Swinger, red porridge, honey color, red-headed, trinity - all these are popular names for meadow clover. It looks like a small herbaceous plant, in rare cases reaching a height of up to half a meter. Its distinctive feature is small flowers of soft pink, reddish, lilac or white hue, collected in neat spherical inflorescences. The leaves are triple, each of them has an oblong oval shape. Meadow clover grows in forest glades, along roadsides, in dry and floodplain meadows.
For a long time this plant was used as fodder and melliferous. But it is most common in folk medicine and homeopathy. For treatment, inflorescences and apical leaves are used. Collect them throughout the summer. To better preserve raw materials, plants break down in the afternoon, when there is already no dew. The inflorescences are dried under a canopy in a ventilated dark room or in a dryer at a temperature of about 70 ° C. After this, the raw material can retain its healing properties throughout the year. It is recommended to store herbs in a glass container or linen bag.
Clover: useful properties
This plant contains a sufficient amount of vitamins necessary for the body (C, E, P, B2, B, etc.) and minerals (magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, lead, sodium, zinc, etc.). Clover is especially popular due to the coumarin contained in it - a component that reduces blood coagulation. Due to this property, an herbal medicine can replace aspirin. Moreover, a natural analogue is much safer than a chemical preparation.
Clover meadow has antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, diaphoretic, astringent and desensitizing effects. It is used in the treatment of diseases of the respiratory and digestive systems, with atherosclerosis, diabetes, rheumatism, hemorrhoids. This plant is extremely useful for the female body: it can heal inflammation of the appendages and stabilize the menstrual cycle.
In addition to all of the above, clover enhances human immunity and physical activity. It is recommended to use it in the period after severe stress, heavy loads, as well as in winter, when the body is weakened due to lack of vitamins and sunlight.
Application methods
Like most healing herbs, meadow clover has several dosage forms. The most popular broth. For its preparation, dry raw materials are poured with hot water in a ratio of about 1:10. Then the product is boiled in a water bath in a glass or enamel bowl for half an hour. After this, the broth is filtered and the volume is adjusted with warm purified water to the original. Such a product is used 4 times a day for a tablespoon before eating.
Another dosage form - infusion, is made a little easier: dry inflorescences are poured with boiling water (the ratio is the same as when preparing a decoction) and infused for about an hour. Approximately 70 ml are taken three times a day.
Clover juice is also used for medicinal purposes. It is squeezed from a fresh plant and consumed by a teaspoon 4 times a day.
Among other things, meadow clover is often used as a food supplement. For example, fresh plants are added to vegetable salads, soups, meat dishes, and dry ones are added to bread flour and cheese sauces. In the East, young inflorescences are used for pickling cabbage, harvesting canned winter salads.
Clover: contraindications
Clover should not be used during pregnancy, individual intolerance, low blood coagulation. In addition, treatment with this plant is contraindicated for thrombophlebitis and for the risk of stroke.