Small centaury (umbellate centaury) -Centaurium minus M o e n c h (C. umbellatum G i 1 i b.) Ukrainian names – centaury mali. centaury umbrella, popular names – centuria, centoria, centauria, self-powered, core; red flower, mustard, etc.
Gentian family – Gentianaceae.
The herb is used for medicinal purposes.
It occurs almost throughout Ukraine, more often in the Carpathians and western regions. Grows in meadows, forest edges and clearings, mountain slopes, marshes. In some places it forms small thickets in the form of spots among other vegetation, sometimes on an area of tens of hectares. In the Transcarpathian, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv regions, where thickets of this plant are most often found, the main preparations are made. The average annual harvesting of centaury grass for three years (1974-1976) amounted to 7.1 tons.
Stocks of raw materials are quite large (tens of tons of grass can be harvested annually), but they are decreasing due to intensive grazing and drainage of wet meadows.
The small centaury is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant with a taproot, poorly developed and slightly branched root. Stem one (or several), tetrahedral. Leaves opposite, entire. Flowers in dense corymbose inflorescences, placed at about the same height. Corolla pink, sometimes white, up to 1.5 cm long. Blooms in June-July. Sometimes there is a secondary flowering of aftermath in August-September. The fruits ripen in September.
In addition to the small centaury, you can harvest and use the beautiful centaury. Other species of this genus are not medicinal.
Grass is harvested at the beginning of flowering until the basal leaves turn yellow, cut with knives or sickles.
They dry it in attics under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, spreading a thin layer (3-5 cm) on paper or fabric with flowers in one direction. After drying, they are tied into sheaves. This should not be done before drying, as the plants can rot in the middle part of the beam. The yield of dry raw materials is 25%.
According to the GF – IX Art. 235, GOST 2398-44 raw material consists of stems 10-30 cm long with green leaves 3-5 long, up to 1 cm wide and pink flowers. There is no smell. The taste is very bitter. Humidity is not higher than 14%. In raw materials, no more than (percent) is allowed: leafless stems – 3, plants with roots or individual roots – 2, yellowed or blackened flowers – 5, organic and mineral impurities – 1 each.
The ash content must not exceed 7%.
Grass, pressing, packed in bales of 50-75 kg.
Store in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks. Storage period up to 2 years. Raw materials are not subject to re-control.
The herb contains bitter glycosides (gentiopicrin, erythrocen-taurine), gentianin alkaloid, flavonol glycoside. Used in infusions and tinctures as bitterness to increase secretion, improve digestion in the activity of the gastrointestinal tract. Included in appetizing fees.