A treasure is kept in the Vienna Court Library. Rudolf II of Habsburg (1552-1612) bought him four hundred years ago for a hundred talers and cherished him in his residence the Hradschin of Prague. An alruin. In the Middle Ages it was believed that the alruin root possessed secret powers. Thus he would bring wealth, power, happiness and, above all, health to his possessor.
Alruin roots were bathed in wine, dressed and kept in a hidden place. They would sprout from the urine and seed of criminals and grow under gallows. To the ritual of excavating the plant came a lot of black magic.

#Mandragora - or alruin root is known as a medicine for thousands of years. He is mentioned in the Eberspapyrus, two thousand years BC. And the Carthaginians knew him too. We also find him at Dioscurides and Pliny the Elder. In the Middle Ages it was used in colic, fistulas, asthma, whooping cough and hemorrhoids. Today, homeopathic essences are often made from it, which are recommended in severe pains due to gout or rheumatism. The alruin superstition only lives on in literature, including Goethe and Shakespeare.

How did it come that the #alruin was such a magical, demonic plant? First of all, because of her mysterious form. But even more so because of the substances, which are in the root. The alkaloids (0.3 to 0.4%), the main component of which is the substance hyoscyamine. Further mandragorine and a few other alkaloids. Hyoscyamine is also found in wolfskore and henchwort. These were known components of medieval witch ointments, love potions and potions. The demonic effects of this can be explained.

In 1803, Derosne, a Parisian pharmacist, managed to crystallize a substance from opium. But the properties of that substance, the soporific of which was the most striking, he did not describe. These were discovered in 1806 by the German pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner. In 1807, Sertürner published his discovery of the substance morphine. With this, the first substance of a group was discovered, which would later be called “alkaloids”.

What are alkaloidsare usually rather complicated, alkaline (alkaline, lead-containing), nitrogenous, organic compounds, with a strong effect on animal organisms. Most alkaloids are toxic. So, with plants containing these substances, it is necessary to handle extremely carefully. Nevertheless, there are also alkaloids in a number of medicinal herbs, which in normal doses are not toxic. The mistel contains the substance viscin. Barberry the alkaloids berberine and oxyancanthin. Celandine the alkaloid chelidonin. And also the active substances of various brem species such as cytisine and spartein, belong to this group of compounds. Further, alkaloids are found in valerian, broomwort, comfrey, yarrow, shepherd's bag and elderberry. This brief list shows that these substances are very common in the plant kingdom.


What role the alkaloids perform in the plant is not very clear. It is often assumed that these are waste products. In certain cases, one can say that they have a defensive function. As a defense against vorate, for example. And she is also assigned a role as a spare material.
On the effect of alkaloids on the human body, opinions are also divided. But it is certain that most of the representatives of this group are highly effective and have to be dosed very accurately because otherwise they are toxic to humans. A number of alkaloids bring about a small change in the state of mind. Caffeine and cocaine, for example. Others, on the contrary, cause very strong changes. Clearly, any overdose of these substances is lethal.
The alkaloids mainly affect the nervous system and more specifically the neurotransmitter system in the central and autonomous nervous system. In doing so, they can act both stimulating (parasympathicomimetic) and inhibitory (parasympathetic) on the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system.

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