clonic convulsions, respiratory depression. Loss of consciousness, collapse. Most often, poisoning develops in children, who usually eat rhizomes, mistaking them for carrots.

In severe cases, muscle weakness increases, turning into muscle paralysis (starting from the legs). Loss of consciousness. Death can occur due to respiratory arrest due to paralysis of the muscles of the chest (paralysis of the respiratory center). Unripe green seeds contain the largest amount of the main beginning - horse-nine (up to 0.4%). (pronounced nicotine-like action). Koniin, gamma-Konisein - a lethal dose of 0.15 g.

Nicotine is a tobacco alkaloid. The lethal dose is 0.05 g. Symptoms: itching in the mouth, behind the sternum, numbness of skin areas, dizziness, headache, visual and hearing impairment, dilated pupils, salivation, repeated vomiting, shortness of breath, palpitations, abnormal pulse, convulsions (during that increase blood pressure). Death occurs from respiratory arrest (paralysis of the respiratory center and respiratory muscles).

In case of hemlock poisoning, rinse the stomach with a 0.1% solution of potassium permanganate. Drink an aqueous suspension of activated charcoal, saline laxative, vaseline oil through a probe. The main attention is the fight against respiratory failure: inhalation of oxygen, apaleptics in normal doses. When breathing stops - artificial, for accelerated removal of poison - osmotic diuretics, furosemide.

Apply antidote treatment. Symptomatic therapy includes:
intramuscularly 25% solution of magnesium sulfate - 10 ml; with convulsions - diazepam 5 - 10 mg intravenously; artificial apparatus respiration; with a heart rhythm disorder - 10 ml of a 10% solution of novocainamide intravenously.

Tardieu gave an excellent description of the poisoning of a person with hemlock, which we reproduce here - “About an hour after taking the hemlock inside, there is some confusion of thought, dizziness, darkening of consciousness and very sharp headaches. The poisoned subject staggers as if drunk, his legs giving way. Sometimes, but by no means always, they feel a painful tightness in the pit of the stomach and severe stomach pains. The throat dries up, there is a burning thirst, and meanwhile, it becomes impossible to swallow. Sometimes there is a slight vomiting, but without consequences. The face is very pale, its features are greatly distorted, but the consciousness remains full. Patients retain hearing, although they are deprived of the opportunity to speak; their gaze is motionless, the pupils are dilated, their vision is unclear and sometimes they see nothing. Convulsive movements, titanic twitchings in the limbs alternate with fainting, with a decline in strength, which are repeated at certain intervals; then a kind of stupor seizes the patient, and only hoarse breathing reveals the presence of life. The body becomes cold, the head swells, and the swelling sometimes spreads to other parts of the body; the eyes protrude, and the skin becomes purple-bluish. In some cases, violent delirium and epileptic convulsions are found. Death always comes very quickly; no more than three, four or six hours later, hemlock poisoning ends fatally. No specific antidote is known for it."

Hemlock grass in small doses is used in folk medicine as an analgesic, anticonvulsant and anti-inflammatory agent in the treatment of rheumatism and gout, as well as tumors. The essence of fresh grass hemlock spotted is used in the form of simple dilutions and is part of many complex preparations, including injections.

A tincture of flowers is used in small doses in folk medicine as an "anti-cancer". In ancient Russian folk medicine and in England, hemlock was considered an anticancer agent. Due to its toxicity, this plant can be used as an insecticide.

It is necessary to exercise extreme caution when meeting with a hemlock: do not use it for self-treatment, wash your hands thoroughly after handling it.

2.2 Hellebore VERATRUM

The lily family. The genus includes 25 species distributed in Europe, Asia and North America. Rhizome perennials with tall, straight, leafy stems, often bulbous thickened at the base. The leaves are broadly oval, amplexicaul, the lower ones are broadly elliptical, the upper ones are linear-lanceolate.
The flowers are whitish, reddish or greenish, collected in paniculate, rarely racemose inflorescences. The fruit is a three-celled capsule. Seeds numerous, flat, winged. All parts of the plant are poisonous and do not lose their properties even when dried and ensiled.

Hellebore Lobel (common) - Veratrum lobelianum Bernh.

Lily family Liliaceae. Powerful plant up to 1.5 m tall with a shortened vertical rhizome and numerous adventitious cord-like roots. The leaf arrangement is alternate. The leaves are oval and lanceolate, pointed, folded, with long sheaths. Panicled inflorescence. Flowers on short stalks. Perianth yellowish-green, 2.5 cm in diameter, with elliptical rounded leaflets. Fruits - up to the middle 3-separate boxes. Blooms in mid-summer. The inflorescence in the bud is already formed in autumn. Mass flowering is repeated after 2-3 years. The first flowering in 10-30 years. Life expectancy is usually at least 50 years. Propagated by seeds and vegetatively. It occurs in the forest belt, forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part (except for the Baltic states), Siberia, the Amur region, as well as in the Caucasus and Tien Shan in the upper forest and subalpine belts. It can dominate in meadow communities on fairly rich and well-moistened soils. It grows in pastures, as it is not eaten by livestock.

Rhizomes with roots, contain alkaloids (alkaloid veratrin, its lethal dose: about 0.02 g) in the roots - up to 2.4%, in rhizomes - up to 1.3%, as well as pseudo-yervin glycoalkaloid, glycosides, resins, tannins .

