Knotweed is an annual plant of the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). Other names: kidney grass, kidney grass, babii mustard.
Description:
An annual herbaceous plant with a straight or ascending stem 20-100 cm long; leaves lanceolate, long, pointed, wedge-shaped narrowed towards the base, entire, almost sessile, often on top with a reddish-brown spot, alternate; at the base with reddish bells, along the edge with cilia and covered with adpressed hairs. The flowers are pink, rarely white, small, in dense cylindrical spicate racemes, 2-3 cm long and less than 1 cm wide; nut-fruits enclosed within flower beds, broadly ovate, flat, shiny, black. The highlander blooms from June to September. The highlander grows in damp meadows, like a weed in fields and gardens, in alder thickets.
Workpiece:
For medicinal purposes, leafy flower-bearing tops called kidney grass – Herba Persicariae are used. Harvesting of raw materials is carried out during the flowering of the highlander in July-August. Dry outdoors in the shade or in attics. The finished raw material is flower-bearing tops 30-40 cm long. The color of the stems and leaves must be green (the red spot on the leaves often disappears when dried), the bells are brownish, the flowers are pink.
Contains active substances:
The grass of the knotweed contains flavonoids (hyperoside, avicularin, etc.), a lot of vitamin K, traces of essential oil (0.05%), blowing acid, ascorbic acid (up to 1%). Oxymethylanthraquinones were found in the roots of Knotweed.
Medicinal use:
In medicine, kidney herb products (infusion, liquid extract) are used to treat hemorrhoids and as a hemostatic agent for uterine bleeding, as well as a gentle laxative for atonic spastic constipation. without affecting blood pressure, they tone up the uterus and intestines, increase blood clotting and viscosity. In folk medicine, an aqueous decoction is used as a hemostatic agent, for colds, venereal diseases, bed bugs, for hemorrhoids and externally for wound healing, for headaches apply fresh grass to the back of the head, purulent wounds are poured with juice.