Water pepper is an annual herbaceous plant; stem straight, reddish, branched, 30-60 cm tall. Other names: Peppercorn
Description:
Annual herbaceous plant; stem straight, reddish, branched, 30-60 cm in height; leaves are alternate, lanceolate, entire, equipped at the base with membranous stalk-bearing stipules, called bells (in all species of the family Polygonaceae); bells reddish, glabrous. Flowers in long spiky racemes, discontinuously arranged, racemes thin, drooping; the flowers are small, within the flower bed with 4 greenish-reddish lobes, studded with golden yellow glands, slightly growing with fruits. Nuts are ovoid, flat on one side, convex, black, rough on the other. The taste of fresh water pepper is pungent. It blooms from June to September. Water pepper grows in swampy depressions, meadows, ditches, along the damp banks of rivers and lakes, in alder forests.
Workpiece:
For medicinal purposes, the water pepper herb, Herba Polygoni hydropiperis, is used. Harvest it during flowering, cutting off at a height of 10-15 cm from the ground. Dry quickly in the open air, spreading out in a thin layer and often turning over, as the grass turns black during slow drying. According to the requirements of Pharmacopoeia IX, the water pepper herb must retain its natural color: the leaves are green, the stems are reddish. The raw materials also contain brushes with flowers and fruits at different stages of development. Humidity not more than 14% is allowed; total ash no more than 8; plants that have lost their normal color, no more than 2; crushed parts of the plant, including crumbled leaves, fruits and flowers, no more than 10; organic impurities, including related species of highlander, no more than 3; mineral impurity not more than 0.5%.
Contains active substances:
Water pepper grass contains flavone glycosides rhamnasine, rutin, isorhamnetin, etc., a small amount of tannins (3.8%), organic acids and essential oil (0.005%). , rutin, which reduces the fragility and permeability of capillaries, and other flavonoids, tannins (3.8%), organic acids.
Medicinal use:
In medical practice, water pepper products (extract) are used as a hemostatic agent for hemorrhoids and uterine bleeding (menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea). The extract is part of the Anestezol antihemorrhoidal suppositories. At present, the product “Hydropiperine” is approved for use, representing the sum of flavone glycosides isolated from the water pepper herb. It is used in gynecological practice as a hemostatic agent for all kinds of uterine bleeding. In folk medicine, an aqueous decoction is used as a hemostatic agent, for liver disease, for healing wounds, rinsing; the juice of fresh grass is poured over the wounds.