White mistletoe – white mistletoe (harvesting and storage)

mistletoe bila, popular names are omila, imela, ivilga, bab’yachiy proklon, etc.

 

The mistletoe family is Viscaceae.

For therapeutic purposes, young leafy twigs and leaves are used.

It occurs mainly in the forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, occasionally in Polissya, in the north of the Steppe and in the Crimea, and is absent in the south of the Steppe and in the Carpathians. Most often it affects willows and poplars, less often other trees and shrubs (pear, apple, linden, maple, birch, hawthorn, dogwood, etc.). With a large lesion, one copy of the tree can have several hundred mistletoe bushes of various ages and sizes. The main areas of growth are concentrated in river valleys and beams, less often in city parks of Zhytomyr, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkov and Donetsk regions.

Stocks of raw materials are quite large, but not permanent (several tons of shoots and leaves can be harvested annually). In connection with the improvement of care for tree plantations, the likelihood of harvesting is sharply reduced.

White mistletoe is an evergreen semi-parasitic plant. Forms almost spherical, dense, up to 120-150 cm in diameter bushes, which are attached to tree branches with suction cups. Stems are forked, with green or older greyish woody parts. The leaves are opposite, thick, leathery. Yellowish-green unisexual flowers sit several in the forks of the stem. Plants are dioecious. The fruits are spherical, white, one-seeded berries with sticky mucous pulp. Blooms in March – April. The fruits ripen in October-November.

Harvesting of other species of semi-parasitic plants from the mistletoe family found in Ukraine is not allowed.

Shoots and leaves are harvested, breaking them off in autumn and winter (November-April). Pruning shears or hooks are used to harvest raw materials from large trees.

Dry under sheds or in warm rooms with good ventilation, spreading a thin layer (3-5 cm) on cloth or paper. The yield of dry raw materials is 37-39%.

According to FS 393-72, the raw material consists of leathery yellowish-green leaves 2-6 cm long and thin forked-branched twigs up to 20 cm long without fruit. There is no smell. The taste is bitter. Humidity is not more than 10%. In raw materials, no more than 3% of crushed parts (passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 3 mm), 1% of organic and mineral impurities are allowed.

The ash content must not exceed 10%.

Packed in bags or bales weighing 20 kg. Store in dry, well-ventilated areas, protected from light. The retention period has not been set.

Shoots (young leafy twigs) contain choline derivatives, resin, saponins, viscalbin glycoside, viscotoxin alkaloid, carotene, vitamin C. They are used as an antispasmodic in the early stages of hypertension, as well as a hemostatic and anticonvulsant.

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