Name: Avran officinalis – avran likarsky (preparation and storage)
Avran officinalis – Gratiola officialis L. Ukrainian name – avran likarsky, popular names – graciola, fertile, grace, zhovtyanets, drislavets, etc.
Norichnikovye family – Scrophulariaceae.
The herb is used for medicinal purposes. It occurs almost throughout Ukraine, but in the south of the steppe zone and in the Crimea it is not common. Grows in wet meadows, sometimes among sparse shrubs in floodplains, on second terraces. Avran almost does not form large thickets, but in groups and small thickets it is found quite often in forest areas and in the north of the forest-steppe zone, much less often in the Steppe. Industrial harvesting is possible mainly in the Dnieper river basins, mainly along the left tributaries (Desna, Psel, Vorskla, etc.) in the Chernigov, Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkov regions, and the Seversky Donets in the Kharkov, Donetsk, Voroshilovgrad regions.
Stocks of raw materials are quite large. Several tons of grass can be harvested annually, but with the drainage of floodplains and second river terraces, they decrease.
Avran officinalis is a perennial herbaceous plant, 20-60 cm high, with a creeping, jointed, rhizome seated with scaly leaves. Stem ascending or erect, tetrahedral at the top, densely leafy. The leaves are opposite, lanceolate, pointed, at the base semi-amplex and entire, further – finely serrated along the edges, with three longitudinal veins. Flowers solitary, on long peduncles emerging from leaf axils. Corolla with a yellow tube and a pinkish limb. The fruit is an ovoid multi-seeded capsule no longer than the calyx. Blooms in June – August. The fruits ripen in September. With early mowing in years with a wet half of summer, the avran grows and aftermath blooms in September. The whole plant is poisonous.
Grass is harvested in the flowering phase, cutting it with knives or sickles without coarse leafless ground parts.
Dry in attics or under sheds with good ventilation, spreading a thin layer (3-5 cm) on paper or cloth, stirring occasionally. With prolonged drying or drying in a thick layer, the raw material easily rots.
According to FS 42 No. 16-72, the raw material consists of slightly branched stems up to 40 cm long, with leaves up to 5 cm long and up to 1 cm wide, flowers and partially immature fruits. Leaves and stems are green, flowers are yellowish. The smell is weak, the taste is bitter. Humidity is not higher than 13%. In raw materials, no more than (percent) is allowed: darkened, browned and yellowed parts – 5; crushed parts (passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 1 mm) – 3, organic impurities – 1, mineral impurities – 1.
Packed in bags of 20 kg. Store packed in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks. Shelf life 3 years.
The herb contains flavonoids, glycosides, also graciolin and graciolinin, saponins, graciolinic acid, and fats. It is used as a laxative, cardiac and anthelmintic, also for jaundice. Finds application in homeopathy.
Included in the collection for the preparation of the mixture of M. N. Zdrenko.