Perennial herbaceous pale green with the smell of garlic plant of the labium family. Stems from the ascending base are straight, four-sided, simple or branched, 15-50 cm tall, covered with distant long hairs and stem-like glands; sometimes the stems are grayish-woolly along their entire length. The leaves are opposite, sessile, oblong, with a rounded base and notched-serrated edges, on the surface on both sides pressed short-hairy, sometimes distant grayish-woolly; the upper stem leaves and leaves on the branches are narrowed at the base, the bracts are longer than the flowers. The flowers are bisexual, irregular, on peduncles almost equal to the calyx, in axillary 4-6-flowered false spreading rings, which form an elongated racemose one-sided inflorescence; calyx bell-shaped, with ten veins and p’ yam with teeth (the teeth are triangular-lanceolate, slightly or almost twice as short as the tube); corolla double-lipped, clear carmine-red, with a tube slightly bent forward, three times longer than the calyx. The fruit consists of four one-seeded nut-shaped lobes. Blooms in July-August.
Distribution . Garlic samosa grows mainly in the forest-steppe and steppe regions of Ukraine on floodplain, often salt marshy meadows, along the banks of rivers and marshes, among shrubs, on salt marsh and swampy places in the coastal strip.
Procurement and storage . For medicinal purposes, the grass of self-reliance (Herba Teucrii chamaedrys, synonym — Herba Chamaedrys) is used, which is harvested during the flowering period of the plant. The collected raw materials are first dried in the sun, and then dried in the shade. Artificial drying is carried out at a temperature not higher than 40°. 25% of dry grass is obtained. In homeopathy, they use essence from the fresh grass of self-strength.
The chemical composition needs further study. It is known that the grass of the plant contains a significant amount of tannins.
Pharmacological properties and use . Garlic extract is used as a means to stimulate appetite and improve digestion, has astringent, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, hemostatic, dermotonic, choleretic, diuretic, tonic and tonic properties. Infusion of the grass of self-strength is given internally for pain in the stomach and intestines, for heartburn, flatulence, diarrhea and dysentery, for gallstone disease and sand in the kidneys, rheumatism, gout and rashes on the skin, against fever, hemoptysis, hemorrhoids, sexual weakness and excessive menstruation As an external remedy, which, in addition to the above-mentioned properties, also exhibits an epithelizing effect, samosily is used for the treatment of boils, purulent wounds, inflammation of the eyes and hemorrhoids, baldness in women, rheumatic pain in the joints, and as a hemostatic agent.
Medicinal forms and applications. Internally – herbal infusion (4 teaspoons of raw material per 200 ml of boiling water, boil for 5 minutes) for a quarter of a glass 4 times a day until Eid.
Externally – herbal infusion (prepared as in the previous prescription) for baths, compresses, lotions and douches, and the residue after filtering the infusion – for poultices.
In Bulgarian folk medicine, in addition, garlic extract is used as an external remedy for the treatment of skin tuberculosis.