Beware POISON!
A perennial herbaceous plant of the periwinkle family. Shoots are slender or ascending, do not take root, up to 100 cm long. The leaves are round-ovate or ovate, finely serrated at the edges, pubescent on top, fall off in winter. The flowers are axillary, bisexual, the corolla is violet-blue, up to 18 mm in diameter. The fruit consists of 2 leaves. Blooms in May – June. Spread. It grows in forests, mainly sedges, on forest edges, forest glades, on shrubs, in fields in the forest-steppe and steppe, in the foothills and on the southern coast of Crimea.
Raw. They use grass collected during and after the flowering of the plant.
The plant is unofficial.
Chemical composition. The herb Periwinkle contains the alkaloids herbacein, herbalin, vincanine, vincamine, reserpinine, skimianine, aquamycin, and flavonoids.
Pharmacological properties and use . The drugs have a hypotensive and hypoglycemic effect. It is especially valuable that this periwinkle, in addition to alkaloids that have hypotensive properties, also contains rutin. The natural combination of these substances makes the plant particularly promising, because hypertension is often treated with hypotensive products together with rutin. In folk medicine, an infusion of the herb Periwinkle is used in the treatment of purulent wounds and itchy dermatitis, and a decoction is used in diabetes. Root tincture on vodka is used for stomach ulcers.
It should be remembered that the plant is very poisonous, so any use of products from it must be agreed with a doctor – phytotherapist.
Medicinal forms and applications . Externally – herb infusion (tablespoon of dry herb per glass of boiling water, infuse for 30 minutes) for washing and lotions.The plant is poisonous !