Magnolia berry seeds

Magnolia berry or five-flavor fruit magnolia-vine, Chinese magnolia-vine, and just schisandra / Schisandra chinensis - this is a woody deciduous liana up to 10-15 m long with a specific, pleasant smell of lemon. Stem up to 2 cm in diameter, curling on a support, covered with wrinkled, flaky, dark brown bark. Shoots with smooth yellowish bark.

The leaves are elliptical or obovate, 5-10 cm long, 3-5 cm wide. They have a wedge-shaped base and a pointed apex, indistinctly dentate along the edge, slightly fleshy, bare above, dark green, pale below, with slight pubescence along the veins. Petioles pinkish-red, 2-3 cm long. Both leaves and stems emit a lemon scent.

Magnolia berry leaves are petiolate, oval or obovate, pointed, whole cut, somewhat fleshy, light green. Flowers white, waxy. Schisandra chinensis blooms in May-June. Fruits - berries of bright red color, ripen in August-September.

For therapeutic purposes, mainly seeds and fruits of schisandra are used, which are harvested in September-October. Leaves, bark and young pagons are also used as an antiscorbutic and as a therapeutic and prophylactic tea. Leaves are harvested in early August.

Schisandra is used as a tonic, activating cardiac activity, regulating blood circulation. Since ancient times, schisandra has been popular among the inhabitants of the Far East as a tonic. Its dried fruits were invariably included in the diet of hunters - Nanai and Udege. A handful of fruits, according to them, is able to maintain strength for the whole day.

As a medicinal plant called “fruit with five tastes”, Schisandra chinensis is known from the first Chinese pharmacopoeia (250 BC). The shell of the fruit is sweet, the pulp is sour, the seeds are bitter and astringent, and the medicinal potion from the seeds during storage is salty in taste. Ripe schisandra fruits contain essential oils, carbohydrates, organic acids, tannins, vitamin C, tonic substances schizadrin and schizadrol, etc.

The properties of schisandra are well studied. Preparations from it (tincture and tablets) are used in traditional medicine. They have a tonic effect on the body, increase efficiency in mental and physical fatigue, stimulate the activity of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

Schisandra is used as a tincture (galenic preparation) 20-30 drops 2-3 times a day before meals.

schisandra infusion: pour 10 g of crushed fruits with a glass of boiling water, leave for 6 hours, then strain. Take a tablespoon 2 times a day (preferably warm).

How a person tolerates schisandra preparations can be checked with a trial dose by taking them on an empty stomach or 4 hours after eating; the reaction occurs in 30-40 minutes and persists for about 4-6 hours.

Schisandra does not give complications if it is used correctly: you need to start with small doses, thus preparing. body so as not to cause a sharp overexcitation.

Schisandra preparations are prescribed as a stimulant of the central nervous system and an adaptogen for all kinds of intoxications, toxicosis in pregnant women, hypotension, in menopause, with anemia, increased drowsiness, exhaustion, depressive states, to enhance labor activity and increase visual acuity, in the treatment of bronchial asthma, bronchitis, some diseases of the liver and digestive tract.

Schisandra is also used for many skin diseases, as an adaptogen and tonic. If we talk about practically healthy people, then Chinese schisandra prevents the onset of a feeling of fatigue during heavy physical exertion.