La Paronychia argentea commonly known as nevadilla or sanguinaria, It is a herbaceous plant that belongs to the Caryophilic family, growing in the sandy areas, in abandoned fields, on roads and in terrains that are dry.
The distribution of this plant covers a large part of the Iberian Peninsula. In the areas of the ramp of the Sierra de Guadarrama, the Paronychia argenta can be found next to the calendula arvensis and certain plants belonging to the genus Viola, Verónica and Taraxacum, being one of the few that flourish with the rigors of winter.
Features
This plant is called nevadilla due to the color of its flowers, which when found together make the ground look similar to when it is snowed. And it is called bloodthirsty because it was believed that it had cleansing properties that were of great help to the blood. This is an annual species and procumbent habit, which it can measure up to 30 centimeters high.
This is quite similar to the name plant Paronychia capitata, but with leaves that are glabrous in a certain way and that have a fairly rigid bristle as well as prominent and with calyx lobes with transparent margins.
The stem, like the glabrous or in its pubescent difference, has leaves arranged in an opposite way, mucronated and with elliptical shape. The flowers usually appear in lateral as well as terminal glomeruli. These flowers are hermaphrodite, actinomorphic and also pentameric and they are accompanied by scarious-silvery bracts that are larger than them. Its fruit is presented as an achene.
Its habitat is open areas and where the layers of the earth are quite thin. Also we can find them on the beaches and in the terrain that are steep, being able to locate in the Mediterranean region.
The flowering time of this plant starts in the last days of February or for the first days of March, extending later during all the spring months until the month of July.
Care and needs of Paronychia argentea
La Paronychia argentea It is a species that has an excellent development in soils that have a neutral, acidic or alkaline pH.
The roots will grow quite vigorously on the supports that have a loamy or sandy texture, although they are usually they can keep being dry or also wet. It is important to offer irrigation only to maintain an adequate level of humidity, taking into account the texture of the soil, exposure to sunlight, temperature and humidity of the environment, among other factors.
It should be emphasized that it is necessary to avoid waterloggingTherefore, the area where the sowing is carried out must have excellent drainage. Regarding the light needs, it can be said that it is a plant with many demands, since it should only be placed in places that have a direct exposure to sunlight so that in this way no damage occurs to its growth.
Uses
Being this a medicinal plant has hypotensive properties, but it also has the ability to clean as well as disinfect wounds, reducing hemorrhoids as well as varicose veins. It represents a great relief for minor burns and especially it is used as a diuretic plant.
It is precisely the diuretic property that bloodroot or nevadilla possesses that has come to be related as a cleansing for the blood and is that the fact of expelling fluids through urine offers the opportunity to eliminate toxins.
Likewise, and due to these properties, its use is recommended as a treatment for the elimination of kidney stones. No matter what the case is, it is necessary to take precautions with respect to each of these properties, since although they are mentioned with much frequency in manuscripts of antiquity, it is necessary to carry out more scientific investigations to be able to demonstrate that they are true and therefore effective.