In the "set of adaptogenic drugs we can also include HORNED RYE, with an expression also" linked to "homeopathy.
Ergot is a drug characterized by a biological form of resistance to a fungus, known as Clavicex purpurea. This fungus infests grass crops, in particular rye, but not only; it attacks the inflorescences, in particular the female genital apparatus of the grasses and, when the spores arrive on the inflorescence, they develop the vegetative part, making hyphae grow; these hyphae completely envelop the single flower, produce a sugary substance called "honeydew" and at the same time vegetative spores of dissemination of the fungus develop, without sexual reproduction. At this point the sugary secretions attract insects, which arrive and feed on the honeydew, and then they go away disseminating the vegetative spores, hence the infection. All this happens when the fungus develops vegetatively and jointly with the ontogenetic development of the plant grass; the fungus, in fact, must develop and grow when the flowering phase begins. The plant then dries up to arrive in winter and the fungus also prepares to withstand the winter period, sclerotizing all the part of hyphae that enveloped the inflorescence; this sclerotization corresponds to a loss of water and therefore the fungus enters a phase of quiescence. From here, it is formed as a cornet of about 2-3 cm maximum size, with a slightly curved cylindrical shape; this horn falls to the ground, passes the winter and in the spring period the fungus begins to germinate through meiosis, that is the formation of gametes; then there is sexual reproduction, with the formation of new generation spores that will infest the crop of the following year. The ergot drug is constituted precisely by the wintering phase of the fungus, that is, by the sclerotic horn called "sclerotium". drug is characterized by alkaloids, such as ergometrine and ergotoxine, important from a pharmaceutical point of view, because they have anti-haemorrhagic, anti-neuralgic and anti-migraine properties.
The use of ergot in herbal medicine concerns the homeopathic sphere.
Other articles on "ergot"
- Opium poppy
- Pharmacognosy
- Carbohydrate drugs