Baical skullcap
Milk thistle
Silybum marinum
In areas of its natural appearance baical scullcap appears especially on dry, rocky, gritty downhills on direct sun same as on half-light. Baical scullcap is hardy plant of Lamiacae family; it reaches a height of 30 up to 60 cm, has dendritic, square stem and lanceolate entire leafs. Thickness of its root is usually about 2 cm and is brown on surface and yellow on cut. Baical scullcap is in bloom an the end of summer and during the autumn and has eye-catching blue blossoms. Although this plant is domestic in eastern Asia it has quite favourable climatic conditions in our country and it’s possible to crop it here.
Scullcap is seeded to greenhouse or to hothouse at the end of March; whenever plants come up and are of 3 – 3.5 cm we transplant them out and implant them at a distance of 25 – 30 cm apart after recurrence of cold in May; to reach massive root it’s necessary to prepare appropriate patch – put for example old bricks or flat stones aground and than root can’t grow depthward. Root of three years old plant is used; we utilize it in spring or in October. Cut peeled root to small pieces and dry by artificial heat until 60°C. You can prepare tincture too.
Root is suitable for usage in mixtures same as singly especially in form of tincture which I’m using myself most commonly in my practice.
Drug contains lot of active substances the most important of them are flavonoids and more than forty of them were identified in scullcap. There is highest content of flavonoidbaicalin, up to 17%. Plant containts also sizeable amount of its glyconebaicalein. Scullcap is one of most commonly used herbs in classic Chinese medicine and in medicine of Far East; in European countries it brings into wider notice.
What this marvellous herb is good for and why it is part of our products:
- scullcap especially decreases blood pressure reliably
- detoxicate organism of waste substances
- cytostatic effects were proved, it effects as immunomodulator
- reliable finder and destroyer of free radicals; its efficiency is 375 times higher than in vitamin E
- antiallergic effect
- suitable at risk of miscarriage
- decreases fever
- act in cholagogic and diuretic manner
- moderates fibrilations and cardiac arrhythmia
- act in antarthritic manner and helps in case of chronic inflammations
- it helps at influenza A and B, infections of upper respiratory tract
- helps at inflammatory diseases of kidneys and urinary system
- helps at nosebleeding, internal haemorrhage, strong menorrhea
- helps at diphtheritis, febris rubra and hepatitis
- reduces harmfull LDL cholesterol fast
- helps at asomnia and neurosis
- is advisible in pediatrics in cases of nocturnal enuresis and nightmares
- helps at asthmatic bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer
- helps at inflammations and tumours of connective tissue
- idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- improves mental and physical endurance in whole
- chronic diseases, before and after serious surgeries