Horse sorrel – kіnsky sorrel (harvesting and storage)

Name: Horse sorrel – kіnsky sorrel (harvesting and storage)

Horse sorrel – Rumex confertus W i 11 d. The Ukrainian name is kіnsky sorrel, the popular names are sorrel, schava.

 

The buckwheat family is Polygonaceae.

Medicinal raw materials are rhizomes with roots.

It occurs almost throughout the territory of Ukraine, more often in Polissya, in the Forest-Steppe and the northern regions of the Steppe. Grows in meadows, forest clearings and edges, roadsides. In intensively grazed meadows near villages, it rarely forms sparse thickets with an area of ​​several hectares. Solitary plants are more common.

Stocks of raw materials are large, tens of tons of rhizomes with roots can be harvested annually. Industrial preparations are most expedient in Rivne, Zhytomyr, Khmelnitsky, Vinnitsa, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk regions.

Horse sorrel is a perennial with a thick, slightly branched, many-headed rhizome. Stem erect, furrowed, up to 1.5 m in height, branched in the upper part. Basal and lower stem leaves oblong-triangular-ovate, obtuse, wavy along the edge, 15-25 cm long, with heart-shaped base, long-petiolate; the upper ones are ovate-lanceolate, stalk-bearing, on short petioles. All leaves below, especially along the veins, shortly pubescent. The inflorescence is narrow-cylindrical, dense, of closely spaced whorls, almost leafless. The perianth is simple, and its outer leaves are smaller than the inner ones. The fruits are trihedral, oval, brown nuts, within 4 mm in length. Blooms in June – July. The fruits ripen in August – September.

Harvest rhizomes with roots in the fall after the death of the aerial parts (September-October). They dig them out with shovels, shake off the ground, cut off the above-ground parts and immediately wash them in cold water. Thick rhizomes are cut lengthwise with a knife.

The collected raw materials are dried in attics under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, laying out a thin layer (3-5 cm) on paper or cloth and stirring occasionally.

According to FS 42-65-72, the raw material consists of whole or longitudinally wrinkled rhizomes with roots not less than 3 cm long and 2-10 cm thick, often curved, brown on the outside, yellow-orange on the inside. The smell is weak. The taste is bitter, tart. Humidity is not higher than 13%. In raw materials, no more than (percent) is allowed: rhizomes with the remains of stems – 5, crushed parts smaller than 2 cm – 3, organic impurities – 1, mineral – 0.5.

Packed in bags weighing 20-30 kg. Store in dry, well-ventilated areas on racks. Storage period up to 3 years.

Rhizomes and roots of horse sorrel contain tannins, hydroxymethylanthraquinones, vitamin K, essential oil, salts of oxalic acid, organic iron compounds. They are used depending on the dose as an astringent or laxative for gastric diseases in the form of a decoction and liquid extract.