Useful and medicinal properties of rue fragrant
Family Root - Rutaceae
The generic name of the plant is found in ancient authors, its etymology is unclear. Species definition in Latin means "strongly smelling", "fragrant", "fragrant", which characterizes the smell of the plant.
Botanical Description. Grayish-green half-shrubbery with stems and herbaceous upper shoots growing at the base, growing annually, 50-80 cm high. Leaves regular, twice or thrice-bicarbonate. Segments are obovate, pterygoid, oblong-obovate and lanceolate, entire. The flowers are greenish-yellow,
are collected in a corymb-like panicle on the top of the stem. Perianth is regular, double. The calyx is divided almost to the base into ovoid lobes. Corolla consists of 4-5 petals, helmet-concave at apex. At the base they taper into the nail. The stamens are 8-10.Pestle is one with the upper four-, five-cavity ovary. Fruit - almost spherical, four-lobed box, opening with leaves, between which a narrow slit is formed. The whole plant has a strong, peculiar odor.
Blossoms in June - July, fruits ripen in August - September.
Geographical spread. It grows in the Crimea, but does not form a thicket. Cultivated in the state farms of medicinal plants. It feels good in the northwestern regions of our country, including in Belarus. We hibernate without shelter, well vegetates;blossoms and fructifies, but plants 8-10 years of age after winter die, plantings are thinned, why the plantation should be systematically "rejuvenated."The sowing is carried out under the winter with fresh seeds.
Last year's shoots are cut every spring with a pruner after they begin to blossom on the wooden shoots of the kidney.
Collection and drying. Collect the grass rue during the flowering period, cutting off the young shoots with leaves and flowers with scissors. Work with fresh rue is necessary in rubber gloves, as it causes allergies, manifested as skin rashes. Dried grass does not have this effect. Fresh grass is used in factories of the medical industry. The collected grass for the preparation of charges is dried in attics, under canopies or in dryers at a temperature of 25-30 °.
Medicinal raw materials. Herba ruta( Herba Rutae graveolentis), fresh or dried, consists of deciduous stems up to 30 cm long, branched, cylindrical, bare, green, slightly bluish. Fresh herb flowers do not contain( sometimes there are buds) and has an unpleasant smell.
Dried grass contains yellow four- or five-membered flowers, leaves and immature four-, five-lobed globular closed capsules. The smell is pleasant, peculiar.
FS 42-63-72 for fresh grass allows: moisture of at least 60%;ash is not more than 9%;organic impurity not more than 1%;mineral - no more than 0,5%.
Dried grass is unofficial.
Chemical composition. The herb rue contains alkaloids - derivatives of quinoline( fagarin, skimianin, kokusagin), flavonoid glycoside rutin, furokumariny and coumarins( psoralen, bergapten, xanthotoxin, rutamarin, isoimperatorin, rutaretin, isopimpinel-lin, umbelliferone, guerniarine, scopoletin, rutarin, rafnoretin, coumarinand others), lignan savinin, graveolenic acid, acronicin, 0.12% -0.7% essential oil, resinous substances.
Action and application. Thanks to its complex chemical composition, the rue has a versatile effect. The antitumor activity of acronicin has been established. Essential oil, alkaloids and some furokumariny have anticonvulsant, soothing, antispasmodic, antiseptic, tonic and photosensitizing effect.
Infusion at the rate of 10 grams of raw material per 200 ml of water( 1 tablespoon 3 times a day) and infusion prepared by cold infusion for 8 hours( incomplete teaspoon of cut grass for 2 glasses of cold water - daily dose)nervous disorders, including with heart neuroses( especially with palpitations), increased nervous excitability, amenorrhea, epileptiform spasms, rheumatism, gout, stomach and bowel diseases, as anti-spasmodic for headaches associated with vasospasm, atherosclerosis. Tea from the herb rue has a favorable effect in menopause, with impotence.
Route is contraindicated in pregnant women. In large doses, the grass is poisonous!