Patricia medium (stone valerian)

A perennial plant from the Valerian family, up to 50 cm tall, with a multi-headed, slightly lignified rhizome and taproot up to 3 cm thick. There are many stems, they are straight, unbranched. The leaves are collected in a basal rosette, there are 2-5 pairs of stem leaves, all of them are elongated, up to 10 cm, fan-pinnate or almost entire. The flowers are small, yellow, collected in a dense corymbose inflorescence. The fruit is a round-oblong achene up to 0.5 cm long. It blooms in May-July, the fruits ripen in July-September.

Grows on rocks, stony placers, pebbles, rubble areas in the mountains of Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Altai. Forms thickets in places.

In medicine, rhizomes with roots are used. They contain up to 13% triterpene saponins, recently separated into individual patrisides, also alkaloids, tannins, sugars, essential oils, organic acids. The roots are dug up throughout the summer (it is advisable to do this in the second half of summer and autumn). The dug roots are shaken off, the remains of stems and leaves are cut off and dried. Large ones are crushed before drying.

The rhizomes and roots of patricia have a pronounced calming effect, surpassing the valerian root in this respect by about 50%. During the Great Patriotic War, the underground parts of the patri-nia were recognized as full-fledged substitutes for valerian. They are used in the form of a 20% tincture of 15-20 drops per dose with increased excitability, insomnia, heart neurosis, etc. At home, it is better to prepare an aqueous infusion of 10 g of crushed rhizome with roots per glass of boiling water and take 1 tbsp. spoon 3-4 times every day after meals.

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