LUBKA TWO-LEAF (Platanthera bifolia L.)Perennial herbaceous plant of the orchidaceae family (Orchidaceae), up to 60 cm high, with two fairly deep-seated, ovate-oval tubers. One of them is flabby, emaciated, of the last year, the other is dense, young, of the current year. The lower leaves are almost opposite, large, elliptical, with characteristic arcuate venation and winged petiole. The flower arrow is straight. The inflorescence is a loose spike, the flowers are white or greenish-white, irregular, fragrant, they traditionally secrete essential oils at night, and therefore they are pollinated by night butterflies with long proboscis. The fruit is a multi-seeded pod with very small seeds. Blossoms in June – July, fruits ripen in August. Propagated by seeds and vegetatively. It is included in the list of species in need of preventive protection and rational use. Grows in light oak, hornbeam, birch, less often coniferous forests, forest clearings, clearings, edges, sometimes found in damp meadows among shrubs, in grass-sedge communities. As a rule, 3-4 specimens grow together, but in good conditions it occurs in large numbers, scattered throughout the site. When transplanted from the forest to the garden, it does not take root, as it loses its specific mycorrhiza, without which its normal life activity is impossible. It has long been known as a love potion. Hence the popular name – love root. Avicenna wrote about the plants of this family: “If a man eats a larger species of orchis, then he will give birth to boys, and if a woman eats a smaller species, she will give birth to girls.” As a rule, 3-4 specimens grow together, but in good conditions it occurs in large numbers, scattered throughout the site. When transplanted from the forest to the garden, it does not take root, as it loses its specific mycorrhiza, without which its normal life activity is impossible. It has long been known as a love potion. Hence the popular name – love root. Avicenna wrote about the plants of this family: “If a man eats a larger species of orchis, then he will give birth to boys, and if a woman eats a smaller species, she will give birth to girls.” As a rule, 3-4 specimens grow together, but in good conditions it occurs in large numbers, scattered throughout the site. When transplanted from the forest to the garden, it does not take root, as it loses its specific mycorrhiza, without which its normal life activity is impossible. It has long been known as a love potion. Hence the popular name – love root. Avicenna wrote about the plants of this family: “If a man eats a larger species of orchis, then he will give birth to boys, and if a woman eats a smaller species, she will give birth to girls.”
COLLECTION AND DRYING OF RAW MATERIALS
For medicinal purposes, dried young (daughter) tubers of two-leafed love are used, which have the commodity name “Tuber Salep” (Tuber Salep). Harvesting of tubers is carried out during flowering and soon after flowering, while flower arrows are preserved, since it is very difficult to find a plant in dense grass later. The tubers are dug up, washed quickly in cold water, peeled of the epidermis (skin) and strung on a string, and then immersed in boiling water for several minutes to paralyze their ability to germinate. Dry in the air in the shade, in dark ventilated rooms or in dryers at a temperature of 50°C. Dried tubers after such treatment lose their bitterness and unpleasant odor, become heavy, dense, horn-like in texture, somewhat translucent, with a slightly wrinkled surface. The raw material has a light yellow color,
PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
The plant has an enveloping, softening, antitoxic and tonic effect.
APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE
tubers. In folk medicine, a decoction is used for toothache, fever, female diseases, inflammatory foci, wounds, abscesses, poisoning with poisons, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, diarrhea, inflammation of the bladder, nervous exhaustion, weakening of the function of the gonads and sexual impotence, convulsions , paralysis; as a contraceptive. Powder – for diarrhea of any origin, including dysentery, with intestinal catarrhs, cystitis, senile exhaustion, bleeding and anemia caused by them. Ointment – for boils. Fresh tubers are applied to aching teeth for pain.
DOSAGE FORMS, METHOD OF APPLICATION AND DOSES
♦ A decoction of love tubers: powder (from 3 to 10 g) is shaken in 10 parts of cold boiled water, then 90 parts of boiling water are added and shaken again until a thick, uniform, colorless and slightly transparent mucus is obtained. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times every day.
APPLICATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
A very valuable drink is prepared in the East from dried tubers ground into flour and boiled with honey. In the Caucasus, tubers were put into soups, made into jelly, ground into flour. In veterinary medicine, it can be used as a coating for gastrointestinal diseases.