Useful part of the plant: lungwort leaf (Pulmonariae folium)
Description and harvesting
Lungwort plant is up to 30 cm tall and grows in shrubs and deciduous forests. The leaves are dark green with white spots. It flowers in March and April. The flowers are red, some blue, others purple. The plant is harvested during flowering period. It must be tied in bunches and hung in an airy place. Mostly, due to the harvesting time, it needs to be additionally dried at moderate artificial heat of up to 40 °C.
Constituents and medicinal use
The tea has a strong effect on the lungs and other organs, especially the respiratory tract, due to its silicic acid, mucilage and calcium salts. Lungwort is considered to be an excellent remedy for all lung diseases, and only the ribwort plantain can match it. When there really is no more help for the lungs, then, so they say, only lungwort can help. How the number of lung patients would be reduced if it were used more! It helps with catarrh, cough with expectoration, pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis and pulmonary jaundice. Lungwort tea also helps with hoarseness and sore throats if drunk and gargled with. The tea strengthens tissue, inhibits inflammation, promotes urinary excretion, helps with haemorrhoids. If a mixture of lungwort, horsetail and ribwort plantain is consumed over a long period of time, it even helps with tuberculosis. Weak and TB patients should drink tea made from dried lungwort with lukewarm milk 2 to 3 times a day. The tea soothes inflammation of the mucous membrane in the stomach and gastrointestinal tract, mouth and throat, helps with diarrhoea and dysentery: drink 1 cup of tea three times a day. It also has an effect on bladder pain and bladder stones. Tea mixture for the lungs and bronchi: two parts each of lungwort and ribwort plantain, and only one part each of nettle and horsetail. 1 teaspoon of the mixture is brewed with 0,25 l of boiled water and 3 cups of tea sweetened with honey are drunk in sips throughout the day. The young leaves of the lungwort can also be prepared as spinach or salad.
Monk Simon Ašič’s product containing lungwort leafs:
Sources:
1. Domača lekarna patra Simona Ašiča. Priročnik za nabiranje zdravilnih rastlin. Celjska Mohorjeva družba.
2. Domača lekarna patra Simona Ašiča. Recepti. Celjska Mohorjeva družba.
3. Willfort R. Zdravline rastline in njih uporaba. Založba obzorja Maribor.