Powder from the rhizomes or a decoction is used as an insecticide, emetic and for wound healing. In folk medicine, it is used for skin diseases. Poisonous. Possible poisoning of farm animals (however, in the highlands of Altai, horses, marals and spotted deer eat hellebore), poisonous to bees.

As insecticides, related species can be used: white helleboregrowing in the Carpathians, hellebore ostolodolny, Dahurian and chalice - from Eastern Siberia and the Far East. They are somewhat different from hellebore Lobel in the pubescence of the leaves, the shape of the inflorescence and the perianth lobes. Only in black hellebore, which is almost as widespread as Lobel's hellebore, and in Maak's hellebore growing in the Far East, the perianth is dark purple. Infusion of black hellebore rhizomes heals abrasions and wounds well.

Hellebore black - Veratrum nigrum L

It grows wild in the European part of Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Central Europe, China, and Japan. Perennial plant up to 130 cm tall. Stems are dense, thick, leafy. The leaves are large, corrugated, oval-lanceolate, glabrous, up to 40 cm long, 7-8 in number. The flowers are numerous, blackish-red, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, collected in a paniculate inflorescence. Blooms in July. Fruiting. Most decorative.

Hellebore white - Veratrum album L

Wildly grows in the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus. Perennial plant with densely pubescent stem up to 150 cm tall. The flowers are greenish outside and whitish inside, up to 1.5 cm in diameter. Blooms in June. Fruits in August. In culture since 1529.

Hellebore California - Veratrum califomicum Durand

Motherland - North America. Perennial plant with straight stems up to 120 cm tall. The flowers are white with greenish veins. Blooms in June-July. Fruiting.

Cheremitsa green

Highly active alkaloids contains green hellebore (Veratrum viride). A closely related species of hellebore (Veratrum californicum), which grows on mountain pastures, causes malformations of the embryo in sheep that have eaten this herb on the 14th day of pregnancy. The period of sensitivity of the embryo to the poison of this plant is only about 6 hours. In action, it resembles the infamous medicine thalidomide, which—before it was banned—had led to the birth of many babies with congenital deformities.

Signs of poisoning.

Hellebore refers to plants that are toxic to the heart. Their berries, flowers, stems and leaves are poisonous. Their poisoning is manifested by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe headache and pain in the epigastric region. In severe cases, the rhythm and heart rate are disturbed, while the pulse, as a rule, becomes rare. Sometimes the nervous system is also affected. This is evidenced by agitation, visual disturbances, convulsions, loss of consciousness.

Symptoms.

Often the only sign of poisoning is dyspeptic disorders (nausea, vomiting, loose stools) and a sharp slowing of the pulse with a drop in blood pressure. (excitation of the vagus nerve).

Hellebore alkaloids (protoveratrin, nervin, etc.) first excite and then paralyze the central nervous system: strong general excitation, vomiting, diarrhea appear, and deaths are possible.

Specific treatment - 0.1% solution of atropine up to 2 ml subcutaneously, cardiovascular agents.

Application.

Dosage forms in the form of tinctures, ointments, hellebore water (Aqua Veratri) are used for rheumatism; in veterinary medicine - against scabies, skin gadfly, withers, lice.

Ointments and alcohol tincture of the rhizome are popularly used externally for rubbing into the skin as an irritant for neuralgia, myositis, to reduce pain of rheumatic origin, for dandruff and for hair growth. Extracts are used as anti-scabies, anti-pediculosis agent.

Usage. As an ornamental leaf for planting in groups and singly, near ponds and shrubs.

According to the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine" dated September 9, 2003. 12 lyceum students from the city of Ostrog (Volyn) were hospitalized in a local hospital with symptoms of food poisoning. As the correspondent of the KP found out, the ninth-graders tried the seeds of hellebore growing in the surrounding meadows (9 species of hellebore grow in Ukraine) for the “effect”. Three of them, who not only chewed the seeds, but also swallowed them, ended up in intensive care, it’s good that there is no threat to their lives during and now. The rest got off relatively easy and were able to describe the symptoms to the correspondent: dry mouth, very thirsty, nausea, vomiting, then white spots flashed in the eyes and loss of consciousness.
It should be remembered that not only the seeds, but all parts of the plant are poisonous.
Animals do not eat this plant at all.

Conclusion

The plant world is far from being explored. There are still a lot of mysteries and secrets in nature, and she reluctantly reveals them. For example, many carnivores, when bitten by poisonous snakes or other serious ailments, eat the leaves of cereal plants and are cured. This means that in these plants nature has laid down something that only some animals “know” about, and about which a person has yet to learn in order, perhaps, to use it for his own benefit.

And how to explain the fact that among cereal plants there is not a single poisonous one? It still remains a mystery why, for example, of two plants growing side by side in the same place, one takes only useful material, and the other accumulates so much poison in itself that even touching it threatens with trouble, and if you happen to eat several fruits of this plant, a fatal outcome is inevitable. Such poisonous plants in our forests include the wolf's bast and the raven's eye, and there are others that are no less poisonous. Why did they need such heavy-duty protection? To save your kind? Or maybe there is some other secret of nature in this?

Useful wild plants are sometimes difficult to classify as edible or medicinal. Often they are both. Depending on the plant itself and on the purpose, different parts of it are used: roots, leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, seeds and pollen. Some plants have a noticeable therapeutic effect and even in large doses are completely harmless to the body. But there are also plants that, with inept and immoderate use, can cause the most severe changes in the body. Therefore, any use of little-known plants for treatment is permissible only after consulting a doctor.

Literature

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