Рубрика: Wild Medicinal Plants

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The parasitic fungus chaga often develops on the trunks of birch trees, also known as Inonotus obliquus (Pers.) Pilat., form sterilis, which belongs to the basidiomycetes.

The spores of the fungus, dispersed in the air, land on the tree in areas where the bark is damaged (broken branches, frost damage, etc.) and begin to germinate, forming mycelium. The fungal hyphae of the mycelium penetrate the wood, gradually destroying it and causing white heartwood rot. In the areas where the spores initially penetrate the bark, black growths, known as chaga, develop from the hyphae of the fungus. These growths gradually expand and, over a period of 10–15 years, can reach large sizes and masses—up to 3–5 kg or more. The growths represent the sterile mycelium of the fungus, while the fruiting body, which produces basidiospores, develops under the bark and is not visible on the outside of the trunk.

Chaga is found in forests on old, living birches or on felled trees in logging areas. The fungus does not develop on young birch trees.

LORANTHACEAE FAMILY

Green plants that parasitize the branches of woody plants. The flowers have simple perianths, and the ovary is inferior and unilocular. The fruit is berry-like.

In various species of the Loranthaceae family, significant amounts of tannins, flavonoids, amines, and skin-irritating substances have been found.

Viscum album is a perennial, bushy, spherical, green parasitic plant that inhabits various trees. It is glabrous with woody branches.

The roots of the parasite penetrate under the bark of tree branches and then form suckers deep into the wood. The stems are numerous, forked, woody, and form a nearly spherical bush. The branches are swollen at the nodes, yellow-green. The leaves are thick, leathery, evergreen, elongated with a blunt apex, entire-edged, with 5 parallel veins, dark green, sessile, and opposite. The plant is dioecious. The flowers are inconspicuous, unisexual, and grow in groups of 5–6 at the branch forks. The berry is spherical, white, one-seeded, sticky inside, containing rubber. The seeds are dispersed by birds.

Mistletoe settles on oaks, fruit trees, and other broad-leaved trees. A variety also grows on conifers (fir, pine). It is found in the central part of the European part of Russia, in Crimea, and the Caucasus. In the Far East, Primorye region, a variety of mistletoe called Viscum coloratum (Korn.) Nakai, with yellow and orange berries, grows.

The leaves of mistletoe—Folium Visci—or young branches with leaves—Stipites Visci cum foliis—are collected in late autumn (November-December), during the fruit drop.

The chemical composition has not yet been fully clarified. Choline derivatives (propionylcholine and acetylcholine) have been found; their content depends on the host tree on which the mistletoe has grown. In addition, it contains resin, triterpenoid saponins (oleic and ursolic acids), vitamin C, carotene, viscotoxin 0.05–0.1% (a mixture of amino acids), vicerin, viscol, and others.

Mistletoe preparations experimentally lower blood pressure. The hypotension caused by mistletoe is likely due to a decrease in the excitability of the vasomotor center. An infusion of fresh mistletoe leaves is included in the composition of the drug «Akofit», which is used for acute radiculitis.

A low, dioecious tree with a broad crown. The leaves are pinnately compound, with three or more large, elliptical leaflets. The flowers are inconspicuous, unisexual. The fruit is a dry drupe. The seed is known as the edible nut — pistachio with a green kernel. Galls, caused by aphids, develop on the leaves. These galls grow in groups of 1–3, in the form of hollow, bubble-like, pear-shaped formations (0.5–3 cm in length) of a pinkish color.

Pistachio trees form groves on the slopes of Central Asia; they are also widely cultivated.

The galls, called buzguncha, contain 30–45% tannin and resin and have been proposed for use as an astringent. The leaves contain 13–17% tannins.

PISTACIA MUTICA F. et M. — forms rare pistachio groves in the Caucasus and Crimea. The leaves contain up to 20% tannin, the drupes are inedible and yield 60% fatty oil; the trunk produces resin and up to 25% essential oil containing pinene.

