Adonis summer is a decorative and medicinal flowering plant found in Western Europe, Russia, Central Asia. It is a cardiotonic, diuretic and stimulant. It is also used in gardening to decorate slopes and mixed border compositions. Read more about how to grow a plant from seeds and how to apply it, read further in the material.

Description of adonis

Approximately 25 flowering herbaceous plants belong to the genus adonis. Adonis summer is one of them. It is an annual with small cup-shaped red flowers 2-3 cm wide.

Taxonomic classification:

• department: floral;
• family: ranunculaceae (lat. Ranunculáceae);
• genus: adonis (lat. Adonis);
• type: summer adonis (Latin Adonis Aestivalis);
• common names: in Russia: adonis, folk - coal in the fire; in England: summer adonis, eye phasing.

Important! Adonis is toxic. It should not be given to pets, including horses. If grass or seed boxes for drying are collected, they must be stored away from children.

The plant is native to Europe, but comes from the western and eastern parts of the United States. At the moment it is widespread in Europe, the Mediterranean, is found everywhere from North Africa. Refers to easily growing, distributed by seeds.

Adonis grows vertically, often in the form of clusters of strong central stems with two-inch alternating bright green, fern-like leaves. At the top of the stems in mid-summer, up to half a dozen flowers of the same dark red hue with a dark purple spot around the center of the flowers will bloom. As soon as they bloom, clusters of cone-shaped seed boxes begin to develop. They are often used for summer floral decorative compositions.

Botanical Description:

• type: grass, annual;
• stems: 10–50 cm high;
• leaves: basal, up to 3-5 cm long, petiolate;
• sheet plate: 2-3-toothed;
• diameter of flowers: 2-3 cm;
• description of flowers: sepals pressed to the petals, inverted;
• color: orange (yellow, scarlet), usually with a dark purple basal spot;
• the flower contains about 230 stamens and purple-black anthers, which eventually become olive-green;
• seeds: cylindrical, 20 × 10 mm in size.

Adonis propagation

Adonis is a hermaphroditic plant, that is, it has female (stamens) and male (anthers) reproductive organs. In spring, its red flowers attract bees, beetles and other pollinating insects. After flowering ends, seed stalks form on the stems, which will ripen by August. If they are not plucked, then the seeds are showered in the ground, and in the spring they sprout.

Growing Adonis from Seeds

Adonis is suitable for cultivation on light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Picky and tolerates any level of acidity: acidic, neutral and even alkaline soils. But prefers well-trained fertile ones with a pH of 6.6–7.8. It can grow in the sun or in partial shade. It withstands frosts down to -30 ° С. It tolerates some drought, but prefers uniform humidity.

Did you know? If the plant does not form seeds or there are few of them, gardeners are advised to plant 2 different types of adonis next to it, to improve pollination by 30–50%.

The plant does not require special care and is fairly neutral to diseases. Its seeds ripen in late summer. They are quite heavy and if you do not collect seed boxes for ripening, they will fall into the ground next to the mother bush.

Collection Technology:

1. Wait until the seed capsules turn yellow-brown. This means that they are almost ready for discovery.
2. Gather with the stems.
3. Lay on a blank sheet of paper indoors at room temperature and wait until they dry completely.
4. Open and extract the seeds.
5. Store them in a paper bag in a cool, dry place.

Seeds need a 30-day period of cold stratification. To do this, they are placed in a container or bag with wet peat and stacked on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. After that, they can be planted to obtain seedlings or sown in the ground if spring frosts have already passed.

Seeds after harvest can be sown on the site in the fall. To do this, prepare a bed and sow them in a row, like any other seeds. They will spend the whole winter in the ground, and in the spring, when favorable conditions come, they will begin to grow. Not all gardeners use this method, since the seeds in the soil can be eaten by insects or mown in the spring with grass, so they prefer to plant seedlings.

Sowing Adonis

For planting seedlings, seeds are sown in February. And you can plant young plants on the street in 1.5–2 months. The term for growing plants indoors is 6–10 weeks.

