Marsh rosemary – ledum palustre l.
Popular names: fragrant bagun, forest rosemary, marsh madness, puzzler, bedbug, gonobol.
Botanical characteristic. Heather family. An evergreen shrub with a strong intoxicating odor that causes a headache in humans. The leaves are alternate, dark green, oblong. The flowers are white, fragrant, collected in terminal racemes. The fruit is an oblong capsule. The stems are recumbent, woody, up to 125 cm high. Young shoots and leaves are green with dense rusty felt pubescence. Blooms in May – June (Fig. 4).
Spreading. It grows in peat bogs and marshy meadows, in swampy coniferous forests, often forming dense thickets, in the tundra and forest zones of the European part of the USSR, Siberia and the Far East, the Urals and the Urals.
Medicinal raw materials. Leaves and young twigs (grass) are used, which are harvested in August – September. The branches are cut and dried in the shade or dryers at a temperature of 50 ° C, laying out in a layer of 5-7 cm. The plant is poisonous (group B), so care will need to be taken when collecting and working with it. Store 2 years separately from other products.
Chemical composition. The plant (except for the roots) contains an essential oil, which includes ledol (ledum-camphor), lustrol, carbohydrates, etc. In addition, glycosidericolin (arbutin), tannins, phytoncides, flavonoids, sugar, ascorbic acid, trace elements are found in the leaves .
pharmacological properties. When taken orally, the products of the plant act as a local irritant and thereby increase the contraction of the stomach and reflexively activate the secretion of bronchial mucus. After absorption, the active ingredients of wild rosemary tone up the activity of the heart, slow down the rate of its contractions and expand the coronary vessels, lower blood pressure. First, there is an excitation of the central nervous system, then its oppression. Ledol, essential oil and fresh juice of the leaves of the plant have antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and strong protistocidal properties.
Application. Ledum is used as an expectorant for acute and chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, as an antiseptic and diaphoretic, as well as for rheumatism and eczema. In folk veterinary medicine, it is used in the form of an infusion inside cows with tympania, horses with stomach expansion, as an expectorant, externally in the form of infusions and decoctions for the treatment of scabies, in the fight against lice, fleas.
Approximate doses: large animals 0.5-4 g, small animals 0.02-0.2 g.