Potentilla erecta

Description

Potentilla erecta (tormentil cinquefoil, royal bluebell - lat. Potentilla erecta L., Potentilla tormentilla Neck.)A perennial herbaceous plant with a horizontal thick rootstock and erect branched stems at the top. Leaves are sessile, three-five-fingered, with wedge-shaped oblong incisodentated leaves. The flowers are yellow, with a four-lobed corolla, with many stamens and pistils. The fruits are dry achenes teams. Height 15 – 50 cm.

The time of flowering. May-August.

Distribution. It is found throughout the European part, in the Caucasus, in the South of Western Siberia.

Habitat. It grows on the woodsides, damp forest meadows, shrubs, clearings and swamps.

The part used. Rhizomes.

The time of collection. Late autumn.

Chemical composition

The rootstocks contain tanning materials(up to 35%), the crystalline ether tormentol, the glycoside , resin, wax, vegetable gum, starch, red pigment phlobaphene.

Application

The tormentil cinquefoil is quite widely used in folk medicine. Rootstocks decoction has astringent, choleretic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, hemostatic, analgesic and wound-healing effects. Decoction of rootstocks is used for chronic diarrhea, dysentery, stomach ulcers, various internal bleeding, heavy menstruation, jaundice, liver diseases and gout. In scientific medicine, a decoction of rhizomes is used for inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (enteritis, enterocolitis, gastric indigestion). Externally, a decoction of tormentil cinquefoil is used for washing, lotions and compresses for bleeding wounds, bruises, ulcers, burns, various rashes, wet eczema and other skin diseases, and for rinsing with inflammatory processes of the oral cavity (stomatitis, gingivitis) and angina.

Method of usage

1. 1 tablespoon of rootstocks of tormentil cinquefoil boil in 1 glass of water, insist for 2 hours, strain. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day 1/2 hour before meals.

2. 3 tablespoons of rhizomes boil in 1/2 liter of water, insist for 4 hours, strain. Use for washing, lotions and wet bandages.

3. Boil 1 tablespoon of rhizomes in 1 glass of unsalted cow oil, strain the warm solution. Use to swob the burns, inflamed areas and cracks in the skin.