COTINUS COGGYGRIA SCOP. — COTINUS COGGYGRIA SCOP.
A branching shrub, sometimes a small tree, with yellowish wood. The leaves are rounded or elliptical, glabrous, with the petiole and main veins usually red-violet. The inflorescences are large, spreading panicles that develop at the branch tips. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-white, bisexual and unisexual on the same plant. The fruits are small drupes with a drying pericarp. After flowering, the flower stalks of the numerous sterile flowers elongate significantly and develop long, orange-red, outward-pointing, tangled, hairy threads, giving the shrub a very decorative appearance. It blooms in June–July and fruits in August–September.

It grows in the mountains on rocky slopes, chalk outcrops, among shrubs, and in sparse forests throughout the Caucasus, Crimea, and parts of southern Ukraine. It is now widely cultivated in protective forestry as a leading species of the second tier.

The leaves contain 12–20% tannin, 3–5% free gallic acid, and are used for tannin extraction. The leaves and wood also contain flavonol glycosides such as myricetin and fisetin, used as yellow dyes. There is about 0.1–0.2% essential oil with a pleasant scent, used in perfumery.

RHUS CORIARIA L. — RHUS CORIARIA L.
A small, sparsely branched shrub, sometimes a small tree. Unlike Cotinus, the leaves are pinnately compound, with 4–8 pairs of sessile, ovate leaflets, and a winged petiole. The inflorescence is a dense panicle, but it does not form the orange threads of Cotinus. The fruits are small, spherical, red drupes, densely covered with reddish-brown glandular hairs. They are sour and used as a spice in food. It blooms in June–July and fruits in September–October. It grows in the mountains of Crimea, the Caucasus, and Turkmenistan.

The leaves contain about 30% tannins, including up to 15% tannin, and are a source of tannin extraction.

RHAMNACEAE FAMILY — RHAMNACEAE FAMILY
Trees or shrubs, often with thorns. The leaves are simple. The flowers are small, usually collected in axillary cymes or clusters of 4–5 parts. The calyx is 4–5-lobed; the petals are 4–5, with 4–5 stamens. The ovary is superior, 2–4-celled. The fruit is a fleshy drupe or a dry, indehiscent fruit.

Several species contain anthraquinone derivatives, especially in the bark and fruits, sometimes in the leaves. Tannins are found in the bark in small amounts; there are flavonoids and resinous substances. The fruits also contain sugars, organic acids, and coloring compounds. Alkaloids seem to be absent.

The family consists of 5 genera, with 2 being used: Rhamnus and Frangula.

The bulbs are large (4–7 cm in diameter), growing several on a vertical rhizome; the basal leaves are 7–10 in number, arranged in a two-row rosette, linear, 20–35 cm in length, 2–3 cm in width. The leaves appear in spring, but wither in summer after 1–2 months. In August, a leafless flower stalk develops, bearing an umbel with 4–7 flowers. The flowers are slightly irregular, yellowish or yellow-pink, with a pink-purple stripe on the inner side. This plant is endemic, found in the mountains of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan at altitudes of 800–2500 m. Alkaloids can be isolated from the bulbs and leaves.

The bulbs contain 0.8–0.9% alkaloids, the roots 2.25%, and the leaves 0.33–1%. Several alkaloids have been identified; galantamine is found in the leaves up to 0.2%, and is present in larger amounts in the bulbs and roots, but the predominant alkaloid is lycorine.

