AUBEPINE
Crataegus monogyna
Crataegus laevigata
Crataegus sp
ROSACEAE
The genus Crataegus or hawthorn (hawthorn in English) is well represented in temperate areas of Eurasia and North America.
The hawthorns are bushy shrubs or small trees usually spiny foliage is usually cut, flowers (pentamers, fragrant spring) grouped in corymbs are white, sometimes tinged with pink or red, with many stamens as ROSACEAE often in the fruits (or hawthorn berries) are red drupes, small edible.
The hawthorns are common in hedges, along roadsides and edges of woods, all the temperate regions of Europe, western Asia, North Africa and North America. They are common to plant hedges.
Botanists have a hard time agreeing on the number of species (between 200 and 1000) because there are many varieties and may be hybrids.
Both species Crataegus monogyna and Crataegus laevigata (= Crataegus oxyacantha) are part of the French pharmacopoeia: the flowering tops are dried medicinal plants in other countries the fruits are also medicinal.
COMPOSITION AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
The pharmacological action of hawthorn is probably due to:
+ To flavonoids (2%): mainly hyperoside (quercétol of galactoside), and the rutoside and spiréoside; flowers in the flavonoid characteristic is a derivative of vitexin.
+ To proanthocyanidins (2 to 3%) and épicatéchol derivative kernel épicatéchol (dimers, trimers, tetramers and oligomers)
There are also phenolic acids (caffeic and chlorogenic), a little essential oil, triterpene acids and sterols.
Extracts of Crataegus are:
* Active on the heart muscle (myocardium) increased contraction (positive inotropic effect) and slightly decreased heart rate (negative chronotropic effect).
* Active circulation: vasodilation of blood vessels (including coronary) with a corresponding slight decrease in blood pressure.
* Active on the central nervous system: light sedation.
All these effects are mild or moderate, and significant only after several days or weeks of treatment.
The action on the myocardium is perhaps secondary to better blood circulation, therefore better "nutrition" of the heart muscle;
some works evoke an enzymatic action that "accelerate" the potassium pump myocardial cells
USES
* The Commission E and ESCOP (European authorities in Herbal Medicine) recognize the efficacy of the extract of hawthorn (leaves and flowers) to treat congestive heart failure with mild or moderate (heart senile or "tired"): failure cardiac dyspnea on exertion, some peripheral edema.
* Abnormal heart rhythm associated with the "erethism" heart (ie not secondary to a more severe impairment of the functioning of the heart) are also a classic indication of Crataegus: transient extrasystoles, palpitations, tachycardia transient d a healthy heart
* And anxiety states with sleep disorders, emotion, nervousness
You can also add extracts of hawthorn supplement in the treatment of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, increased abnormal blood lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides)
We harvest flowers or flowering branches (with a minimum of wood) when they hatch and can be dried or stored as alcoholic tincture (fairly concentrated: the way a normal mother tincture is 1 / 10 but for a family use the extract of hawthorn, as the dose must be high enough, it can be done at 1 / 5).
Other forms of administration of hawthorn are:
infusion, the solids (nébulisât), the fluid extract, powder total aqueous extract, the suspension of fresh plant
dosage
Infusion (tea): 5g of dried hawthorn in 1 / 2 liter of hot water, 10 min infusion, 1 to 2 times per day warm or cold
Tincture (tincture 1 / 10): 50 to 100 drops 3 times per day
Total Powder: 2 to 4 g per day
Excerpts: capsules and tablets: 100 mg to 400 mg three times daily of a standardized extract (there are several standardization: Compared to flavonoids (2.25 to 3%) or relative to content in proanthocyanidins (18 to 20%).
Be used instead of standardized extracts to treat moderate heart failure
The use of hawthorn extract of Crataegus (Hawthorn) is without significant side effects (sometimes a few small digestive disorders), the toxicity of the plant is considered by experts to be negligible.
Treatment should be continued for several weeks or months
The French uses traditional herbal flowers hawthorn but our neighboring English and German as well as North Americans also use the fruits of hawthorn for the same information to which they add dyspepsia by insufficient secretion of digestive.
In China, Crataegus pinnatifida, a local hawthorn is known for its fleshy fruits which are preserved in sugar (sold in large quantities in winter), transformed into a drink or fruit paste.
Traditional Chinese Medicine uses the fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida in cases of minor digestive disorders (slow to digest meat or fat, dyspepsia), alone or in combination with other herbs and recently also the plant as a treatment for the same indications (cardiovascular) in France.
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