Potentilla erecta (L.) Natre
The rose family is Rosaceae
What does it look like? A herbaceous perennial plant 10-40 cm tall, with a thick, curved or simple, cylindrical, many-headed, red rhizome inside and numerous secondary roots. Stems stretch upwards. They are short and fluffy. The leaves are trifoliate, sessile, notched-serrated with pressed hairs. The flowers are on long peduncles, come out singly from the axils of the leaves or the tops of the stems, their corolla consists of four golden-yellow petals, with a red spot at the base. Calyxes of four inner and as many outer lobes, which alternate among themselves. Blooms in June – October.
Where does it grow? In most of the territory of Ukraine — on moist meadows, pastures, in the steppe zone — along river valleys, in the forests of Transcarpathia, the Carpathians, in Polissia, occasionally in the forest-steppe. Does not grow in Crimea.
What and when are collected? The rhizomes are dug up in early spring or late autumn (they smell like roses). Old roots phosphoresce in the dark. Dried for 8 days in the fresh air, dried in ovens at a temperature not higher than 70°.
When is it used? With achilles, diarrhea, colic, hemocolitis; with bleeding, hemorrhoids, as a hemostatic agent, bactericidal, which has an astringent effect; also in case of anemia (due to termentilin glycoside, catechin, tannins – about 20%, – quinonic acid of aglycone, bitter triterpene glycoside of quinine, tormentol, resin, rubber, volatile oil); with ulcers of the stomach and intestines; emphysema, pulmonary tuberculosis, uterine diseases with pain and painful menstruation.
They drink it in the form of tea. Take 1 tablespoon of slightly crushed root for 1 cup of boiling water; boil for 10 minutes. They drink 1-2 glasses a day, in sips, half an hour before meals, observing a diet without meat, lard, fish, eggs, salt, alcoholic beverages, etc. in case of colitis with an unpleasant smell and the presence of mucus in the stool. Patients lie in bed, a warm heating pad is placed on their stomach.
When bleeding from the stomach, intestines, before boiling, add 1 teaspoon of flax seeds to the foxglove decoction. Drink this decoction on 1 tablespoon every 2 hours. They also use a decoction of a mixture of foxglove root , cumin seeds, sage leaves and cumin flowers in a ratio of 1:1:5:2 – take 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 1 glass of water, boil for 5-7 minutes, infuse and drink a cold infusion , half a glass, half an hour before meals, or warm – for liver diseases, jaundice. The rhizome of snake mustard (Polygonum bistorta L.) works in a similar way.
Cracks on the skin of the hands, feet and lips are smeared with an ointment made from 5 g of finely chopped foxglove roots , boiled for 5 minutes in a glass of cow’s oil. A decoction of 1 tablespoon of the root in 1 glass of water is used to rinse the mouth with scurvy, flux; throat – with tonsillitis.
They are also used for baldness in women (for douching the vagina with a hot decoction), for rashes on the body, wet eczema, wounds and clogged areas that bleed.
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