A dioecious plant of the willow family. Shrub or small tree up to 15 m tall. The branches are bare, yellowish-olive or almost black, shiny. Bark – without coating, on the inner side – white-green or reddish. Young twigs, as well as leaves during blooming, are sticky. The leaves are whole, alternate, leathery, glabrous, ovate-lanceolate, long-pointed, densely glandular-serrate, 5–13 cm long. The flowers are unisexual, in long, thick, cylindrical earrings that remain on the plant all winter; bract scales yellowish. The fruit is a box. It blooms in June-July, much later than the blooming of the leaves and later than other types of willows.
Distribution . It grows throughout the territory of Ukraine (except the Carpathian and Crimean highlands) in swamps, wet meadows, in wet forests, along the banks of rivers.
Procurement and storage . Bark collected during sap flow from 3–4-year-old branches is used. Dry outdoors or in a well-ventilated room. 33% of dry raw material is obtained.
The plant is unofficial .
Chemical composition . Willow bark contains tannins (about 12%), flavonoids, flavone glycosides (2.5–3%).
Pharmacological properties and use. A decoction of five-leaved willow bark has analgesic, sedative, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, diaphoretic, antimalarial, antiseptic, hemostatic, wound-healing, astringent and anthelmintic properties. It is used for headache, neuralgia, various forms of neurosis, rheumatism, gout, colds, malaria, indigestion of food in the stomach, inflammatory phenomena in the stomach and intestines, jaundice, diseases of the spleen and liver (when they are overloaded with large doses of toxins), diarrhea, inflammation of the urinary tract, gynecological and infectious diseases, gastric, intestinal, uterine and other bleeding. Externally, the bark decoction is used for rinsing (for stomatitis, gingivitis, periodontitis, angina, inflammatory processes of the oral cavity and throat), for foot baths (for hyperhidrosis, phlebitis, varicose veins, muscle weakness
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – bark decoction (15 g per 200 ml of boiling water) 1 tablespoon three times a day;
bark infusion (1 teaspoon per 200 ml of boiling water, infuse until cool, filter) 1 tablespoon 4–5 times a day;
bark powder 0.5–1 g per night.
Externally – infusion for baths (1 teaspoon of bark powder per 400 ml of cold water, infuse for 8 hours, filter) with hyperhidrosis;
a strong bark decoction for rinsing, washing wounds and foot baths.