Useful and healing properties of shandra

Perennial herbaceous plant 20-60 cm high. Stem erect, branched from the base, obtuse, tetrahedral, whitish-pubescent. Leaves opposite to the petioles, roundish-ovate, not uniformly crenate, with a wrinkled plate, the veins on the upper surface of the leaf are sunken, on the lower side - strongly convex, covered with dense hairs, narrowed, the lower leaves are cordate. Flowers without peduncles, small, located several in the whorls. Calyx is five-parted, tubular, with 10 prickly and bent outwards, with drooping denticules;Corolla five-leaved, fused, white, bicex in upper part, upper lip bent from middle, bifid;the lower lip is curved downwards, the lateral lobes are shorter, and the middle lobe is broad;stamens 4, 2 outer longer. The fruit is dry, it breaks up into 4 nuts( 2 cups).Blossoms in the summer.

Distributed most often on dry, gravelly, grassy and weed-covered places, mainly in warmer regions of the country.

Medicinal raw material is the aerial part of the plant, collected in the flowering stage.

The raw material contains 0.3-1% bitter substance marrubin, about 7% tannins, 0.05% essential oil, resinous substances.

Shandra promotes sputum production for inflammation of the respiratory tract, acute and chronic bronchitis, pertussis, senile and spastic asthma. It is also recommended for diseases of the liver and gallbladder, jaundice, gastrointestinal inflammation, with painful and insufficient menstruation in women with anemia.

In Bulgarian folk medicine, shandra is recommended for laryngitis, bronchitis, tracheitis, whooping cough, tuberculosis cough, as well as inflammation of the kidney and bladder, moss, abdominal cramps, fever, rashes, scrofula, lymph nodes, hemorrhoids, irregular and insufficientmenstruation. Decoction of shandra is used for baths against skin rashes in children.

Application

Infusion: 2 teaspoons of ground raw material is poured into a glass of cold water and allowed to stand for 3-4 hours( daily dose).

Powder: 4 grams of raw material in 2-3 divided doses per day. Cough medicine: 100 g of raw material is boiled with 3/4 l of water for 30 minutes( until water boils to 0.5 L), filter and mix with 500 g of sugar.