Description

An annual creeping herbaceous plant with recumbent branched knotty stems that have a white membranous tube at the base of the leaves, covering the lower part of the internode-a bell. The leaves are small, elliptical. The flowers are very small, greenish-white, sometimes pinkish, sitting three to five in the axils of the leaves. Fruits-three-sided achenes. Height (length) 10-40 cm. 

The time of flowering. June-August.

Distribution. It is found everywhere.

Habitat. It grows everywhere: along roads, paths, ditches, in pastures, in crops, along the banks of rivers, in courtyards, in meadows. The plant is hardy to trampling.

The applied part. Grass (stems, leaves, flowers).

The time of collection. Collect the entire plant during flowering, until the stems have hardened.

Chemical composition

The plant contains nitrogen-free extractives (44%), tannins, resins, wax, sugar, protein protein (17.3%), fat (2.8%), ash substances (8.9%), fiber (27%), avicularin glucoside, flavones, traces of essential oil, carotene (provitamin A — up to 8 mg), vitamin C (up to 120 mg), vitamin K. the Roots contain oxymethylanthraquinones.

Application

Knotweed has a diuretic, anthelmintic, astringent, hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effect. Knotweed infusions accelerate blood clotting, lower blood pressure, and increase the amplitude of respiratory movements. Knotweed also has restorative and tonic properties. It is very widely used in folk medicine in many countries for diseases of the kidneys, liver, inflammation and bladder stones, diarrhea, stomach catarrh, stomach and intestinal ulcers, malaria, pulmonary tuberculosis, and as a hemostatic agent for hemorrhoids and uterine bleeding.

In Chinese folk medicine, knotweed is used as an antipyretic, diuretic, hemostatic, anti-inflammatory and anthelmintic. It is also used for tropical malaria and edema of various origins. As a General tonic and tonic, the plant is used for nervous exhaustion, weakness after diseases and weakness in old age. Externally, knotweed is used as ointments for certain skin diseases. Fresh crushed grass is applied to wounds and ulcers as an anti-inflammatory and wound-healing agent. In the USSR, doctors used knotweed as an additional treatment for tuberculosis and received satisfactory results (patients improved their appetite, added weight).

Method of application

1. 3 teaspoons of fresh knotweed herb infused for 4 hours in 2 cups of boiling water, strain. Take 1/2 cup 4 times a day before meals.

2. 20 g of herbs insist 1 hour in 1 cup of boiling water, strain. Take 1 tablespoon 2 to 3 times a day for coughing and whooping cough.

3. Boil 10 g of herbs in 1.5 cups of water, infuse for 2 hours, strain. Take 1/2 cup 3 times a day as a restorative and tonic.