Oregano is an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Labretaceous family. Upright, branched tetrahedral stems covered with thin hairs. Leaves - finely serrated along the edge, petiolate, oblong-ovate, opposite. Oregano blooms from July to September with numerous small purple flowers collected in spikelets. The fruits ripen in the period from August to October - brown, dry, smooth, rounded ovoid, consisting of 4 mm nuts.
Oregano grass, the use of which is widespread, is also called frankincense, motherboard or swan, since in folk medicine it has treated many gynecological diseases. In Russia, you can find 3 species of this grass, but the most valuable is oregano, which also grows in Central Asia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, the Caucasus, Siberia (Western and Middle) in dry steppes, bushes, in forest glades, meadows , slopes of ravines, forest edges, etc.
Harvesting raw materials
Medicinal raw materials are elevated flowering leafy stems and flowers. Harvesting is done at the very beginning of flowering, cutting about 20 cm long, along with inflorescences. After that, the raw materials are knitted in bunches and dried, hanging for this in a ventilated dark room. After drying, the leaves and flowers are separated from the stems by threshing or rubbing through a non-metallic coarse sieve. Raw materials can be stored for no longer than 3 years in hermetically sealed glass containers.
The smell of oregano is pleasant, the taste is astringent, slightly astringent, bitter-spicy.
Chemical composition
The widespread use of grass is associated with its chemical composition, containing tannins and dyes, a fairly large amount of essential oil, phenols, geranyl acetate, free alcohols, flavonoids and vitamin C in huge quantities.
Oregano herb : application and properties
Oregano is a wonderful honey plant, a common spice and seasoning in cooking, as well as a medicinal plant, widely used in folk medicine.
Oregano has anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, expectorant, analgesic, and sanitizing airways properties. Oregano herb has also been used in the treatment of bronchitis, ARVI as an expectorant and diaphoretic.
Oregano is also recognized as official medicine, it is part of the collection of herbs for bronchial asthma, gynecological, breast, hypertensive, sedative, cardiac collection, as well as in the collection for cleansing the body and for weight loss.
Oregano herb has a calming effect on the central nervous system, helps with disorders of the nervous system, insomnia (acting as a light sleeping pill), neurosis, convulsions, epilepsy, nervous exhaustion or shocks, poor mood, and headache. Official medicine also uses decoctions and infusions for atherosclerosis and hypertension.
Oregano is also used to delay menstruation, to improve the secretion of bile and intestinal motility, increase the secretion of sweat and digestive glands, helps to reduce smooth uterine muscles, acts as an excellent diuretic and regulates the menstrual cycle.
Oregano is also used as a painkiller, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent. Its infusions are useful for diseases of the respiratory organs (pneumonia, bronchial asthma, whooping cough, bronchiectasis, bronchitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis), poor digestion, especially colitis or enterocolitis, which are accompanied by flatulence and constipation, as well as in the absence of appetite, gastrointestinal secretion insufficiency, gastritis, intestinal atony, biliary dyskinesia, intestinal or stomach cramps, cholecystitis.
Oregano herb has also been used in the treatment of liver inflammation, it is used for painful menstruation, jaundice, increased sexual arousal, and also as an agent that enhances the secretion of sweat glands.
This medicinal plant has the ability to suppress the microbial flora in pulmonary tuberculosis, tonsillitis, rashes, and is also used to heal wounds. In addition, decoction of oregano is recommended for use in staph infections, especially in children.
Oregano is applied externally. For washing and compresses, it is used for headaches and skin rashes. With scrofula or rickets in children, they can be bathed in a decoction of oregano. Baths with the addition of a decoction are taken with various rashes. To stimulate hair growth or with headaches, wash your hair with a decoction or infusion of oregano. Oregano preparations are effective for rinsing with inflammation of the oral cavity or pharynx, as well as compresses or lotions for eczema, an itchy rash, abscesses, boils, and for washing wounds.
And traditional medicine recommends rubbing the body with paralysis with oregano oil.
1. Infusion of oregano. 2 tablespoons are poured with boiling water (200 g). tablespoons of raw materials, a quarter of an hour insist and drink twice a day 100 g before meals. The same infusion is used for lotions, rinses and compresses. For baths, they take 10 liters of water and 10 tablespoons of raw materials.
2. A decoction of oregano. 200 g of hot water is poured with 2 teaspoons of grass, covered with a lid, put to bask in a water bath. A quarter of an hour is heated, cooled and consumed as well as the infusion.
3. Oregano infusion for the treatment of epilepsy: take 10 g of herb per 300 g of boiling water, insist and filter. Take this infusion before meals, 100 g three times a day. The course is 3 years.
4. Carminative collection. A mixture of a tablespoon of chamomile and oregano is poured 200 g of boiling water, placed in a bowl and heated in a water bath for about 5 minutes, cooled, filtered and taken 100 g in the morning and evening.
5. Sweatshops tea. Two tablespoons of a mixture of 1 part of the motherboard, two parts of dried raspberry berries, 2 parts of leaves of coltsfoot pour 400 g of boiling water, for a quarter of an hour, insist, filter and drink 100 g hot three times a day.
6. Breast tea. Take a tablespoon of a mixture of 2 parts of the marshmallow root, 2 parts of leaves of coltsfoot and 1 part of oregano, pour 400 g of boiling water, insist for a quarter of an hour, filter and drink in warm form after eating 100 g each.
7. To rinse your throat and mouth, prepare an anti-inflammatory collection: two tables. tablespoons of a mixture of four parts of oregano, 6 parts of oak bark, 1 part of the marshmallow root, pour 400 g of boiling water, insist for a quarter hour, filter. Use warm after meals to rinse several times a day.
8. Tea: 2 teaspoons of grass pour 200 g of boiling water, insist for 3 minutes and drink the whole portion with honey or sugar. Such tea stimulates digestion. It is recommended to drink it for women with early menopause or with constant and frequent hot flashes, severe bleeding, an oppressed state of the psyche, and also to increase lactation in nursing mothers.
Contraindications
A contraindication to this herb is any period of pregnancy, because, causing a contraction of the uterus, oregano serves to terminate a pregnancy.