Name: Tanning sumac – tanning sumac
Tanning sumac (Rhus coriaria); tannin sumach
A bush or small (2-3 m tall) tree of the sumac family. The trunk is thin, covered with brown longitudinally fissured bark. Shoots are yellowish or grayish-brown, covered with stiff hairs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, odd-pinnate; leaves (9-17 of them) sessile, opposite, ovate or lanceolate, large-toothed, pubescent, dark green above, light green below. The flowers are small, unisexual (monoecious plants), greenish-white, 5-petalled, in terminal or axillary elongated-conical tassels. The fruit is a drupe. Blooms in June – July.
Spread. Sumach tanner grows in the southern Crimea on dry, stony slopes, on shale. In the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, it is cultivated as a decorative and phytoremedial plant.
Procurement and storage . Sumac leaves (Folia Rhus coriariae) are used for medicinal purposes, which are harvested from the beginning of the flowering of the plant until the formation of green fruits on it. The collected material is spread in a thin layer on a cloth or paper and dried. You can also dry it in the sun. The finished raw materials are stored in a dry, well-ventilated room. The shelf life is 3 years.
Chemical composition . Sumac leaves contain tannins (13-25%), myricitin and other flavonoids, essential oil (up to 0.01%) and ascorbic acid (about 112 mg%). The composition of tannins includes tannin (up to 15%), free gallic acid and its methyl ester.
Pharmacological properties and use . Dried leaves are used as raw materials for extracting medical tannin and its products (tanalbin, tansal, Novikov’s antiseptic liquid). Tannin is used as an astringent and anti-inflammatory agent in inflammatory processes of the oral cavity, nose, pharynx and pharynx (rinsing with a 1-2% aqueous or glycerin solution and lubrication with a 5-10% solution), in burns, ulcers, cracks and bedsores (3-5-10% ointments and solutions), in case of poisoning with salts of alkaloids and heavy metals (wash the stomach with a 0.5% aqueous solution). Leaf tincture is used in homeopathy for diarrhea, rheumatism, gout and paralysis. In folk medicine, an infusion of leaves is drunk for bleeding, diseases of the biliary tract, diarrhea due to enteritis and colitis, rheumatism, gout and paralysis.
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – infusion (1 teaspoon of fresh leaves is infused for 1 hour in a glass of boiling water, filtered) 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day;
Tannalbinum 0.3-0.5-1 g per dose (for children 0.1-0.5 g depending on age) for acute and chronic intestinal diseases (diarrhea);
tablets “Tansal” (Tabulettae “Tansalum”) 1 tablet 3-4 times a day for inflammatory bowel diseases (colitis, enteritis).