Name: Field steel
Popular names: plowed harrow, bull grass, wolchug.
FIELD HOLDER (Ononis arvensis L.)A perennial herbaceous plant of the legume family (Fabaceae), with a taproot woody root (up to 2 m in length) and a dark brown multi-headed rhizome from which adventitious roots extend. The stem is erect, rounded, pubescent with simple or glandular hairs, with or without simple spines at the base, up to 110 cm high. At the base, the stems are often purple-reddish. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, the lower and middle ones are trifoliate, the upper ones are simple; the upper leaves are much smaller than the lower ones. Leaflets are oblong-elliptical with sharply serrate margin. All leaves are sticky from glandular pubescence. At the base of the leaves are two large stipules fused with petioles. The flowers are pink, on short pedicels, arranged in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves, forming dense spike-shaped inflorescences (they are irregular, moth-like). The fruit is a round-ovoid, easily cracking swollen bean, surrounded by a calyx remaining with it, with 2-4 seeds. Seeds are brown or olive-brown in color, spherical or slightly kidney-shaped. The whole plant has a peculiar, unpleasant odor. Blossoms in June – July, fruits ripen in July – September. Propagated mainly by seeds. Distributed in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of the CIS, in the Caucasus, Ukraine, in Western and Eastern Siberia. It grows on the primary banks of rivers in open places, along the edges of marshes, in thickets of shrubs, in light pine forests and on their edges, in upland meadows, along roads. Prefers rich, calcareous, well-drained soils. Light-requiring, frost-resistant. The medicinal properties of this plant have been known since ancient times. Even Dioscorides considered him capable of removing stones from the kidneys and bladder, soothing with all this pain in the urinary canal. In Russia, the field harrow was used as a diuretic and diaphoretic as early as the 16th century.
COLLECTION AND DRYING OF RAW MATERIALS
For medicinal purposes, the roots of the field willow are harvested, which are harvested in autumn in September – October. Plants are dug with shovels (preferably after rain, when the soil is looser), shake off the ground, cut off the aerial part, roots, and cut the remaining rhizome into several parts and bury them in the ground without deepening them so that new plants grow in the same place. On plantations, plants are plowed up and the entire underground part is used. The roots are washed in cold water, dried for 1-2 days in the air, then dried in attics, under sheds, in rooms with good ventilation or in dryers at a temperature of 40-45 ° C. The shelf life of raw materials is 2 years. The color of the roots is brown on the outside, yellowish brown on the inside. The smell is weak, peculiar, the taste is sweetish-bitter, astringent. The raw material is hygroscopic.
PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
The roots of the field harrow, which have a laxative effect, are most often used for hemorrhoids. Regular intake of a decoction of the roots in the first week of treatment eliminates constipation, normalizes stools, and stops hemorrhoidal bleeding. In addition, the biologically active substances of the harrow somewhat increase blood pressure and increase the amplitude of heart contractions, accelerate blood clotting, increase diuresis, have anti-inflammatory, capillary-strengthening and hypotensive effects.
APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE
Roots. Decoction, tincture (inside) – for hemorrhoids, rectal fissures, postdysenteric and proctogenic constipation, also as a diuretic for uric acid diathesis, gout, inflammatory diseases of the kidneys and bladder, and urolithiasis. Tincture (inside) – with thrombophlebitis, varicose phlebothrombosis, varicose veins of the lower extremities; externally – with inflammation of hemorrhoids, with trophic ulcers of the lower leg. In folk medicine, decoction, infusion, powder (inside) – as a diaphoretic and diuretic for dropsy, kidney and bladder stones, gout and rheumatism. Decoction, infusion (inside) – for chronic skin diseases as a “blood purifier”; with a headache. The plant is used in homeopathy.
DOSAGE FORMS, METHOD OF APPLICATION AND DOSES
A decoction of the root of the field harrow (Decoctum radicis Ononidis arvensis): 30 g of crushed raw materials are placed in an enamel bowl, pour 1 liter of boiled water, cover with a lid and heat in boiling water (in a water bath) for 30 minutes. Then it is cooled at room temperature for 10 minutes, filtered, the rest is squeezed out. The volume of the broth is adjusted with boiled water to 1 liter. Store in a cool place for no more than 2 days. Take 1/4 cup 3 times every day before meals for 2-4 weeks. Field harrow tincture (Tinctura Ononidis arvensis). Prepared with 70% alcohol in a ratio of 1:5. Take 40-50 drops 3 times every day 30 minutes before meals for 2-3 weeks with hemorrhoids. field harrow products are low toxic,
APPLICATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
The aerial part can be used to dye fabrics yellow and green. Honey plant. Cultivated in the Poltava region in Ukraine (Lubensky state farm of medicinal plants).
ELEMENTS OF AGROTECHNICAL CULTIVATION
The field stalk grows well on fertilized and moist soils. For sowing, fertilized semi-fallow or plots after vegetable crops are used. The soil is dug up to a depth of 25-30 cm, organic fertilizers are applied at the rate of 2-3 kg per 1 m 2 , as well as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Sow in early spring with treated seeds. Before that, they are scarified by grinding with emery sand. Sow the seeds in rows. The depth of their incorporation is 3-4 cm, the row spacing is 45-60 cm. Care of crops consists in loosening the soil 3-4 times, weeding weeds and bunching plants at the phase of 6-8 leaves, which is carried out according to the scheme: 25 cm bunch, 20 cm are cut out or a 10 cm bouquet, 8 cm are cut out, etc. 15 g of superphosphate and 5 g of potassium salt and ammonium nitrate per 1 m 2 are added to the transition area in the spring. Seeds are harvested when 60-80% of the fruitlets are brown.