Useful and medicinal properties of the shepherd's bag
Family Cruciferae( Cabbage) - Brassicaceae
The generic name comes from the Latin capsa - a capsule( a capsule) and is given in the form of fruits. Species definition consists of two Latin words and literally means "shepherd's bag",
, because the fruits resemble a leather bag, which was formerly worn by shepherds.
Botanical Description. Annual herbaceous plant with a thin stem root. The stem is rounded, erect in height up to 20-30( 50) cm. The lower leaves are collected in a basal rosette, initially whole, and then pinnately divided with dulled blades, cauline - regular, sessile, arrow-like. Flowers are small, white, collected in the apical and axillary brushes, which at the beginning of flowering have the form of a scutellum, which is characteristic of other cruciferous. Sepals and petals of four, the cup in relation to the corolla is shifted by 45 °, i.e.is located crosswise. Six stamens, two outer stems shorter than four internal. Pestle is one with a top, two-nest ovary. Fruits - back-triangular, heart-shaped pods, flat, above the notch, on long, almost horizontally lagging from the peduncle peduncles.
Blossoms from the second half of April to September. Fruits ripen from May to autumn. The plant has a very short vegetation period and therefore gives 2-3 generations during the summer, and in addition, it also has wintering forms.
Geographic distribution. Widespread common weed, clogging fields, gardens, gardens and steam lands. Often found in housing, along roads and ditches, less often in meadows.
occurs almost throughout the USSR, except for the north of Siberia, deserts and semi-deserts of Central Asia. Particularly abundant in the lands under exploitation for agricultural lands.
The main areas of blanks are in the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Volga region.
Collection and drying. Collect the entire aboveground part during flowering. The best raw material is obtained by harvesting at a time when the bottom fruits only appear. It is inadmissible to collect during fruiting. The plant is torn from the root, the root is cut with scissors or a knife and thrown away. You do not need to take care of the restoration of the thickets. With a dense stand, the grass is mowed with scythe or reaped with sickles, but the raw material in this case is of a lower quality, since the stems are cut, and the root leaves remain in the rosette.
When manually harvesting weeds in cultivated areas, it is best to choose the time when the soil is dry.
Dry the shepherd's bag in the attics, under the canopies, and in good sunny, but windy weather - in the shade of the buildings. Drying is considered complete when the stems become brittle.
Medicinal raw materials. Finished raw materials - herb herd herb( Herba Bursae pastoris) consists of stems with a length of 10 to 40 cm, simple or branched. Radical leaves in the rosette oblong-lanceolate, tapering into the petiole, crenate-dentate or pinnately divided. The cauline leaves are oblong-lanceolate, often with a swept base, the stem-lobed, notch-toothed. The flowers are slightly white or yellowish-white, in the hands.
Smell weak, peculiar, taste bitterish.
GOST 14102-69 allows: moisture not more than 13%;ash not more than 10%;stems with roots, individual roots and plants affected by powdery mildew, not more than 3%;crushed parts passing through a sieve, with a hole diameter of 1 mm not more than 2%;organic impurity not more than 2%;mineral - no more than 1%;extractive substances extracted by 70% alcohol, not less than 10%.
Chemical composition. The herb of the shepherd's bag contains amines( choline, acetylcholine, tyramine), rhamnoglum-kosidgissopen, bursic acid, flavonoids( rutin, luteolin-7-rutinoside, luteolin-7-glucoside);tannins;organic acids( fumaric apple and wine), alcohol inositol, vitamin C and saponins. The statement about the content of vitamin K( phylloquinone), apparently, is erroneous.
Action and application. Acetylcholine, contained in the grass of the shepherd's bag, reduces arterial pressure, enhances gastric motility and accelerates intestinal motility.
Fresh grass has a hemostatic effect and stimulates the motor function of the uterus.
It is used as a liquid extract - Extractum Bursae pastoris from 25 drops to 1 teaspoon per reception 4-5 times a day as a hemostatic after the birth and to enhance the contraction of the muscles of the uterus during childbirth.