Effect:
wound healing, antiseptic, promotes blood circulation, expectorant
Areas of application:
Laxatives, wounds, inflammations, coughs, bronchitis, colds, flu, impure skin, kidney diseases
Plant parts used:
Resin, young needles
Collection time:
May to June, autumn
To find:
In all mountain forests up to an altitude of over 2000 meters.
Ingredients:
Essential oil, resin acids (laricinoleic acid), succinic acid, bitter substances, dyes, larixyl acetate
Other:
Unlike other conifers, it sheds its needles at the beginning of winter. The resin is collected in spring and autumn. The tree can live 600 years and forms a symbiosis with some types of fungi.
The belief in the "saligen" Forest ladies, the bright tree goddesses of the ancestors, who were succeeded by Mary in Christian times. Larch trees are considered particularly lovable and people-friendly trees. They are a (female) protective tree for farms and isolated buildings; the good house spirit lives in them.
Larch turpentine has been one of the most important and noble resins used medicinally for centuries. It is finer and smells more aromatic than that of spruce or pine. It works in an ointment, as a disinfectant and germicidal dressing for purulent wounds and inflammations.
Larch spirit is created by distilling the larch resin and extracting the resin into alcohol.
