Name: Scopolia karnioliyskaya
Scopolia carniolian – Scopolia carniolica J a with q. The Ukrainian name is skopolіya karnіolіyska, folk names are mandrake, mandrigule, camels, thunder root, voice potion, etc.
Solanaceae family – Solanaceae.
The rhizomes are used for medicinal purposes.
It is found in the Carpathians, Transcarpathia and Prykarpattya. It grows in shady old beech, beech-hornbeam forests, rising in the mountains on the southern, less often northern slopes to the upper border of the forest. It is also found on forest edges, in bushes, in forest clearings. In some places, especially on rocky areas with C-rich fresh soils, it forms rare thickets with an area of several hectares and even tens of hectares (for example, under Antolovetska Polyana in the Uzhgorod district of the Transcarpathian region). Thickets are mainly found in the lower parts of the mountain slopes in the valleys of the rivers Uzha, Latoritsa, Borzhava, Teresva, Chernaya Tisza and their tributaries. Preparations are possible in Transcarpathian, Lvov, Ivano-Frankivsk and partly in Ternopil region.
Stocks of raw materials are small (several tons of rhizomes can be harvested annually) and they are gradually decreasing, since when cutting down old forests, plants are largely destroyed, and the rest are oppressed. The restoration of thickets is very slow. The plant is included in the “Red Book” of the Soviet Union and the “Red Book” of Ukraine.
Scopolia carniolia– perennial herbaceous plant. Rhizomes are horizontal, branched, up to 30-50 cm long and up to 1-3 cm thick, knotty, often slightly flattened, attached to the soil with cord-like roots. Cylindrical stems 20-65 cm high, forked-branched above, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, depart from the tops and lateral branches of the rhizomes. The leaves are alternate, the lower ones are scaly, elongate-linear, the higher ones are obovate, lanceolate or elongated, narrowed towards the base into a winged petiole, glabrous, dark green. Flowers solitary, borne in the axils of closely spaced leaves. The calyx and corolla are bell-shaped. The latter is short-lobed, dirty purplish-brown outside, yellowish inside. The fruit is an almost spherical multi-seeded box within 1 cm in diameter, opening with a lid, surrounded by a calyx. kidney-shaped seeds, brown or blackish. Blooms in May – June. The fruits ripen in July. After fruit ripening in July – early August, the aerial parts die off completely. The whole plant is poisonous.
Inexperienced collectors, instead of scopolia carniolian, can collect belladonna that looks similar to it – Atropa belladonna L. from the nightshade family, sometimes growing in the same places.
Harvest rhizomes in spring and summer until the aerial parts die off (April – July). They dig them up with shovels or pitchforks, shake them off the ground and then, having washed them in cold water, cut off the damaged and rotten parts, and cut the thick rhizomes lengthwise. After drying in the open air, they are dried in attics under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, spreading a thin layer (up to 3-5 cm) on cloth or paper. Can be dried in dryers or ovens at a temperature not exceeding 60 °. The yield of dry raw materials is 30-32%.
According to GOST 2901-45, the raw material consists of whole or cut along rhizomes with a length of at least 3 cm and a thickness of 1-2 cm, brownish-gray outside, light gray inside. There is no smell. Taste is not determined – poisonous!Humidity is not higher than 13%. No more than (percent) is allowed in raw materials: pieces of rhizomes less than 3 cm long – 3, other parts of Carniolian scopolia – 3, organic impurities (parts of other plants) – 1, mineral impurities – 2. The content of alkaloids is required not less than 0.55%. Packed in bags or bales weighing 40, 75, 100 kg. Store in a group of potent raw materials in dry, well-ventilated areas. The retention period has not been set. All parts of the plant contain tropane alkaloids (hyoscyamine, scopolamine, etc.). Scopolamine hydrobromide and atropine sulfate are used for peptic ulcer, liver, kidney, nervous, heart and eye diseases.