A perennial herbaceous plant of the legume family. It has creeping shoots that take root at the nodes. The stem is bare, slender or ascending, branched, often hollow, 10-35 cm high. The leaves are long-petiolate, three-lobed; leaves are inverted ovate, finely toothed. The flowers are small, irregular, white, pale pink or pale yellow, in globose racemes on long peduncles. The fruit is a bean. Blooms in May – September.
Distribution . It grows throughout the territory of Ukraine on meadows, slopes, steppes, mainly in depressions and on pastures.
Raw material . For the manufacture of medicines, grass is used, which is collected during the full flowering of the plant. They are dried under a tent or in a warm room, making sure that the inflorescences (heads) do not dry out and fall off.
The plant is unofficial .
Chemical composition . The herb contains alkaloids, tannins, vitamins (E, C, carotene (provitamin A) and others) and the estrogenic isoflavone coumestrol.
Pharmacological properties and use . In folk medicine, the plant is known as a tonic, pain reliever, wound-healing and anti-toxic agent. An infusion of the herb is drunk for colds, suffocation, pulmonary tuberculosis, poisoning, women’s diseases, in particular, uterine bleeding, salt metabolism disorders, and loss of strength due to exhausting diseases. Wounds are washed with the infusion so that they heal faster.
Medicinal forms and applications. Internally – infusion of the herb (3 teaspoons of the herb per glass of boiling water, infuse for 1 hour) for a quarter of a glass 4 times a day.