A biennial herbaceous plant with a spindle-shaped root. The stem is tall, like the leaves, covered with longish bushy hairs sitting on white tubercles. Leaves lanceolate, entire. Flowers in curls; the corolla is irregular, tubular-funnel-shaped, first pink, then blue, the stamens and columns protrude from the corolla. Blooms in June-August.
Grows in weedy places, fallow fields, dry slopes, roadsides; more common in southern regions.
Medicinal raw material is a herb collected in the flowering stage.
All parts of the plant are poisonous, so products from it for internal use are subject to strict dosage.
In folk medicine, the plant is recommended as a good expectorant and cough soothing remedy for epilepsy; externally – the grass is boiled and applied for tendon sprains, rheumatism, the roots are used as a blood purifier.
Application
Decoction: 10 g per 200 ml; 1 st. spoon 3 times every day.
Infusion: 1 teaspoon per cup of boiling water, insist 2-3 hours, take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times every day. In scientific medicine, an infusion of the herb is used as an expectorant and cough soothing agent, especially for whooping cough.