Highlander snake (cancer cervix) - polygonum bistorta l.

Buckwheat family - Polygonaceae

Other names: coil

Botanical characteristics. Perennial herbaceous plant. Distributed in Primorye, Priamurye. It grows in the flood and forest meadows, swamps, in thickets of bushes.

Rhizome thick, curved, wormlike, reddish at the break. Stem up to 50 cm tall, straight, simple, with bare tubular sockets at the points of attachment of leaves. Radical leaves oblong-ovate with a blunted or slightly heart-shaped base, turning into winged petiole, green on top, bluish below, wavy along the rim. Upper leaves are smaller and narrower, almost sessile. Flowers are small, collected at the tip of the stem in the inflorescence - a cylindrical ear, pink, sometimes white with purple anthers. The fruit is a 3-faceted brilliant, brown nutlets blooms in May-June, fructifies in July-August.

Spread. Forms thicket on wet meadows and forest edges. It grows almost all over the European part of our country, in the Urals, in Western Siberia, excluding the Far North and the steppe zones.

Used parts of the plant. Medicinal raw materials are roots and rhizomes, less often the above-ground part of the plant, fruits and seeds. The roots are excavated, cleaned, washed and dried in an oven or dryers at a temperature of no higher than 60 ° C. The overground part is collected during budding, the seeds - as they mature.

Chemical composition. Roots and rhizomes contain carbohydrates, tannins, organic acids and their salts: potassium oxalate; steroids; Phenylcarboxylic acids and their derivatives: gallic acid; Catechins, coumarins: ellagic acid.

In the aerial part of the plant contains phenolcarbonic acids: protokatechovaya, coffee, chlorogenic; Flavonoids: quercitrin, isoramnetin, kaempferol, coumarins: umbelli-feron, vitamins, anthocyanins: cyanidin.

Application. Preparations of the mountaineer snake in scientific medicine are used mainly as an astringent for intestinal disorders, inflammation of the mucous membranes, dysentery; Externally - in the form of rinses, lotions with stomatitis, for lubrication of gum patients. Use decoctions, extracts, and also tannic-containing patented preparations: "Bistalbin", "Bistismuth", "Bistoform", "Bistoyodin".

In Bulgaria, decoctions and tinctures of rhizomes are used in gynecology with polymenorrhea, whites and other female diseases; Hemostatic - with various bleeding, cholera, cystitis, cholecystitis, colpitis, vaginitis, inflammatory diseases of the skin and mucous membranes, scurvy, with burns, and bites of rabid animals. Apply inside and outwardly in the form of powders, broths, rinses, lotions, syringings. In the experiment, high protistocidal activity of juices and rhizomes of fresh plants was noted. Alcohol extracts of the aboveground part of the plant have protistocidal and antibacterial activity. Flower infusion is used to treat ear diseases.

In some European countries and in China, the snake mountaineer is widely used to treat various tumors. Young leaves are used as a substitute for spinach; Flowers brew like tea.

Preparation

• For infusion take 20 g of leaves or flowers, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, cool 45 minutes, without removing from the bath, filter. Take should be 1/3 cup 2-3 times daily before meals.
• For broth 15 g rhizome crushed, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on the bath for 30 minutes, cool 10 minutes, filter, bring up to 200 ml, squeezing the residue. Take 2 tbsp. Spoon 3-4 times daily before meals.
• For the tincture take 100 grams of rhizomes, chop, pour 0.5 liters of 70% alcohol, infuse for 10-15 days, filter. Take 30-40 drops per reception 2-3 times a day before meals. To extract the extract tincture is halved. Take 20-30 drops 2-3 times a day before meals.

Contraindications. Highlander snake is contraindicated in acute kidney and bladder diseases, as well as during pregnancy. In this regard, the preparation of the mountaineer should be used as directed by the doctor.