meadowsweet – Filipendula hexapetala G i l i b . Ukrainian names are six-peled meadowsweet, six-peled viper.
Rosaceae family – Rosaceae.
For therapeutic purposes, the rhizome with roots is used.
It occurs almost throughout Ukraine, with the exception of the southern steppe regions. It grows on virgin steppe and steppe slopes of gullies and river valleys, all kinds of outcrops, in thickets of steppe shrubs, on dry forest edges and glades, sometimes in sparse dry forests.
Stocks of raw materials are large (several tons of rhizomes with roots can be harvested annually), but due to intensive grazing on the slopes and afforestation, they are gradually decreasing. The main blanks are produced in the Forest-Steppe and the northern part of the Steppe.
Meadowsweet six-petaled is a perennial herbaceous plant with a thin rhizome. Spindle- or tuberous thickenings on the roots. Stem one (or several), erect, slightly branched, 30-70 cm tall. Basal leaves in a rosette, intermittently pinnate, consisting of numerous, elongated, deeply incised, serrated or pinnately dissected leaflets, between which smaller leaflets are placed. Stem leaves few, with semicordate, serrated stipules. Flowers with white or white-pink corollas are collected in a multi-flowered terminal panicle. The fruits are hairy, sessile leaflets. The plant blooms in June – July. The fruits ripen in July-August.
Harvest rhizomes with roots in autumn (September-October) or early spring before regrowth (April). They dig them with shovels, shake off the ground, cut off the aerial parts with knives and immediately wash them in cold water.
The collected raw materials are dried under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, laying out a thin layer (3-5 cm) on paper or cloth.
According to FS 42 No. 49-72, the raw material consists of thin (up to 1.5 cm in diameter and up to 10 cm long), unequally tuberculate, whole or broken rhizomes and thin, up to 15 cm long, cylindrical, often thickened in the middle part of the roots. Outside, they are dark brown, inside they have a color from pink to brownish. The smell is characteristic. The taste is bitter-tart. Humidity is not higher than 14%. In raw materials, no more than (percent) is allowed: roots and rhizomes blackened at a break – 5, crushed parts (passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 2 mm) – 3, organic impurities – 1, mineral – 2.
Packed in 30 kg bags or 50 kg bales. Store in packaged form in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks. Storage period 3 years.
Rhizomes and roots contain up to 36% tannins, starch, gaulterin glycoside. Included in the collection for the preparation of Zdrenko’s mixture.