Common name: kashnik.
GRAY-GREEN HICKSHOCK [Berteroa incana (L.) DC] Biennial herbaceous grayish, short-pubescent plant of the cruciferous family (Brassicaceae), up to 60 cm high. The root is short, taproot. Stem erect, branched. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, entire, the lower ones are narrowed into a petiole, the rest are sessile. The flowers are small, white, 4-petalled, in dense racemes, elongating when the seeds ripen. The fruits are oval pods, densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Seeds are flat, tuberculate, brown. Blossoms in May – September, fruits ripen in July – September. Eurasian look. It grows on sandy and loamy soils as a weed in wastelands, garbage places, along roads, along forest edges, near housing. It occurs scattered or forms thickets.
COLLECTION AND DRYING OF RAW MATERIALS
For medicinal purposes, hiccup grass is used, which is harvested during the flowering period. Dry in the air under awnings, in well-ventilated rooms or in dryers.
PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
The plant has a 2-phase, mainly hypotensive effect. Unlike foxglove (Digitalis), it does not act on the endings of the vagus nerves, does not accumulate, and increases diuresis. Shows antibacterial properties.
APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE
Currently, it is used only in traditional medicine. Roots. Tincture – anti-inflammatory. Aerial part. Infusion – with suffocation and hiccups; baths – with asthenia and convulsions in babies; anti-inflammatory. Decoction (inside) – with female diseases, whites, bleeding after childbirth, nervous hiccups, stomach diseases, headaches; externally – for washing contaminated wounds. Flowers. Infusion – with enterocolitis. Seeds. Infusion – with dyspepsia in babies, bites by rabid animals.
DOSAGE FORMS, METHOD OF APPLICATION AND DOSES
♦ Infusion of hiccup flowers: 1-2 tablespoons of raw materials are poured into 200 ml of boiling water, insisted, then filtered. Take 1 tablespoon every 2 hours.
APPLICATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
Fatty oil from seeds is suitable for technical purposes. Feed for small cattle. An excellent honey plant, often sown within apiaries.