Rubiaceae family – Rubiaceae.
For medicinal purposes, rhizomes with roots are used.
In a wild form, it is found in the southeast of the European part of the Soviet Union and related species – the Iberian madder in the Crimea, the Tatar madder in the Donetsk and Left-bank Forest-Steppe. It is cultivated in the state farms of Soyuzlekrasprom in the southern regions of Ukraine. Use 2-3-year-old plantations.
Madder dye is a herbaceous perennial with a longish stem and branched, cylindrical, hollow surface roots and horizontal rhizomes with crowded buds. Stems with opposite branching and whorled 4-6 lanceolate leaves. The stems and leaves are covered with prickly bristles. Flowers in axillary and apical semi-umbels, small, greenish-yellow. The fruits are black, drupe-shaped, two-seeded, spherical.
Blooms from May to August. The fruits ripen in July-September. Madder Tatarskaya is not harvested as a medicinal plant.
Harvested rhizomes with roots in the fall after the death of the aerial parts or in early spring before regrowth. They plow with plows without mouldboards or beet lifters after preliminary mowing of above-ground parts. Rhizomes with roots are selected from the soil with their hands, shake off the ground and quickly wash in cold water.
Dry in the open air, under sheds or in well-ventilated attics, laying out a thin layer (3-5 cm) on tarpaulins or cloth, and periodically mix. It is better to dry in dryers at a temperature of 45-50 °. The end of drying is determined by fragility. The yield of dry raw materials is 25-30%.
According to MRTU – 42 No. 3799-69, the raw material consists of longitudinally wrinkled cylindrical roots and rhizomes of various lengths (not less than 1 cm), 2-18 mm thick, reddish-brown outside with a peeling cork. On an even fracture, brown-red bark and orange-red wood are visible. There is no smell. The taste is sweetish, in the end astringent and bitter. When chewed, saliva turns red. Humidity is not higher than 13%.
Not more than (percent) is allowed in raw materials: other parts of madder – 1.5, organic impurities – 1, mineral impurities – 1.5. The ash content must not exceed 10, the amount of anthra derivatives must not be less than 3%.
Packed in bales weighing 50 kg or bags of 25-30 kg. Store in a packaged form in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks. Storage period up to 2 years.
Rhizomes contain glycosides (5-6%), anthraquinone derivatives (alizarin, ruberitric acid), organic acids, pectin substances. It is used as an extract in tablets and a complex product of cystenal for urolithiasis and gout.