Medicinal elm sisymbrium officinale scop.

Botanical characteristics. Annual herbaceous plant. Root stem. Stem is rough, branched. Leaves alternate, lower strugovidno-separate, notched-toothed, apical - whole, spear-shaped. The flowers are small, yellow, collected in an elongated brush. Fruit - conical, subulate, tightly pressed to the stem, multi-seed pod. Seeds are trapezoidal or rounded-quadrangular, reddish-brown. Blooms from late May to October, fructifies until late autumn.

Spread. It grows in meadows, forest glades, like weed in crops, along roads, near housing.

Used parts of the plant. Medicinal raw material is the aerial part of the plant, less often the roots. The raw material is collected in dry weather and dried at a temperature of no higher than 50 ° C.

Chemical composition. All parts of the walker contain cardenolides, tannins, flavonoids, apigenin glycosides, thioglycosides containing sulfur, carbohydrates, vitamins, microelements.

Seeds contain fatty oil, in its composition: linoleic, linolenic, erucic, zikozenovaya, palmitic, oleic, arachine, eikozaenovaya, stearic acids and mustard oil.

Application. In the folk medicine of many countries of the world, the above-ground part of the plant in the form of broths and infusions is used in colitis, dysentery, pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, dyspnea, cough, upper respiratory catarrh, various diseases of the bladder and urinary tract, scurvy as a diuretic and anthelminthic agent; Externally - for the treatment of wounds, ulcers, abrasions, scabies.

In the foreign literature, data are given that seeds in the form of decoction and ointment are used to treat various tumors, with oncological diseases, including breast and genito-urinary cancer. Young leaves are used for food. Some authors believe that the walker is a preventive measure of anti-cancer diseases. In this regard, the interest of the walker increases.

Seeds are a substitute for mustard, as well as pet food.

Preparation

• To get the infusion, take 20 g of the aboveground part of the plant, grind it, insist on a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, cool it for 45 minutes, without filtering from the bath, filter. Take 1/3 cup 2-3 times a day after meals.
• For broth 10 grams of seeds pour 180 ml of boiling water, insist on a water boiling bath for 30 minutes, cool for 10 minutes, filter. Take 2 tbsp. Spoons 2-3 times a day after meals.