Highlander bird (Polygonum aviculare L.)

Highlander bird – An annual herbaceous plant of the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). Other names: knotweed, grass-ant, bird buckwheat, trample-grass, gosling, chicken-eater.

Description:

Annual herbaceous plant with prostrate or procumbent stems 10-40 cm long, more or less branching from the base; branches pressed to the ground or rising; bells at knots small, braided, whitish, dissected; leaves are oval-oblong, small. Knotweed flowers are small, inconspicuous, axillary, collected in 2-5, pale green or pinkish; fruits are nuts, longer than the one containing them within the flower bed, black, dull, 2-3 mm long. The mountaineer blooms all summer and early autumn. It grows in weedy places, wastelands, pastures, roadsides, gardens, park alleys, meadows. Widespread, ubiquitous plant.

Workpiece:

For medicinal purposes, knotweed herb is used along with its roots – Herba Polygoni avicularis. The grass is harvested during flowering from June to autumn.

Contains active substances:

Knotweed herb contains flavone glycoside avicularin, some tannins, traces of essential oil, carotene and ascorbic acid. The roots contain hydroxymethylanthraquinones.

Medicinal use:

In medicine, an extract from the grass of the mountaineer bird called avicularin, produced in powder and tablets, is used as a uterine hemostatic agent in the postpartum period and after an abortion, also with insufficient reverse development of the uterus. Knotweed herb is part of M.N. Zdrenko, approved for the treatment of bladder papillomatosis and anacid gastritis. It has a diuretic effect, which is due to the presence of avicularin. It is used for kidney diseases, kidney stones. Studies conducted with alcohol and water extracts from knotweed grass have shown that these products tone the muscles of the uterus, increase blood clotting, lower blood pressure, improve lung function and increase diuresis. In folk medicine, a water decoction of a mountaineer bird drink with urolithiasis,