Angelica officinalis – angelica likarsky (harvesting and storage)

Angelica medicinal (angelica officinalis) – Angelica Archangelica L. (Archangelica officinalis L.) . The Ukrainian name is angelica likarsky, popular names are yaglitsya, dzengel, compass.

 

Umbelliferae family – Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).

For medicinal purposes, rhizomes with roots are used.

It occurs in the forest and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, but not often in the Carpathians, and is absent in the Donetsk Forest-Steppe. It grows in swamps, especially alder ones, along the banks of rivers, oxbow lakes, lakes, ponds, in wet bushes, especially in ravines. In some places it forms sparse thickets, but their areas are traditionally small. The main preparations are possible in Lviv, Volyn, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkov regions.

Stocks of raw materials are quite large. Tens of tons of it can be harvested annually, however, due to the drainage of wetlands, this plant is becoming less and less.

Angelica officinalis is a biennial herbaceous plant with a short, vertical, brown rhizome up to 5 cm thick, with numerous vertical roots. Stem single, vertical, glabrous, hollow, cylindrical, up to 120-200 cm in height. The leaves are large, glabrous, with swollen sheaths, doubly or triple pinnate, with large ovate, 2- and three-lobed segments. The flowers are small, greenish-white, collected at the top of the stem and its branches in hemispherical or almost spherical umbrellas 10-17 cm in diameter with 15-40 pubescent rays. There is no common wrap, at the base of each umbrella there are multi-leaf wraps, consisting of small bristly leaves. The fruits are flat winged two-seedlings 5-6 mm long and 3-5 mm wide. Blooms in June-August. The fruits ripen in August – September.

Harvest rhizomes with roots from plants of the first year of life in autumn (September-October), and from plants of the second year – early in the spring before the start of regrowth (April). They dig them with shovels, shake off the ground, cut off the aerial parts with knives and immediately wash them in cold water.

Dry in the open air or in attics under an iron roof, also in dryers or in ovens at a temperature of 35-40 °, laying out a thin layer (5-7 cm) on paper, cloth or sieves. The yield of dry raw materials is 20-22%.

According to OST NKVT 7909/372, the raw material consists of short (up to 6-8 cm long) rhizomes and longitudinally wrinkled, slightly bumpy roots, 15-25 cm long and 2-7 cm thick. Outside, the rhizomes and roots are brown or reddish-gray, inside – white or yellowish. The smell is aromatic, intensifying when crushed. The taste is spicy, pungent, bitter. Humidity is not higher than 14%. In raw materials, no more than 5% of rhizomes with leaf remains, 3% of crushed parts (less than 1 cm long) and 1% of organic and mineral impurities are allowed.

Raw materials are packed in bales of 50-100 kg. It is stored in the group of essential oil raw materials in dry, well-ventilated rooms on undercarriages or racks. Storage period 2 years.

Rhizomes and roots contain essential oil, coumarins, bitter and tannins, organic acids, hydrocarotene. Used in infusions to improve digestion and as an anti-inflammatory, diuretic, expectorant and diaphoretic. Widely used in the alcoholic beverage and confectionery industry.