Perennial herbaceous plant with a creeping rhizome and a straight, smooth, fluffy stem up to 60 cm tall in the upper part. The leaves are alternate, linear-lanceolate, serrate, sessile. Flowers in baskets collected with a shield, circumferential – reed, white, pistillate, internal – tubular, bisexual. Blooms from mid-June to mid-August. The fruits are oblong seeds.
Distributed in the forest and forest-steppe zones of Siberia. Grows in coniferous and birch forests.
Medicinal raw materials are grass and roots. The plant contains the alkaloid achillein, essential oil with a predominance of stearopten, organic acids, rhizomes – anulin. The powder of dry baskets is slightly insecticidal – up to 10% of pyrethrin activity, causes powerful sneezing.
In folk medicine, a decoction and infusion of herbs are used against hemorrhoids, leucorrhoea, indigestion, toothache, hernia, uterine bleeding, and pulmonary tuberculosis. Powder from dried leaves is sniffed for a runny nose and a cold headache. Fresh leaves are applied to abscesses and purulent wounds.
Application
Infusion: 2 teaspoons per glass of boiling water, insist 2 hours in a closed vessel and drink 1 tbsp. spoon 3-4 times every day for 10-15 minutes before meals.