A perennial herb with a creeping rhizome, a plant of the swallowtail family. The stem is 20-150 cm tall, erect, simple or branched, slightly twisted at the top. The leaves are short-petiolate, opposite, ovate, 6-10 cm long and 3-5 cm wide; apex pointed, base heart-shaped or rounded. The flowers are regular, bisexual, small, white, in few-flowered umbrella-shaped panicles. The fruit is a multi-seeded leaf. Blooms in June – July.
Spread. It grows throughout the territory of Ukraine in forests, on forest edges, on shrubs, in steppes, on steppe slopes, on chalk outcrops.
Procurement and storage . Rhizomes with roots are used to make medicines, which are harvested in autumn, when the stems turn brown and dry. They are washed, dried for 1-2 days in the open air, and then dried in warm rooms. Store in a dry place separately from other raw materials.
The plant is unofficial.
Chemical composition . The rhizome contains cardiac glycosides (vincetoxin, asclepiadin), saponin-like asclepinic acid and other substances.
Pharmacological properties and use. The plant has a diuretic, diaphoretic, laxative and emetic effect. The glycosides of the medicinal swallowtail act on the heart in a similar way to the action of digitalis and strophanthus. An infusion of rhizomes with roots is drunk for palpitations, high blood pressure, as a diaphoretic and laxative, and as a means to regulate menstruation. Due to the emetic effect, the products of Lastoveny medicinal are effective in case of poisoning. Medicines of the medicinal swallowtail do not have a noticeable harmful effect on the gastrointestinal tract, as is observed with the use of ipecacuanha. As a diuretic, Swallowtail is used for dropsy and swelling associated with kidney disease. Externally, the infusion of the rhizomes of the medicinal swallow is used to wash wounds and ulcers. To accelerate the healing of wounds, fresh crushed leaves are also used.
Medicinal forms and applications.
Internally – infusion of rhizomes (1 teaspoon of raw material per 400 ml of boiling water, infuse for 30 minutes, strain) for a quarter of a glass 3 times a day;
a decoction of 1 teaspoon of a mixture of the rhizomes of the medicinal swallowtail (20 g), the berries of the common juniper (10 g), the roots of the medicinal lovage (15 g), the leaves of the downy birch (39 g) and the roots of the wild wolfberry (25 g) in 2 glasses of water eat 1 tablespoon 3 times a day for cardiac edema.
An overdose of Swallowtail products causes poisoning!