Drowsiness (tarry) white - melandrium album (silene alba)

Other names: Smolevka white

Family Carnations - Caryophyllaceae

Botanical characteristics. Herbaceous perennial plant. Stem rod, thin. Stem erect, furrowed, branching at the top, slightly sticky, pubescent with soft hairs. Leaves opposite, elliptical, prizhatoobolosistye, lower short-petioled, upper - sessile. The flowers are collected in the apical hemisphere, the petals are white. Fruit is a multi-seeded ovoid capsule. Seeds are kidney-oval, ashen-gray. Blooms from May to August, fruiting in October.

Spread. It grows in meadows, near roads, near habitation, like weed in crops, among shrubs.

Used parts of the plant. Medicinal raw materials are the aerial part of the plant, leaves, flowers, less often roots and seeds harvested in the usual way.

Chemical composition. All parts of white slime contain flavonoids, saponins. The leaves contain vitamins, phenolcarboxylic acids and their derivatives. In fruits - fatty oil.

Application. In folk medicine, the plant is used for insomnia, to relieve mental stress in the form of baths and inside. Decoctions and infusions of leaves and flowers in Komi are used as soothing, with epilepsy, uterine bleeding, mainly in the postpartum period, for the treatment of umbilical hernia inside and externally in the form of poultices, compresses.

In the literature there is evidence that white drowsiness is used for various tumor diseases. Broths and tincture of seeds are used for tumors, most often the intestines. In this regard, the plant becomes popular and of great interest and value.

In the experiment, preparations of the aerial part increase the contractile ability of the uterus musculature, have an anti-inflammatory and choleretic effect.

Roots have a high foaming property and can be used to make soap. Valuable food for cattle. Recommended for introduction into culture.

Preparation

• To get the infusion, take 20 g of leaves and flowers, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, cool 45 minutes, filter. Take 2 tbsp. Spoon 3-4 times a day.
• A decoction is prepared from the seeds or roots. Why take 15 g of roots or seeds, or their mixtures, pour 180 ml of boiling water, insist on a water bath for 30 minutes, cool 10 minutes, filter, bring to 180 ml. Take should be 2 tbsp. Spoons 2-3 times a day.