A biennial large herbaceous plant, 1-2 m high. The rhizome is thick, short, with numerous furrowed adventitious roots. The stem is rounded, thick, erect, hollow. The leaves are alternate with large swollen sheaths and a double- or thrice-pinnate plate, the lower ones are petiolate, the upper ones are sessile; leaflets are rounded, oblong or elliptical, 2-3-lobed, coarsely serrate, gray-green below. The flowers are white or yellowish green in compound umbels. Umbrellas are large, multi-beam, with fluffy rays. The fruit is a two-seed. Blooms from May to September.
It grows in swamps, along the banks of rivers, lakes, in forest ravines, in flood meadows and in damp places.
It is not necessary to mix angelica officinalis with angelica forest. Subsequently, the roots are woody, the sheaths of the leaves are flattened, the smell is unpleasant.
Medicinal raw material is the rhizome together with the roots. The rhizomes are dug up in the autumn of the first year of vegetation or in the spring of the second (preferably in spring), washed with water, cleaned of stems and dried in a ventilated place or under a canopy. Finished raw materials – rhizomes are reddish-brown or gray, ringed, with a smooth fracture and bumpy or wrinkled roots, the smell is aromatic.
Angelica roots and rhizome contain resins (up to 6%), essential oil (up to 1%), wax, tannins, etc.
In medical practice, the roots and rhizomes of angelica are used in the form of an infusion (1:10) as a means of increasing the secretion of bile and other digestive juices, as well as a diuretic. The roots and rhizomes of angelica are part of the diuretic collection. There are indications of a tonic effect of angelica on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.
In folk medicine, angelica is recommended for indigestion, lack of appetite, intestinal atony, flatulence. In addition, it is used as a diuretic, diaphoretic and expectorant, as well as a general tonic for neurasthenia and other diseases of the nervous system (hysteria, epilepsy, insomnia), for indigestion (with calamus root and oak bark). A decoction of the root is drunk for gastritis, diarrhea; a decoction of flowering grass is taken for inflammation of the respiratory tract, for general epidemic diseases (typhus, scarlet fever, cholera, measles), rubbed with it for rheumatism. Outwardly recommended tincture of alcohol for rubbing with gout, rheumatism, back pain.
In addition, angelica is used in the alcoholic beverage industry in the manufacture of liqueurs.
Application
Infusion: 15 g per 200 ml; take 1 tbsp. spoon after three hours (choleretic). 1 st. brew a spoon with a glass of boiling water, leave for 20 minutes, strain through cheesecloth. Take 1 tbsp. spoon 3-4 times every day (diuretic) or 1/2 cup 3-4 times every day.
Angelica baths are used for nervous excitement and hysteria.