(konvaliya zvichayna) Convallaria majalis L.
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Synonyms: culprit, raven, smooth, gladushnik, hare cabbage, lily of the valley, lily of the valley, lantus, rejuvenator, field lily (Ukrainian lapdosh, lily, landshnnk).
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Description . Perennial herbaceous, shade-loving plant from the lily family (Liliacae) 2030 cm high. Creeping rhizome, horizontal, with numerous thin roots. The stem below is surrounded by 36 light pink membranous scales. The leaves are basal, vaginal, oblong-elliptical, their number is 2, less often 3 in one bush. The flower arrow carries very fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers, collected in a one-sided drooping loose brush. Pedicels, arcuately curved, emerge from the axils of membranous lanceolate bracts. It blooms mainly in May, and bears fruit in August-September. The fruit is a red-orange berry of spherical shape. Weight of 1000 seeds within 20 g.
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Medicinal raw material: herb.
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biological features. As you know, the May lily of the valley periodically begins a break in flowering for 23 years. Therefore, in places where the lily of the valley forms entire groups (“families”) in the form of thickets, you can often see many shoots with leaves, but without flowers. Individual bushes are connected by underground stems with the entire group of other bushes that have grown nearby.
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Habitat. It grows mainly in the forest zone in broad-leaved, coniferous and mixed forests, in shady, moist forest glades, between shrubs, along river banks, in floodplains, ravines, and water meadows. It is less common in the steppe zone, mainly in river valleys.
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Spreading. Lily of the valley is very widespread: it is found in the forest zone of the European part of the USSR, in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, in the Far East, in Eastern Siberia. It is not available only in the northern regions of the country.
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Composition of active substances. All parts of the plant contain cardiac glycosides: convallatoxin, convallatoxol, convalloside, etc. In addition, traces of essential oil, asparagine, starch, sugar, malic and citric acids are found in lily of the valley.
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Application. Lily of the valley was first proposed by prof. F. I. Inozemtsev for the treatment of epilepsy. However, lily of the valley products as a heart remedy were more widely used as a result of research by N. A. Bogoyavlensky in the clinic of the famous Russian scientist prof. S. P. Botkin.
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Lily of the valley preparations are used as a means of regulating the activity of the heart in acute and chronic insufficiency, decompensation, heart defects and neurosis, and cardiosclerosis. Main products: convallatoxin, convazid, corglicon, saponin, convallomarin, etc.
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With heart weakness, palpitations, neurosis and pain in the region of the heart, take a 10% tincture of lily of the valley in 40% alcohol (20-30 drops three times every day) in combination with an alcoholic tincture of valerian in equal proportions. An infusion of 10 g of dried lily of the valley flowers per 200 g of boiling water is often used (a tablespoon two to three times every day).
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To make a tincture, a vial or bottle is filled three-quarters with fresh flowers, filled to the top with 90% alcohol or vodka, corked and infused for two weeks (Nosal). Tincture can also be prepared from dried flowers. Fresh flowers are more valuable, the biological activity of which is many times greater than the activity of leaves and stems. When taken orally, lily of the valley products are less active than adonis and foxglove products (they are destroyed in the stomach). However, they are very powerful. In terms of biological activity, convallatoxin is significantly superior to imported strophanthin and many other glycosides. In addition, it rarely causes estrasystole than strophanthin, and has a more powerful slowing effect on the heart rhythm (Berezhinskaya, 1962).
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Collection. Gathered during the flowering of most plants in the area. The aerial part is cut with scissors or a knife at a level of 45 cm from the ground plane.
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Drying. Grass, leaves and flowers are recommended to be dried immediately after collection, otherwise they lose their medicinal qualities. It is necessary to dry in a well-ventilated room or in an attic under an iron roof, where the raw materials are laid out in a thin layer on paper or gauze bedding. However, the best conditions for drying lily of the valley are created in special dryers (temperature 6070 ° C, extract for evaporated moisture).
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Pack. Dried grass and leaves are packed in bales of 50 kg, and flowers in boxes of 1020 kg, lined with thick paper inside.
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Storage of raw materials is carried out in a well-ventilated and dry room separately from other medicinal plants (lily of the valley is poisonous).
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quality requirements. In accordance with the State Pharmacopoeia X, dried lily of the valley flowers are allowed: moisture 12%; flower arrows, having a length of more than 3 cm below the last flower, 4; inflorescences with brown flowers 5%; solid or broken flower arrows without flowers 1; organic impurities 0.5, mineral 0.3%.
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Biological activity of 1 g of dried flowers is not less than 200 ICE, or 33 KED.
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In the grass of the lily of the valley (a mixture of leaves and flower arrows with flowers: leaf length 1020 cm, width 38 cm) is allowed: moisture 14%; inflorescences not less than 5; crushed parts passing through a sieve with holes with a diameter of 1 mm, 3; raw materials that have lost their natural color, 5; organic impurities 1, mineral 0.5%.
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Biological activity 1 g of dry grass 120 ICE, or 20 KED.
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In dried leaves of lily of the valley is allowed: moisture 14%; crushed parts passing through a sieve with holes with a diameter of 3 mm, 3; raw materials that have lost their natural color, 5; organic impurities 1, mineral 0.5%.