A tree of the elm family, 15–30 m tall. It has a thick trunk covered with brownish-brown bark. The crown is wide-cylindrical, rounded at the top; the branches are directed upwards at an acute angle. Young shoots are pubescent, shiny, reddish-brown. The leaves are alternate, double-rowed, whole, ovate or oval, with an equilateral heart-shaped base, serrate; bare above, pubescent below. The flowers are bisexual, irregular, with a simple bell-shaped brownish 8-lobed perianth, in dense lateral bunches. The fruit is a lion’s mane, with a dense wing edge. Blooms in April – June.
Distribution . It grows scattered throughout the territory of Ukraine in broad-leaved forests.
Raw. Bark harvested in spring and leaves are used.
The plant is unofficial.
Chemical composition . The leaves contain nitrogenous (15.9%) and non-nitrogenous (43.9%) substances, crude fat (2.9%), crude fiber (8.6%), carotene (285.8 mg %), ascorbic acid (225 mg %) etc.; there are tannins in the bark.
Pharmacological properties and use . The plant has hemostatic and anti-inflammatory properties. In traditional medicine, a decoction of the bark is used internally for dropsy, chronic rheumatism, as an anti-cold; externally – as an anti-inflammatory agent. Infusion of leaves was used for baldness.
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – bark decoction (20 g per 200 ml of boiling water) 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day;
a mixture of elm bark and goat’s willow, warty birch buds in a ratio of 1:1:1 is prepared as a decoction (4 teaspoons of the mixture per 200 ml of boiling water) and drunk 1 tablespoon three times a day with fever.
Externally – bark decoction (20:200) for lotions for burns.