Wild lettuce, also known as chicory, milk thistle, escarole, dairy grass, wild lettuce, lechuguilla, rasposa, serrallón, serraya, opium of lettuce, among others; it has by scientific name Lactuca virosa, it is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant, of botanical family Asteraceae; in structure its lower leaves are leafy and close to the earth, and those of the stem become smaller when ascending, after the time this plant can develop and reach an approximate height of 2 meters, from this plant inflorescences sprout of spike with small yellow flowers, this plant has a milky substance, similar to a white latex, which turns bitter on the palate, which when dried becomes yellow.
As for its cultivation, this plant can be cultivated in humid soils, it tends to reproduce wildly and thrives in shady places; However, in controlled crops, nurseries are made, using trays or pots, tolerate the low temperatures of approximately 20 ° from there, which is usually September and is usually germinated two weeks after sowing.
This plant is present in history since ancient times, as early as 1600 BC it was mentioned in the Egyptian papyri, as a powerful remedy to cure many health conditions of those times; On the other hand, the Romans, to conciliate a better sleep, used to eat one of these lettuces every afternoon; already for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the pharmacists of this time used it extracting its whitish extract, when they did not have opium, to relieve profuse pain, and at the end of the same century, the wild lettuce was popularized in the rural areas of Spain and France, since these villages were prepared boiled with the stems and leaves of this plant, to be used as a sleeping pill. After the 1970s, the use of this plant spread in many countries, becoming more popular in the USA where it was known as Lettuce opium, and it is said that this plant was used by the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, who He used to make his dreams more lucid and conscientious to make the most of the creative muse in his spectacular works. Nowadays this kind of Lettuce is used by many specialists in natural medicine and has been the subject of many studies to verify its medicinal properties.
Wild lettuce is a plant that possesses many chemicals with powerful sedative, hypnotic and even narcotic effects; as alkaloids, lactucerol, lactucine and lactupicrin, these last three enzymes related to opium; however, this plant is softer and does not cause dependence; It must be ingested in adequate doses, since an overdose of this plant can cause respiratory collapse, so it could become a toxic plant.
This fascínate grass must be administered fulfilling rigorous indications of use, and that way you can take advantage of all its magnificent properties that are indicated below:
- It is used as an effective treatment to combat insomnia, since it has a substance that provides the body with a mild sedative effect, which helps to calm anxiety and allows you to fall asleep.
- It is a powerful anxiolytic, since it has the ability to slightly inhibit the excitement that sometimes suffers our nervous system, hence, which is widely used to combat the problems of stress and anxiety.
- It is a natural treatment to relieve muscle and joint pain.
- Allows control of muscle spasms.
- This plant is an ally to prevent and combat cramps.
- It is used to calm the intensity of menstrual cramps in women.
- Reduces cough, especially whooping cough.
Friends Steemias as you see this plant gives us many benefits, however, it is necessary to emphasize that it must be used by supervising people specialized in natural medicine or herbalists, since its excessive use can generate negative consequences to health; it is known that his overdose causes dilation of pupils, sweating, loss of vision, headache, tinnitus, dizziness, among others.
Now that they know a little more about this plant and its analgesic and sedative effects, they already have another natural alternative to replace or complement your treatment to combat this type of affections, however, I insist that you always have to be well documented, so I invite you to continue researching this plant if you like this article.
I hope you like this humble post and take advantage of all the properties of this beautiful plant.
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