Lettuce was ancient Egypt "viagra"

Wild lettuce

Recently, an archaeologist Italy announced that he had solved the puzzle archaeologists centuries of mysteries: lettuce was ancient Egypt "viagra".

From Greece and the Roman age, people knew the lettuce has a moderate stabilization and analgesic effects, and give it a Latin name: lactuca. Lac has milk which means that from this plant body out of the White Emulsion with a bitter taste of the juice. For this reason, many books are in.

As early as the year 430 BC, the ancient Greece physicians Hippocrates mentioned on this and similar effects of opium SAP for description. While the first century a.d., the Roman Emperor Nero's Greece surgeon and naturalist di Oskol also put lettuce to banish sleeping sex drive image.

The second century b.c., Grand Princess New Zealand, also writes the lettuce has reduced libido. In his "natural history" wrote the role of lettuce "sleepiness, reduced libido, body temperature, and purify the blood and intestines, and increase the volume. ”

But Egypt's brief relief but lettuce for a different purpose: the plant is used to worship God in ancient Egypt of the offerings.

Min is applied to reproductive and sexual desire of God, he is always drawn as long there is a huge vertical penis. Why this is used for stabilization of vegetables will sleep and sex drive linked to the God min? in more than a century, archeologists have been puzzled.

To solve this puzzle, Italy national botanist girgil · Zamora junies first from ancient Egypt on the identification of types of lettuce in relief. Found that this is a man named venom lettuce (lactuca serriola) wild lettuce. This wild lettuce appearance similar to that in the case of dandelion and hunting genera, sunflower is the modern United States leaf lettuce (lactuca sativa) ancestors.

The two plants in fact is, it is difficult to be artificial incubation and wild. They are also easy hybridization between each gene is not very different.

Serriola was first cultivated by the ancient Egypt who, throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa, Canada, the United States can be seen in the wild, they even longer in the roadside and wall joints.

But now it is difficult to recognize it is lettuce. This plant leaves are oval, edge prickly, broken will flow out of juice.

Zamora junies in on this plant chemistry LaTeX, or the famous lettuce cream has conducted a series of experiments. Discover the dosage, exactly the opposite of lettuce has a dual role.

Experiments show that 1 Mt. lettuce cream as bitter and lettuce lactuca bitter exists and has a calm and analgesic effects. In high doses, irritation anisodamine tropane alkaloids began to play a role.

This also solved the mystery only a ethnobotany, and also explains the sensitivity and lettuce.

However, despite the Zamora junies announced results are attractive, but also require further testing to confirm that pharmacy.