Rhamnus cathartica L.
The Krushynov family is Rhamnaceae
What does zoster laxative look like? A branchy bush or tree, the branches of which end in thorns. The leaves are ovate, petiolate, hard. The flowers are small, yellow-green. Blooms in May – June. The fruit is a juicy, bluish-black drupe with 3-4 stones, ripens from the end of August to October.
Where does it grow? Throughout the territory of Ukraine, except for the Carpathians, but there are in Transcarpathia.
What is collected? Fruits – in August – September. Zoster berries contain anthraquine glycosides (frangulin, chrysophanic acid, emodin, rhamnocatartin), flavonoids (rhamnocitrin, kaempfenol, rhamnetin, quercitrin), mucilage, sugar, bitterness, pectins, tannins and other substances.
When is it used? It is used for spastic and atonic constipation as a laxative and diuretic, for dropsy of cardiac origin, for jaundice, for dysentery, cough with expectoration, for gout, gastritis, and also for hemorrhoids.
It is used as a decoction (napar). One tablespoon of dry berries poured with 1 cup of boiling water is infused for 8-10 hours; drink half a glass twice a day – before going to bed and on an empty stomach. Raw berry juice is recommended at 1 tablespoon for adults and 1 teaspoon for children as a strong laxative and diuretic.
Obese people use the bark of zoster, a laxative, against dysentery . For half a liter of water, take 30 g of shingles bark, 20 g of black elderberry roots and 20 g of sweet-bitter nightshade grass, boil for 5-17 minutes and drink a small glass (40 ml) three times a day.