Common harmala (Peganum harmala); steppe burial mound; ordinary harmala
A perennial herbaceous glabrous plant of the sedge family. It has a strong multi-headed rhizome. The stems are spreading, grooved, 20-70 cm high. Leaves hylically 3-5-parted, with whole or two-three-parted linear pointed lobes. The flowers are bisexual, regular, yellowish, single, on thick stems opposite the leaves. The fruit is a box. Blooms in May – July.
Spread. Grows on steppes, tolokas and weedy places in the Steppe (in Prysyvashsha and Crimea).
Raw. Herbs collected during the flowering of the plant and seeds are used. Pharmacies do not release raw materials.
Chemical composition. All parts of the plant contain alkaloids, which include harmaline, harmine and peganine. The seeds also contain fatty oil (up to 14.25%), dyes and other substances.
Pharmacological properties and use . Alkaloid harmine in the form of hydrogen chloride salt was used to treat the effects of epidemic encephalitis, with parkinsonism. The alkaloid peganine has hypotensive and choleretic properties, as well as properties that tone cardiac activity. The drug peganin hydrochloride is approved as an anticholinesterase agent for myopathy and myasthenia, as well as a laxative for constipation and intestinal atony. In folk medicine, products from the herb Harmala are used to treat colds, malaria, neurasthenia, epileptic seizures, insomnia, diseases of the female genital area, and various disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Baths made from the common Harmala grass are recommended for rheumatism, scabies and other skin diseases. The seeds are used as a diaphoretic and anthelmintic.
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – seeds of 10-15 seeds 2-3 times a day;
a teaspoon of dry crushed grass is brewed with 2 cups of boiling water and drunk on a tablespoon 3 times a day.