Great celandine (Chelidonium majus L.)

Great celandine is a herbaceous perennial plant representing the poppy family (Papaveraceae). Other names: lechkopar, warthog, gladushnik, worm milkweed, smetannik

Description:

Tall (up to 1 m) perennial herbaceous plant with an upright ribbed branched stem. Leaves without stipules, large, alternate, pinnately dissected into rounded or elliptical, irregularly crenate lobes along the edges, bright green above, gray below; stem on short petioles, almost sessile, basal on rather long, up to 10 cm, petioles. The flowers are bright yellow, rather large, with a regular four-petal corolla, on long pubescent pedicels, located in the form of an umbrella on the tops of long peduncles emerging from the axils of the upper leaves. The fruit is a linear, pod-like capsule, opening from the base upwards with two wings. Seeds are black-brown with a white seed, small, shiny. It blooms from May to August. Celandine grows in shady places – in ravines, bushes, ditches, along roads,

Harvesting, description of raw materials:

For medicinal purposes, the herb celandine – Herba Chelidonii is used. Raw materials are harvested during the entire flowering period, which lasts all summer. Drying is carried out outdoors in the shade or in well-ventilated areas. The finished raw material consists of a mixture of leafy stems, whole or crushed crumbled leaves, buds, flowers and fruits.

Contains active substances:

All parts of the plant contain yellow and orange milky sap; rhizome and roots are especially rich in them. The herb contains alkaloids (up to 1.87%), flavonoids, saponins, organic acids, including specific chelidonic acid, traces of essential oil (0.01%), vitamins A and C. The roots contain up to 4.14% alkaloids. Alkaloids in celandine are contained in milky juice, and at present there are about 20 of them. The main ones are chelidonin, homochelidonin, chelerythrine, sanguinarine, protoline, berberine, etc.

Medicinal use:

In medical practice, an ointment from celandine herb powder on lanolin and petroleum jelly, called “Plantosan B”, is used to treat the initial forms of skin tuberculosis. This ointment is used for psoriasis, skin cancer, lupus and calluses. An infusion of herbs is used for diseases of the liver and gallbladder. Preparations and juice of celandine are used for cauterization of warts, genital warts, with papillomatosis of the larynx. Celandine is recommended by some clinicians for angina pectoris, bronchial asthma, cholecystitis and chronic rheumatism. Experimental studies have shown that celandine products have a fungistatic and bacteriostatic effect against tubercle bacillus. In folk medicine, celandine is used for cancer (1 tablespoon of grass is brewed with a glass of water and drink one tablespoon each), with pain in the heart, pulmonary tuberculosis, venereal diseases; with desentery drink a decoction of the roots. Fresh juice or decoction of celandine herbs are washed with wounds, compresses are made for boils, boils, warts, lichen are lubricated, used for eczema, skin cancer, instilled with juice for cataracts, trachoma, put on a sore tooth, given to cattle with bloody urine.