Chapoloch fragrant – fragrant bison

legged (Roaceae), or Cereals (Gramineae); zabrun is fragrant

 

Cereals, with the exception of well-known ones (rye, wheat, barley, oats), are usually inconspicuous. Most often, it is they who form the curtains of the so-called grass, although, if you look closely, you can also notice their inflorescences – spikes and panicles. This is how the “grass-grass” appears before us. The cereal received its second name thanks to one of its species, the southern hornbill (Y. australis), which is specially sought out and eaten by powerful bison.

Fragrant sedge is a herbaceous rhizomatous perennial 20-70 cm tall, with a pleasant smell. The stem of this cereal is ascending, bare, with hollow internodes and thickened nodes. The leaves are alternate, entire-edged, linear, gray-green above, and green below. The inflorescence is a panicle up to 8 cm long, consisting of individual spikelets 4-6 mm long. It blooms in April-May. The fruit is a grain, as in all cereals. It grows on meadows, grassy slopes, forest glades, swamps and thickets of shrubs. In Ukraine, the sweet-smelling chanterelle grows mainly in the forest-steppe zone and in Polissia, in some places in the Carpathians in pine and mixed forests, on clearings and meadows, on sands, forestry areas.

For medicinal purposes, the aerial part of the plant without inflorescences and basal leaves is used. After harvesting, the inflorescences are cut, and the stems and leaves are dried in the open air, spreading them on a thin cloth or paper. Sometimes the grass is tied in bunches and hung under the shelter. The term of storage of raw materials is 2 years. The plant is used only in folk medicine.

The leaves and stems of chapolocha contain a significant amount of coumarin (up to 0.2%), which gives the plant its aroma, as well as some organic acids. The leaves and inflorescences also contain ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and a coumarin derivative, umbelliferone.

Water infusion of the herb and tincture on vodka are used in traditional medicine as a means of stimulating appetite and improving digestion. The herb also helps with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract; it is also used as an antiseptic, anti-tuberculosis and anti-febrile agent.

Vodka is flavored with the help of the plant (extraction of the herb should be done in the cold). Chapoloch is added to marinades and pickles, to flavor smoking and snuff tobacco, and soft drinks.

In contrast to the southern chanterelle, our fragrant grass is not to the taste of large cattle – they do not eat it.

Herbal infusion. 1 tablespoon of raw material per 200 ml of boiling water. Infuse for half an hour in a closed vessel, filter. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day for 10-15 minutes. before eating