Name: Marshmallow officinalis – marshmallow likarska (harvesting and storage)
Marshmallow officinalis – Althaea officinalis L. Ukrainian name – marshmallow likarska, popular names – erysipelas likarska, marshmallow, mallow, pride, papurnik, etc.
Malvaceae family – Malvaceae.
The roots are used for medicinal purposes.
It occurs almost throughout Ukraine, with the exception of the Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains (not often in the steppe regions). It grows in river valleys and wet beams, in wet meadows, along the banks of rivers, oxbow lakes, lakes, ponds, in coastal shrubs, on the outskirts of alder and other wet forests. Forms groups, sometimes sparse thickets, concentrated mainly in the Dnieper basin (Dnepr, Desna, Sula, Psel, Vorskla, etc.), less of them in the basins of the Seversky Donets, Southern Bug, almost absent in the Dniester basin. Preparations are possible mainly in Chernihiv, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Poltava, Dnepropetrovsk regions, where they are currently produced. The average annual harvesting of marshmallow roots in the republic for three years (1974-1976) amounted to 0.5 tons.
The reserves of raw materials are quite large (several tens of tons of roots can be harvested annually), but as a result of drainage and plowing of wet meadows and cutting down coastal shrubs, they will gradually decrease. The plant is introduced into industrial culture.
Marshmallow officinalis is a perennial herbaceous plant. The rhizome is short, thick, many-headed, turning into a thick one – up to 2 cm in diameter, fleshy, gradually thinning, slightly branched, brownish, smooth root. Stems are soft tomentose, gray with stellate hairs, erect, 50-200 cm high, branched in the upper part. The branches are short, directed upwards. The leaves are alternate, long-petiolate, 2-3.5 cm long, serrated along the edges, softly and densely pubescent, velvety. Several flowers in the axils of the upper leaves and on the tops of the stems, on short peduncles, form spike-shaped inflorescences. The calyx is five-lobed. Stamens numerous, purple, fused with filaments into a tube. The fruits are disc-shaped combined achenes wrapped in a calyx. In a mature state, they break up into separate shortly pubescent achenes. Marshmallow blooms in July – September,
Inexperienced collectors, instead of marshmallow, can collect the roots of other types of mallow, which differ in a number of signs.
The roots are harvested in the fall after the death of the aerial parts (September-October) or early in the spring before the start of regrowth (April-first half of May) in plants of two years of age and older (blooms from the second year of life). They dig them up with shovels, shake off the ground, cut off the above-ground parts with knives or secateurs and, placing them in baskets or boxes with slots, quickly wash them in cold water. Then the lignified and capitate parts of the rhizomes are cut off, the raw materials are dried in the open air or under a canopy with good ventilation. To obtain purified raw materials from fresh roots, the cork bark is removed with a knife, thick pieces are cut lengthwise into 2-4 parts. The roots are dried immediately so that they do not lose their white color, do not become moldy and do not become covered with dark yellow spots. Dry in attics under a roof or under sheds with good ventilation. It is better to dry in dryers at a temperature of 30-35 °. The yield of dry raw materials is 23-25%. According to the GF -X Art. 571, GOST 3205-57, the purified raw material consists of whole or cut roots of various lengths, up to 2 cm thick, yellowish or grayish in color with long, soft bast fibers split off from the plane. The smell is weak, peculiar. The taste is sweetish, with a feeling of sliminess. According to FS 42-812-73, raw materials not cleaned from the cork layer are prepared for the preparation of dry extract and syrup. Humidity in both types of raw materials is not higher than 14%. with a slimy feeling. According to FS 42-812-73, raw materials not cleaned from the cork layer are prepared for the preparation of dry extract and syrup. Humidity in both types of raw materials is not higher than 14%. with a slimy feeling. According to FS 42-812-73, raw materials not cleaned from the cork layer are prepared for the preparation of dry extract and syrup. Humidity in both types of raw materials is not higher than 14%.
Raw materials are packed in bales, in fabric or plastic bags of 150 kg. Store packed in dry, well-ventilated areas on racks. At high humidity, the raw material becomes moldy or covered with yellow-brown spots. Storage period 3 years. Not subject to oversight.
The roots, like all parts of the plant, but in larger quantities, contain mucous pectin substances (within 35%). They also contain starch (up to 37%), sugars (up to 10%), fatty oil and other substances.
The roots are used as an expectorant, anti-inflammatory and enveloping agent in the form of infusion, syrup, liquid and dry extracts. Included in the chest and throat fees.