Plants with a healing effect >>>> What plant is called Red Root?

What plant is called Red Root?

In pharmacies you can find the name “Red Root” among herbs for infusions. What plant is called Red Root, and for what purposes is it used in medicine?

The most familiar common name for this plant is “Hedysarum sweetvetch“, and its pharmaceutical name is Hedysarum coronarium L. One of the common names of the plant is associated with the appearance, hence the name “French honeysuckle”.

Red Root is a rare herbal medicine plant, undeservedly forgotten, but has not lost its medicinal significance among herbalists. The Red Root plant is best known in Tibetan medicine, since the region of the Tibetan Mountains is considered its homeland. Red Root is a plant of the cold climate zones of the planet, where seasonality allows the plant to survive.

The Red Root plant has earned its place in Traditional Chinese Medicine due to its multiple beneficial properties:

Antioxidant agent,
Immunostimulating agent,
Tonic,
Antidiabetic agent.

Chinese healers place great emphasis on the fact that French honeysuckle root plays a big role in slowing down the aging process, and that the anti-aging effect is visible when taking infusions orally and when making cosmetics with the participation of French honeysuckle. Substances in the Red Root take part in redox reactions occurring in the body, affecting protein synthesis, metabolic processes, and cell regeneration. These characteristics of the preventive properties of the Red Root plant ensure the success of cosmetic effects on skin rejuvenation.

The tonic properties of the Red Root are inextricably linked with its properties (when consumed in the form of drinking infusions) to irritate the parenchyma of internal organs, providing:

expectorant effect in the respiratory system,
mild diuretic effect in the urinary system,
immunizing effect (starts humoral immunity),
an irritating effect on the nervous system to increase the overall vitality of the body.

Collecting raw materials for harvesting for future use is quite difficult, since French honeysuckle is not a very common plant. It is more likely to be found in nature in mountainous areas. The plant's medicinal value comes from the root, and the name "Red Root" reflects the color of the plant's root system. Collecting the plant is quite difficult, since the powerful root system with a central tap root can go into the ground to a depth of five meters. And since only the root of the French honeysuckle plant is used for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes, collecting plant materials causes many difficulties. The plant is recognizable by its spectacular lilac-purple flowers and fairly tall growth. The plant is harvested at the time when it fades and prepares for the dormant period - at this time the maximum amount of useful substances accumulates in the root,

For home use, the roots of the plant are dried, ground to powder, and infusions and teas are prepared from them. In pharmacology, a tincture of the plant from dry raw materials, herbal preparations with its participation, and tablets with herbal components are used. Beneficial substances of a finer (purified) composition are obtained from the root by squeezing and aqueous extracts are prepared.

Since the roots of almost all plants contain tannins in their composition, and the Red Root is endowed with them in high concentration, the root part of the plant is used as tea leaves - medicinal and preventive tea. Consuming tea infusions with Red Root every day is harmful to the health of the body as a whole, and in particular to the urinary system and digestive system.

Infusions and teas from the Red Root are recommended to be consumed with milk, honey, jams, which improves the taste of drinks from this plant. A pure decoction of the Red Root has a very tart and slightly bitter taste.

It is not recommended to use decoctions and infusions of the Red Root during periods of excessive stimulation of the nervous system (for example, during stress), with gastrointestinal diseases, kidney problems and high blood pressure, since the substances that make up the Red Root tend to aggravate the listed condition.

In general, Red Root is not inferior in its biochemical properties to Ginseng root, and even has a wider range of effects on the human body.