DUBROVNIK PURPLE
Perennial herbaceous plant 10-30 cm tall. The stem (there is more than one stem on one root), like other labiales, is tetrahedral, slightly woody at the base. The leaves are short-petiolate, oblong-oval, cross-opposite, cuneate at the base, coarsely dentate in the upper part, with adjacent hairs. The flowers are collected in several in the axils of the upper leaves. Calyx of 5 sepals, tubular, with 5 teeth in the upper part; the corolla is five-petalled, tubular, pink and, despite the fact that the plant belongs to the labiales, it does not have an upper lip, but only a large lower one; stamens 4, 2 of them – external – longer; the pistil consists of 2 carpels, with an upper bilocular ovary. The fruit is dry, splitting into 4 nuts located at the bottom of the cup. Blooms from late spring to late summer.
It occurs in light forests and among shrubs, also in rocky places.
For medicinal purposes, the whole plant in the flowering stage is used. The raw material contains essential oil, bitter substances, tannins.
In folk medicine, dubrovnik is widely recommended to improve digestion and increase appetite, for pain in the stomach and intestines, heartburn, belching, flatulence, diarrhea, dysentery, as a diuretic, for rheumatism, gout, skin rashes, sand in the gallbladder, as astringent, with hemoptysis.
It is externally used for baths, compresses and douches for hemorrhoids, leucorrhea in women, for the treatment of boils, purulent wounds, for rheumatic pain in the joints, inflammation of the eyes, etc.
Application
The infusion is prepared from 4 teaspoons of chopped herbs per glass of boiling water (daily dose).
The same infusion is prepared for external use: compresses, poultices, douches, lotions.