Botanical characteristic. Umbrella family. An annual herbaceous plant 30-70 cm high, with an upright, bare, strongly branched stem in the upper part. Basal leaves are long-petioled, tripartite, lower leaves are short-petiolate, upper sessile pinnatipartite with linear segments. The flowers are small pink, collected in umbrellas of 3 or 6 rays. The fruit is a brown, spherical two-seeded seedling with a diameter of 2-5 mm. Blooms in June – July. The fruits ripen in August – September.
Spreading. It occurs as a wild plant in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, Central Asia, clogging the crops of various crops. Cultivated in the Voronezh, Kursk, Kuibyshev, Saratov and Tambov regions, in the North Caucasus and the Ukrainian SSR.
Medicinal raw materials. The fruits of the plant are harvested during their full ripening, when they begin to acquire a brown color. The plant is cut with a sickle, and on plantations it is mowed with a scythe, combines, tied into small sheaves, stacked in shocks and dried for several days. Then the fruits are threshed and cleaned on winnowers. The fruits serve as the starting material for the production of essential oils.
Chemical composition. Coriander is an essential oil plant. The fruits contain essential and fatty oils (0.8-1%). It is a colorless or yellowish liquid with a characteristic aromatic odor and taste. Essential oil components are linalool and terpenes. Fatty oils contain fatty acid glycerides, unsaponifiables.
In addition, a small amount of alkaloids was found in the fruits.
pharmacological properties. Coriander fruits have a choleretic, analgesic, antiseptic, expectorant and digestive effect, and the essential oil, in addition, analgesic and antiseptic, enhances the secretion of the glands of the digestive tract.
Application. The fruits of the plant are prescribed internally as a gastrointestinal tonic for chronic digestive disorders, less often for expectoration. Doses: horses 10-25 g, cattle 25-50, small cattle and pigs 5-10, dogs 0.5-2, chickens 0.2-0.5 g.