Useful and medicinal properties of a thousand-thousandth( small, or umbellate)
Family Gentianaceae - Gentianaceae
The generic name given to the plant in the Middle Ages comes from two Latin words: centum - one hundred and aurum - gold, that is, a plant worth a hundred gold coins. Species definition is derived from the Greek erythros - red, given by the color of flowers.
In synonyms minus - small, because of the small height of the plant, and umbellatum - umbrella - in the shape of the inflorescence.
Botanical Description. Biennial or annual herbaceous plant with a thin stem root. The stem is erect, tetrahedral, below unbranched, up to 40 cm high. The lower leaves are collected in a basal rosette, obovate, tapered into petiole with five arched veins, stem - opposite, elliptical and pointed-elliptical, sessile, with three arched principal veins. The flowers are bright pink, with a thin yellowish corolla tube and a flat five-bladed arch. They are collected in the corymbodiform semizonts( dichasia).Stamens five, pistil one with upper ovary. Fruit - narrow, oblong capsule, opening with two valves.
Blossoms in June - August. Fruits ripen in August - September.
Geographical spread. It grows in moist meadows, including floodplains, forest glades among bushes, in deposits, and sometimes on the slopes of hills and mountains. Distributed in the European part of the USSR, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The northern boundary of the range passes through the cities of Leningrad, Vologda, Ufa, and the eastern one along the Volga. In Belarus it is not uncommon, but it does not form a thicket.
Collection and drying. Collect the entire aboveground part of plants during the flowering period, while the radical leaves are not turned yellow. When harvesting, cut the stems with a knife at the very ground so that the root rosette of the leaves falls. If these leaves have already turned yellow, the stem is cut at the level of the lower cauline leaves.
Dry in the shade, often in attics, binding the grass in small bundles, suspending them or spreading the grass in a thin layer.
Medicinal raw materials. Finished raw materials - the herb of the centaur( Herba Centaurii) contains stems with leaves, flowers, but without roots, often bundled. The thickness of the bundles in the places of the ligament is 5-6 cm, the length of the stems is up to 25 cm. The leaves are 3-5 cm long. The calyx is spicate-leafed, five-toothed. Corolla is nail-shaped, pink, with a purple hue.
The smell is missing, the taste is bitter.
FS 42-1244-79 allows a moisture content of not more than 14%;ash not more than 7%;yellowed and blackened flowers not more than 5%;stems without leaves not more than 3%;plants with inseparable roots and individual roots not more than 2%;organic and mineral impurities not more than 1%.
Instead of a thousand-acres, inexperienced collectors often collect clove grass - Dianthus deltoides L., whose leaves are also opposite, but narrow-back-lanceolate with a pinnate venation, from below rough-hairy. The flowers are pinkish-red, near the fauces with a ring of purple spots. Stamens are ten.
Chemical composition. The herb of a thousand-thousandths contains 0.6-1% alkaloids( predominantly gentianin), there are bitter substances related to glycosides( erytau taurine, erythrocentaurin, etc.).Flavonoids( apiin, luteolin, cosmozyin, apigenin, skuttelarein, rutin, astragaline, quercimeritrin, kaempferol, quercetin, chrysoeryol, etc. have been found. Fresh grass contains vitamin C and carotenoids, but they are mostly destroyed during drying. The presence of tri-perpenoids, primarily oleanolic acid, phytosterols, essential oil, has also been established.
Action and application. Bitter substances have the same mechanism of action as the watch. They stimulate appetite, increase secretion of digestive glands and, in addition, increase bile secretion. Alkaloid gentianin has a helminthic effect.