Effect:
Diuretic, calming
Areas of application:
Rheumatism, gout, muscle cramps, toothache, mouthwash for toothache
Plant parts used:
Leaves, roots
Collection time:
May, June, September
To find:
Damp, over-fertilized meadows and water-storing ditches.
Ingredients:
Tannins, bitter substances, essential oils
Other:
☕ Tea: Add 1 teaspoon of root to 1/4 liter of cold water, bring to the boil and let it steep for about 10 minutes. 1 cup per day is sufficient.
The cabbage thistle is a perennial plant and can grow to a height of 50 to 150 cm, rarely up to 170 cm. It has a cylindrical, slanting rootstock. The upright stems are simple and branched at most in the upper part. The stems have leaves up to the top but only remotely. The soft leaves are not prickly, glabrous or sparsely hairy and ciliate with soft spines all around. The lower leaves are egg-shaped to elliptical, undivided or toothed or more or less deeply pinnate with elongated, pointed, short-toothed leaf sections and long, narrowed towards the base of the blade. The middle and upper leaves are egg-shaped, undivided, rarely pinnate and often slightly narrowed above the base and then heart-shaped, encircling the stem. The two to six basket-shaped inflorescences are clustered together at the stem ends above elliptical, pale yellow-green and unevenly thorny bracts that tower above them. The flower heads are 2.5 to 4 centimeters high. The basket cover is ovoid. The bracts are upright, broad, long-pointed towards the top, and at most the outer ones have a short thorny tip. The innermost bracts protrude at the tip. The tubular flowers are pale yellow. The flowering period is from June to October. (partly Wikipedia)
In the kitchen, the very young leaves of the cabbage thistle can be used in salads or make a vegetable that tastes strongly of cabbage. If you want to go to the trouble, you can remove the thorns from the leaves with scissors and then prepare them. The rootstock is rich in inulin. The flower heads can be pickled in a similar way to artichokes.
The stemless thistle (Cirsium acaule) is used for varicose veins.