Anyone who has ever seen a flowering field will not be able to forget this wonderful sight: a solid carpet of flowers and herbs that sways from the slightest breeze. And the smell is impossible to convey in words, the flowers heat up in the sun, and it seems that the smell only intensifies.
The world of flowers growing in the meadow is diverse. In addition to cultivated plants, wild plants can often be found. Many of them, such as St. John's wort or chicory, have medicinal properties. In this article, we will analyze what meadow flowers are called and how they look in photos and pictures.
Types of meadow plants
Meadow flowers are flowers of the steppes, fields and meadows, which need a lot of light and heat. They are light green with a silvery tint, which, as it were, protects plants from the sun's scorching rays and burns. This group includes the following plants:
Yellow dandelion and other wildflowers
Any person, whether he is a city dweller or living in a distant province, at the beginning of summer observes an invasion of yellow flowers, which cover many glades, meadows, parks and squares with a continuous carpet.
This is unpretentious dandelion conquers new territories. This flower grows absolutely everywhere, and literally. And it does not matter that it will be a crack in the asphalt or a hole between the bricks on the wall of the building. Sometimes, in cloudy weather, you can observe the phenomenon of the disappearance of all dandelions.
In fact, they simply close their flowers tightly in a green calyx, giving the impression of disappearing into the green grass. On a sunny day dandelions bloom and close at the same time.
The yellow part of a dandelion is not a single flower, but an accumulation of many thin flower tubes. When the stalk is broken, it oozes milky juice, which is effective against the pain and swelling that occurs with a bee sting. It is enough just to put a broken stem to the bitten part of the body.
At a certain time, all yellow flowers disappear and translucent white round ones appear. These are ripe dandelion flowers. Each tubule is a flower turns into seed with an individual parachute on a thin leg. The dandelion will show off with its hat until a strong wind blows the seeds to new places of growth.
St. John's wort
In ancient times, there was an opinion about the dangers of St. John's wort for livestock. It was believed that animals that ate hay with St. John's wort would be poisoned by such food. It is not for nothing that the flower has such a formidable name - St. John's wort.
However, later it turned out that St. John's wort is not at all dangerous, and even vice versa, has many healing properties. These qualities of St. John's wort have been known to the steppe inhabitants - Kazakhs since ancient times. This plant they had a name - "dzherabay", meaning healer of wounds. It was from the Kazakhs that the methods of treatment with St. John's wort were adopted.
At the present time St. John's wort medicines widely used in traditional and folk medicine. They are used for burns, wounds, scratches. St. John's wort tinctures are used for respiratory diseases, colds, and even simply used for prevention.
St. John's wort is propagated by seeds. After flowering. In place of the flowers, boxes with seeds appear, which open in dry weather and the seeds spill onto the ground, where they germinate.
wild phlox
Phlox - this plant is distinguished by its unpretentiousness. Blooms for many years in one place. During this time, wild phloxes grow so much that they displace almost all weeds.
People appreciated the wonderful aroma and abundant flowering phlox, in connection with which garden phloxes of various types were bred. This flower begins to bloom in the second half of June. The name of the flower means fiery.
And if you look at how phloxes bloom, it becomes clear where such a value comes from. As if the gardens are on fire when the phlox blossoms red, pink, white shades. It is worth noting the magnificent aroma of these flowers, which captivates many amateur flower growers.
Chicory
This is a plant from the genus of biennial or perennial herbs, which is part of the Asteraceae family. The genus includes two species that are cultivated by humans and up to six wild ones.
Cultivated species:
- Salad;
- Ordinary.
The swollen chicory root contains a large amount of inulin, reaching 75% of the share. Because of this, the root is often used instead of coffee. Often, dried and roasted chicory root is added to natural coffee to improve taste.
Chicory can act as a sedative, astringent, choleretic, diuretic, antimicrobial, antihelminthic, anti-inflammatory agent. It is able to regulate metabolism, have a beneficial effect on digestion, reduce the amount of sugar in the blood, and even improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
The use of meadow plants in medicine
Chicory is used only in traditional medicine. The root part is used to prepare a decoction, which helps with diseases associated with the gallbladder, liver, kidneys. Also, a remedy made from chicory roots is excellent for digestive problems.
Has a beneficial effect on gastritis, constipation, diabetes. It normalizes the general state of the body's metabolic processes.
A decoction and tinctures from the ground part of the plant are used to stimulate appetite, improve the condition of the gastrointestinal tract, and treat anemia.
The remedy from the stems and leaves of chicory has proven itself well, as in soothing and tonic for the nervous and vascular-cardiac systems. Also, decoctions are used for external use, in order to accelerate the healing of wounds and their treatment.
There are a huge number of field plants that have medicinal properties. For example:
- Red meadow clover. It is an excellent diaphoretic, diuretic and choleretic agent. It has an anti-inflammatory effect. Helps stop bleeding. For colds, it is used as an expectorant.
- Cornflower. A flower growing in a meadow. It is used for colds, as an antipyretic, diaphoretic. The flower is endowed with anti-inflammatory, analgesic, wound healing and laxative effects. Effective for stomach and colds. Helps in the treatment of constipation.
- Chamomile. A wild flower with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Effective for skin problems. It is used for pain in the gastrointestinal tract.
This list is endless. Nature has generously endowed our planet useful and beautiful field plants. In the meadow you can find:
- bells;
- meadow geranium;
- buttercups;
- dandelions;
- poppies;
- cloves grass, etc.
It is very important to protect the environment. Since human activity often leads to the disappearance of both animals and plants.