Content
- St. John's wort leaves: distinctive and curative
- External features of the leaves
- Closer Look - points become visible
- The points on the track
- Harvest the leaves - when and how?
- Usage ideas for the leaves
- Tips
The leaves of St. John's wort also have a healing effect
St. John's wort leaves: distinctive and curative
With its golden yellow flowers it shines clearly from a distance. But the leaves are interesting. Once you have a look, you can easily recognize St. John's wort!
External features of the leaves
The St. John's wort can be easily recognized by the leaves. The individual leaves arrange themselves in a relative arrangement around the stem or the stems. They are rather small with a size between 1 and 3 (rarely up to 4 cm).
The sheets are constructed or designed as follows:
Closer Look - points become visible
At first glance, the leaves look inconspicuous ... But on closer inspection, something is noticeable: The leaves have black dots on the one hand and translucent dots on the other. This is especially noticeable when you pick a leaf and hold it against the sunlight.
The points on the track
The translucent dots that appear on the leaf blade are gaps in the tissue of the leaves. They arise due to the black dots. But what are the black dots? The black dots are mainly distributed on the edge of the leaves. These are oil glands and oil tanks. In them are the essential oils of St. John's wort.
Harvest the leaves - when and how?
Not only the flowers of St. John's wort are collected for medicinal purposes. You can also harvest the leaves! The best time is before and during flowering. It is best to pick the whole stems and dry them in a dark place.
Usage ideas for the leaves
You can do a lot with the leaves. They can be used, for example, to make tinctures, oils and tea. For the tincture you need 45% alcohol. For an oil, a neutral-tasting oil such as rapeseed oil or sunflower oil should be used as a base.
Tips
You can even taste leaves of it directly from the plant. However, they are very bitter and therefore rather unappealing to the majority of people.