Fraxinus ornus
Manna ash
Called The Manna Ash ( Fraxinus ornus ), also Manna Ash or jewelry ash, is a species of the genus of ash trees (Fraxinus ). It owes its name to the juice that comes out scratched branches and twigs and hardens quickly. The juice contains some other ingredients, the sweet-tasting, hexavalent alcohol mannitol and is therefore interesting for medical applications. In Southern Italy, the manna ash to recover the Siebröhrensaftes ( " Manna " ) is grown in plantations.
- 5.1 Literature
- 5.2 Notes and references
- 5.3 External links
Description
Appearance and leaf
The manna ash is a deciduous, deciduous tree, the stature heights of 5 to 10, rarely reach 25 meters. It forms a loose, fairly clear and round arched crown. The trunk is turning round, straight and forks only from the ground at some height. The dark gray or blackish - gray, warty bark has no distinct furrows and batten pattern, in contrast to ordinary ash. The branches go for the most part from brilliant, but are often bent and twisted than in the ordinary ash. The bark of the branches is olive to gray-green, rounded to compressed square and finely punctured by light brown lenticels. The constant against buds are blunt and slightly curved at the front and have only two outer ( silvery to brownish ) gray bud scales.
The decussate arranged leaves are pinnate and about 15 to 20 inches long and oval in outline. There are usually five to nine leaflets available. The significantly stalked leaflets are ovate - lanceolate, pointed at the front, serrated to cut irregular and each about 3 to 7 inches long. Your top is medium green, the underside is lighter and hairy brownish or whitish on the leaf veins, especially at the base papers.
Inflorescence, flower and fruit
The flowering period extends from April to June. The fragrant flowers appear simultaneously with the leaves. In a terminal or pendent, first upright, later overhanging, very dense, about 10 inches long and just as wide, leafy at the base, paniculate inflorescences are many flowers together. The flowers are cruciform. The four sepals are unremarkable. The four whitish petals are 7-15 mm long.
The single-seeded nutlets (Samara ) is one-sided winged, with the very narrow, oblong and about 2 inches long wings on the front is slightly emarginate. The mature in October fruits turn glossy dark brown.
Occurrence
Natural occurrence of the manna ash located in the eastern Mediterranean. Locations are shown for Spain, France (including Corsica), Italy (including Sicily), Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. The manna ash is planted in southern Europe and southern Central Europe as an ornamental and street tree. In Germany, the manna ash is considered naturalized neophyte. Here they rarely occurs as a pioneer plant on former vineyards and steep slopes in Baden- Württemberg and Franconia.
System
The first publication of Fraxinus ornus was in 1753 by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, S. 1057. A synonym of Fraxinus Fraxinus ornus L. paniculata Mill
Fraxinus ornus belongs to the section ornus DC. of the genus Fraxinus.
Use as a medicinal plant
As a medicinal drug manna, which obtained by incisions in the bark, dried in air juice 8 to 10 years old trees serves.
The juice contains up to 90% in addition to mannitol and other sugars Stachyrose; traces also occurs Fraxin.
Application: Manna is a mild laxative and may, for example hemorrhoids and Darmfissuren or other diseases in which a defecation with soft stools is desirable to be used. Sweden also herbal blends often contain manna. Active ingredient is the sweet tasting mannitol here. Mannitol is not absorbed in the intestine, but holds water back there, thereby increasing the intestinal contents and thus stimulates peristalsis. As an " osmotic laxative " must be taken in the long term only after consultation with the doctor manna. Intravenously administered mannitol leads to a strong diuresis, as it is desirable, for example in cases of poisoning and risk of renal failure. In addition, mannitol has a certain importance as a sugar substitute for diabetics, as the substance is degraded independently of insulin. As fillers and binders for tablets mannitol is used.
Today, mannitol usually wins by hydrogenation of glucose or invert sugar.