Useful and medicinal properties of the watch are three-leafed( trefoil of water, trifoli, bean)
Family of Watchmen - Menyanthaceae
The generic name in Greek means "moon flower".Watch flowers are clearly visible in the dark and, growing on the edge of the marshes, warn the traveler about the danger: "Stop! Ahead of the swamp! "As sentries on watch, there are trefoils in the swamp. Hence the first Russian name. Species definition in translation from Latin means three-leaved( in the form of triple leaves).
Botanical description. Perennial herbaceous plant with a horizontal, branched, thick rhizome, bearing annular scars and thin accessory roots. Rhizome is not deep and often comes to the surface. In the upper part it rises and carries the next triple leaves on the
long-petioles. Floral arrows round, glabrous, bear on the tip a brush of pale pink, rarely almost white flowers, regular shape, with a double perianth. Calyx green, five-toothed, corolla funnel-shaped with sharp five-bladed limb. The corolla lobes inside are dense and long-buffed, from the outside they are smooth.
Stamens 5 attached to the base of the corolla. Pestle 1 with upper single-cavity ovary. Fruit is an ovate capsule opening with two valves.
Blossoms in late May - early June, fruits ripen in July - August.
Geographical spread. It grows on grass and mossy marshes, peat quarries, damp meadows, along the banks of stagnant and weakly flowing reservoirs, along the steep margins of overgrown lakes, old people. Often forms large thickets in lowland and transitional bogs. It occurs almost throughout the Soviet Union in the forest belt, except the Far North, the Crimea, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The main areas of blanks - Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine.
Collection and drying. Collect the leaves of the watch after flowering, cutting them off with their hands and tearing off petioles, the length of which should not exceed 3 cm. You can not pull the plant out of the rhizome, as this will lead to the destruction of the thickets. The collected raw materials are folded freely into baskets, boxes and quickly delivered to the drying site. Dry in attics under an iron roof, in sheds and other well-ventilated rooms or in dryers at a temperature of 45-60 °.Drying occurs unevenly. Thin leaf plates dry out faster than petioles and veins. Drying is continued until the latter become dry, but the individual leaves dry up and crumble. If the dried raw material is scraped and left for a few days, it will attract moisture, the leaves will become elastic. Now they can be sorted, discarding blackened and individual petioles, packaging and shipping to consumers.
Medicinal raw materials. Finished raw materials - sheet of watch - Folium Menyanthidis consists of thin bare, usually crumpled, partially broken, triple-complex green leaves. Individual leaves are short-petiolate, obovate or elliptical,
entire or slightly wavy margin, 6-8 cm long, 3-5 cm wide. The remainder of the petiole does not exceed a length of 3 cm.
Odor is absent, the taste is very bitter.
Art.281 GF X admits moisture not more than 14%;ash not more than 10%;leaves that have lost their normal coloring, no more than 5%;leaves with petioles longer than 3 cm not more than 8%;individual petioles not more than 3%;organic impurity not more than 1%;mineral - no more than 0,5%.
Chemical composition. The leaves of the watch contain bitter glycosides menianthin and meliatin, tannins, carboxylic acid loganin, triterpene saponins, flavonoids( quercetin, kaempferol, rutin, hyperoside, kaempferol-3-rhamnoside), alkaloids gentianin and deoxylganine, choline, organic compounds with a significant amountiodine and up to 3% tannins, vitamin C.
Action and application. The bitter glycosides of the watch, like all bitterness, show their effect already in the oral cavity. They excite receptors of the mucous membrane and reflexively increase the excitability of the digestive center, which is associated with increased function of the secretory glands of the gastrointestinal tract, which improves digestion. Flavonoids possess choleretic action.
Assign as an appetizing remedy for exhaustion after severe illnesses, operations, with gastritis with low acidity and other gastric diseases in the form of infusion( 10 grams of raw material per 200 ml of water for 1 tablespoon 5-10 minutes before meals).