Important! It is recommended to plant adonis seedlings not just in pots, but in peat cups so that later they can be planted on the site without being removed from the container.

The technology of planting and growing seedlings:

1. Prepare planting pots. If they were already used last year for growing seedlings, then they are washed with soap.
2. Pour the substrate from peat, humus and sand into them, taken in the ratio: 2: 2: 1.
3. Drizzle with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.
4. Put seeds on top of moist soil and cover with a layer of sand 1 cm.
5. Cover with foil and leave in a bright room for germination. The ideal temperature for this is +12 ... + 15 ° C.
6. When sprouts appear, the film is removed.
7. Throughout the growing period, make sure that the soil is sufficiently moist.

Seedling Care

All that is required of the gardener is to maintain heat in the room, as well as provide lighting in moisture. But it is not necessary to moisten the soil excessively to avoid the development of fungal diseases. In room conditions, they can equally affect seedlings of both herbs and vegetables. Feeding seedlings is also not necessary.

Another problem with indoor cultivation is that seedlings are pulled toward the light source. Therefore, it is not advised to install it on the windowsill. But put on racks and illuminate with LED or fluorescent lamps. The optimal daylight hours of the plant should last about 15 hours.

Adonis planting in open ground

Herbs, including adonis, do not like transplanting. Therefore, they are recommended to immediately sit in glasses. Before planting, the seedlings are watered, the bed is dug up, removing stones and weed roots, and the glasses are planted in it. Before embarking on a transplant, a plant must grow 4 or more true leaves. The distance between individual plants on the bed should be from about 20 cm.

When to plant

Adonis is planted in the ground after the air has warmed up to + 15 ° C. A guideline may also be that soil frosts should end by this moment. The same applies to sowing seeds in open ground. For germination they will need from 21 to 40 days. 2 cotyledons will appear first, and then carrot-like leaves will open.

Important! Use adonis in the form of herbal tea for cough, upper respiratory tract inflammation, and myalgia. Its calming properties will help normalize the state of the nervous system.

How to plant

Step-by-step instructions for sowing seeds in open ground:

1. The bed is dug up to a depth of 10–20 cm.
2. If there is time, it is covered with a dark film. Under the cover from sunlight, the soil warms up to + 60 ° С, as a result, weed grass seeds, insect larvae and phytopathogens die. This is especially true for adonis, since its seeds will germinate for more than a month and during this time they will simply be lost among the weeds.
3. At the landing site, make a long hole up to 2 cm deep. Water it from a small watering can. Lay the seeds along it with a distance of about 10 cm between individual specimens.
4. Then close up on top with a small layer of soil.
5. Regularly control hydration and prevent drying out.

Outdoor Adonis Care

Since it is a small grass, it does not require special care. Just make sure there is enough space left between adonis and other plants. If plantings are thickened, then they grow worse and get sick more often. Regularly remove faded heads, this stimulates the appearance of new flowers and prolongs the flowering period. Adonis summer is an annual, so he does not need another pruning. As for fertilizers, herbs that are already in the ground are enough for herbs.

Did you know? The popular name is adonis, given to Adonis because its bright flowers are far visible in the spring grass and it seems as if they burn like the sun.

Campion is a medicinal plant. The upper 2/3 of the stem, along with flowers and leaves, are considered as raw materials. The grass is collected at that moment, the code it contains the maximum amount of nutrients - in May or June, but before flowering. If you miss this time, the plant will gradually spend them on flowering and ripening of seeds, as a result, there will simply be grassy tops poor in nutrients.

Dried raw materials in a dry room without drafts and direct sunlight.

Therapeutic and beneficial properties

In folk medicine, adonis is considered a diuretic and laxative. For medicinal purposes, all grass is used. Its alcohol tincture is used as a diuretic, antispasmodic, sleeping pill and cough medicine. The plant is also used in the Pharmacopoeia to create drugs to stimulate cardiac activity. In this regard, it is similar to the action of digitalis and is often prescribed in order to avoid taking complex drugs and their side effects.

