DERZHYDEREV
Dense, strongly branched shrub, reaching 3 m in height. The leaves are alternate, located approximately in two rows on the branches, with short petioles, 2-4 cm long and 1.5-3.5 cm wide, broad, obovate, narrowed upwards, with three veins, slightly serrated or entire. Stipules 2, modified into spines, one of which is erect, and the other is stretched back. The flowers are bisexual, collected in small false umbrellas. Calyx and corolla of 5 leaves, non-fused, yellowish green; stamens also 5; pistil of 5 carpels with 2-3-cell semi-inferior ovary. The fruit is a hemispherical, lignified drupe with 2-3 seeds; the fruit is covered with a leathery, semi-lignified, partly woolly yellowish-brown disc, increasing the size of the fruit by 2-3 cm. The seeds are flat, obovate, not revealing even after maturation. Blooms from May to July.
It is distributed in dry stony and grassy places in small groups, and in some places it forms continuous thickets covering large areas, displacing other, more valuable tree species.
For medicinal purposes, fruits containing rhamnoglycosides are used, known in pharmacology as laxatives that act on the large intestine like a laxative buckthorn.
In folk medicine, the fruits of derzhidereva are used to purify the blood in eczema, as a laxative, against increased blood pressure.