Properties
Linden flowers are attributed mildly sedative properties, antispasmodic and regulating the coleresi; it is recommended in feverish colds and as a cough suppressant for catarrh of the airways.
The sedative action, which has always been recognised to the plant, makes valuable use in the event of stress or nervous states even linked to digestive tract symptoms (stomach pain, colitis). The action would be attributable, according to recent works not, at least in part, to the terpene alcohol that have been shown to decrease the spontaneous motility in the guinea pig. and to inhibit the spasms induced by the acetylcholine on the isolated rat duodenum. The flowers are also used in the form of baths to favour a night's rest, especially for children. The action is of hypnotic tranquilliser type.
It has also been noted a vasodilator and hypotensive action.
All parts of linden have proved hypotensive and this occurs in response to a decrease in peripheral vascular resistance. Folk medicine attributes to the Linden flower, by virtue of its high content of mucilage, a valid action in gastroenteritis and chronic diarrheal diseases. The infusion of the flowers is in fact used for its soothing and softening properties of the mucosa. For external use, the Linden preparations are used, as emollients and anti-itching, in the treatment of various dermatoses.
Nutraceuticals
- Polyphenols: acids phenols; proantocianidoli; 2% tannins; 1% flavonoids: quercitroside, tiliroside, iperoside, ramnosil-7-kaempferol ...
- 10% mucilage (> arabinogalactans)
- 0.02% essential oils: farnesol, geraniol, eugenol, linalool etc.
* The composition varies depending on the origin: the bracts are rich in phenylacetaldehyde and other aldehydes while the flowers are rich in monoterpenic carbides.
In the sapwood * (little-known composition):
- Acid-phenols, tannins, fraxoside, esculoside, phloroglucinol, minerals, lipids, sugars, ascorbic acid and so on.
* The sapwood is the second bark of the plant: it is the soft outer layers of recently formed wood between the heartwood and the bark, containing the functioning vascular tissue.