Did you know? Adonis summer is used as a coloring pigment. Astaxanthin is obtained from its flowers, which is used to make salmon and some crustacean species attractive for sale, which is commercially available.

The first substance with medicinal properties was isolated from adonis at the beginning of the 19th century. To date, more than 120 compounds have been identified and identified. 54 cardiac glycoside compounds are considered very active components. In addition, the plant contains flavonoids, carotenoids, coumarins and other beneficial substances.

• Doctors note the following properties of adonis:
• antirheumatic;
• cardiotonic;
• diuretics;
• sedatives;
• stimulating.

Adonis extracts were first introduced into medicine as a pacemaker in 1879 by a Russian scientist. In 1898, a mixture of the extract with sodium bromide or codeine was proposed for the treatment of mild forms of epilepsy and heart disease (Bekhterev, 1898).

With heart disease

The same glycosides were obtained from adonis of summer (A. aestivalis) as from spring (A. vernalis). Tincture from its extract has a beneficial effect on patients suffering from heart disease.

After intravenous administration of drugs based on adonis, a positive narrowing effect on veins and arteries was observed. Accordingly, the drug is useful for people who suffer from heart failure, accompanied by impaired cardiac conduction. Amur Adonis (A. amurensis) affects the metabolism of the cells of the heart muscle, enhances its contractions and improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system as a whole.

Grass is used in the manufacture of the following preparations:

• Adonis Brom - It is indicated in the treatment of various heart diseases;
• Adoniside - prescribed to support and restore the circulatory system.

With diseases of the nervous system

In 1980, studies were conducted on the effect of plants on the nervous system. Glycosides have been shown to cause peripheral muscle relaxation. This has a sedative (calming) effect.

Based on plant materials, the following drugs are produced in Russia:

• sedative - ankylosing spondylitis;
• a remedy for the treatment of neurosis is Cardiovalen.

Contraindications

Any drug, including Adonis, may have contraindications. But there is also a list of people who are not prohibited, but it is not recommended to use the plant without consulting a doctor.

• Adonis is contraindicated in the following groups of people:
• children under 3 years old;
• pregnant and lactating women;
• with a stomach ulcer or duodenal ulcer;
• with arrhythmias with a frequency of contractions of less than 60 beats per minute;
• with arterial hypertension;
• with gastritis.

Important! All cardiac glycosides, including adonis, are prescribed strictly individually. Dosage depends on the weight, age and health of the patient.

Drugs are prescribed for chronic heart weakness, when venous circulation is increased. If there are functional disorders of cardiac activity, then drugs based on it are not used. When treating varicose veins, it is advised to use it in small doses.

It is also useful for relieving swelling when the kidneys cannot cope with the withdrawal of fluid. But you cannot prescribe treatment yourself. In this case, the doctor needs to determine what is the cause of the edema and prescribe treatment.

Some people may have individual intolerance to the plant or preparations based on it. If you have not previously used the drug, but are prone to allergic reactions, start with a low dose. For example, 1/4 tsp tinctures, and control the reaction of the body. If even small symptoms appear, consult your doctor for another prescription. If you exceed the prescribed dose, then the onset of symptoms of poisoning is likely.

• Among them:
• stomach upset;
• slow heartbeat;
• vomiting
• stomach ache;
• heart palpitations;
• diarrhea;
• cramps
• drowsiness, lethargy and a feeling of powerlessness in the body.

If you have any symptoms of poisoning, start by drinking a cup of hot coffee without sugar. Then call your doctor for an emetic or laxative. In case of poisoning, it is important to drink as much fluid as possible in order to remove toxins from the body.

Adonis belongs to the group of medicinal plants. It is able to influence a number of different organs and systems of the body. But despite its medicinal properties, self-medication is not necessary. Be sure to consult your doctor.

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