Name: Oak ordinary – oak zvichayny (veterinary practice
Common oak – quercus robur l.
Botanical characteristic. Beech family. A tree 40-50 m high with a wide-spread crown and dark brown bark on the trunk. Leaves are obovate on short petioles, pinnately lobed, dark green. The flowers are small, collected in earrings. The fruits are brownish acorns, splitting into two parts, ripen at the end of September.
Spreading. It grows in mixed forests, often in continuous massifs in the forest-steppe zone of the European part of the USSR. In the Far East, in the Crimea, in the Caucasus, there are other types of oak.
Medicinal raw materials.Use oak bark. It is harvested in early spring during the sap flow, when it is easily separated from the wood. In time, this approximately coincides with the period of bud break. The bark is removed from the shoots, thin trunks and young branches, making two annular cuts at a distance of 25-30 cm from one another, and connect them with a longitudinal cut, separating the bark from the wood. Trunks of old trees are usually covered with a thick cork layer with cracks. The bark of such trees is unsuitable for harvesting, since the young bark contains much more tannins. Separated from the wood, the bark rolls into grooves or tubes. It is dried in the open air in the shade or under a canopy, in well-ventilated rooms, laid out so that the tubes of the bark do not fall into one another, in order to avoid the appearance of mold and black spots at the points of contact of the bark. It is also necessary to ensure that rainwater does not get into the raw material, since the soaked bark loses a significant amount of tannins. When drying, the bark is turned over from time to time. Store it up to 5 years in a wooden container in a dry place.
Chemical composition. The bark contains 10-20% tannins, gallic and ellagic acids, up to 6% pectin, 13-14% pentosans, flavonoid quercetin, starch, mucus and other substances, in acorns – starch, tannins and protein substances, sugar, fatty oil (up to 5%), in the leaves – tannins, flavonoids, etc.
pharmacological properties. The presence of a large amount of tannins, pectin, quercetin determine the anti-inflammatory effect of the oak bark; the astringent action is based on the likelihood of tannins to seal cell membranes.
Application. A decoction of oak bark (1:10) is recommended for inflammation of the oral mucosa, pharyngitis (irrigation), inflammation of the stomach and intestines, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Skin burns are treated with stronger (1:5) decoctions. Doses inside: horses and cattle 25-50 g, sheep and pigs 5-10, dogs 1-5, cats and chickens 0.2-1 g 3 times a day.
Horses
Rp.: Boiled oak bark 50.0-500.0
DS For washing the mouth (for stomatitis).
Horses
Rp.: Decocti corticis Quercus 100.0-500.0 DS External (for bedsores).