A perennial herb with whitish-hairy pubescence, a plant of the Labialaceae family. Stems are ascending from the base, 15-75 cm tall, four-sided, branched, in the lower part white downy from thick, not very long hairs, above less densely covered with the same hairs. Stem leaves are opposite, petiolate, broadly ovate with a short-wedge-shaped or rounded (in the lower leaves) base and a rounded or blunt apex, unevenly toothed on the edge, greenish above, scatteredly lowered, wrinkled, whitish below from thick distant hairs, with bulging veins. The flowers are bisexual, irregular, forming spurious multi-flowered thick almost spherical rings, collected at the end of the stem and branches in long, interrupted in the lower part of the inflorescence; calyx tubular, the outside is densely pubescent with stellate hairs and sown with speckled glands with 10 veins and 10 stilt-shaped, hooked at the end, yellowish and bare teeth, of which 5 are longer and 5 intermediate ones are shorter; corolla white, externally short-haired, with a cylindrical tube, double-lipped (the upper lip is flat, straight, divided into two elongated lobes, the lower one is bent, three-lobed, with a middle lobe wider than the lateral ones, rounded, mostly notched at the top. The fruit consists of four one-seeded nut-like Flowers from June to August. with a wider than lateral, rounded, mainly notched middle blade at the top. The fruit consists of four one-seeded nut-like lobes. Blooms from June to August. with a wider than lateral, rounded, mainly notched middle blade at the top. The fruit consists of four one-seeded nut-like lobes. Blooms from June to August.
Spread. Shandra common grows throughout the territory of Ukraine on rocky outcrops in shaded places, as well as as a weed along roads, near fences, sometimes in crops.
Procurement and storage . The tops of the stems (30-40 cm long) collected during the flowering of plants together with leaves and flowers (Herba Marrubii vulgaris) are used to make medicines. Drying of raw materials is carried out in the shade outdoors or in a well-ventilated room. 27-28% of dry grass is obtained. Ready raw materials are stored in well-closed cans or cans.
The plant is unofficial .
Chemical composition . Chandra grass contains essential oil (0.06%), bitter substance marubin (diterpene lactone), alkaloids bentonicin, thuricin and stachydrine, tannins (about 7%), mucilage.
Pharmacological properties and use . Galenic products of shandra exhibit choleretic and antispasmodic effects, facilitate expectoration, regulate heart activity (eliminate extrasystole), stimulate appetite, and stimulate stomach activity. The main indications for prescribing Shandra products are various inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract (bronchitis, laryngitis, tracheitis). A positive therapeutic effect is also observed in the treatment of senile and spastic asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, hepatitis and cholecystitis, extrasystole and urinary tachycardia, hypertension, in the case of algomenorrhea and oligomenorrhea, and digestive disorders. The essence of fresh chandra grass is used in homeopathy.
Medicinal forms and applications. Internally – herbal infusion (infuse 2 teaspoons of raw materials for 4 hours in a glass of cold boiled water, strain) for a third of a glass 3 times a day before meals.