Industry obtains galantamine from the leaves of Ungernea Victoris. Other species of Ungernia are richer in lycorine, and industry extracts this alkaloid also from the leaves of Ungernea trisphaera Bge, which contains up to 0.6% lycorine, or from the leaves and bulbs of Ungernea Severzovii (Rd 1.) V. Fedtsch., which contains 0.45% lycorine in the leaves and 0.38% in the bulbs. This species is widely spread in the Tashkent region and southern Kazakhstan. The flowers are red, and the bulb diameter is 7 cm. Ungernea trisphaera has pink flowers and very large bulbs, approximately 12 cm in diameter. It grows in the mountainous areas of Turkmenistan. Additionally, lycorine can be extracted from cultivated narcissus species or from wild narcissus, such as the Narcissus tazetta L. (found in Uzbekistan), which contains 0.13% lycorine in the leaves.

Lycorine, after experimental and clinical studies, has been suggested as an expectorant, promoting increased mucus secretion. It is recommended for acute pneumonia, severe bronchitis, and bronchiectasis. The dosage is 0.1–0.2 mg in tablets, three times a day. Larger doses may cause vomiting.

A sprawling dioecious shrub up to 1.5 m tall, with thin, rod-like, straight, light yellow shoots and gray bark on older branches. The leaves are small, glabrous, and back-elliptical, with small leathery stipules. The flowers are unisexual, small, and inconspicuous, greenish. Staminate flowers are clustered in groups of 3–12 on short pedicels; there are 5 concave, oval sepals, no petals, and 5–6 stamens protruding from the calyx; the rudimentary ovary is usually divided into three parts. Pistillate flowers are solitary or in small groups (3–8), on longer (up to 1 cm) pedicels; the ovary is spherical, with 3 styles. The fruit is a drooping, three-celled capsule, flattened at the top, with 2 seeds in each cell. The seeds are smooth, bluntly triangular, with a thin seed coat. It flowers in June–July and fruits in September.

It grows singly or in small groups on rocky slopes and sandy-gravel deposits, and less frequently on forest edges. It is found primarily in the Far East along the Amur River and its tributaries, and as far west as Nerchinsk.

The raw material is collected by breaking off the leafy tops of the stems and branches from the budding to fruit ripening stages, from June to September. The plant contains alkaloids: 0.3–0.8% in the leaves, 0.2% in the upper stems; there are significantly fewer alkaloids in the fruits. The main alkaloid isolated is sekurinin.

According to literature, sekurinega suffruticosa contains suffruticodine, suffruticonine, allosekurinin, dihydrosekurinin, and sekurinol, while a Japanese variety contains virosekurin. The roots of plants from India mainly contain allosekurinin. Related species of this genus contain gordenine (flugrin), viroallosekurinin, and virosine. The alkaloid composition and their relative amounts in various forms and varieties of sekurinega suffruticosa vary greatly depending on geographic conditions and the developmental phase.

Nitric acid sekurinin is used both internally and subcutaneously as a stimulant for the nervous system. It acts similarly to strychnine but is weaker and less toxic.

It is used as a tonic in asthenic conditions, neurasthenia with rapid fatigue, hypotension, paresis, flaccid paralysis, and sexual weakness caused by nervous system dysfunction.

Excessive doses of sekurinin can lead to poisoning similar to strychnine poisoning. In such cases, swallowing becomes difficult, and painful tension in facial, occipital, and other muscles occurs, leading to convulsive muscle contractions of all skeletal muscles.

The dosage is usually 0.002 g in tablet form twice a day or a 0.4% solution (in bottles) — 10–20 drops twice a day, or a 0.2% solution (in ampoules) — 1 ml once a day subcutaneously. The treatment course lasts 30–35 days.

ANACARDIACEAE FAMILY
Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs. Leaves are typically alternate, simple or compound. Flowers are regular, with separate petals, small, in panicle inflorescences; there are 5–10 stamens and a superior ovary. The fruit is a drupe or nut.

Members of this family are rare in the USSR, mainly growing in southern regions.

Many species are rich in tannins and tannic acid, and often contain resins and essential oils found in resin ducts in the phloem of the trunk and along the leaf veins.

In the USSR, the following three genera belong to this family: Pistacia, Cotinus, Rhus. All are of medicinal importance as tanning agents.