A perennial herbaceous plant with a branched root system. The stem is gray-green, with pinnately compound leaves, covered with hairs on the underside. The flowers are brown-red, arranged in racemes, with 9 fused stamens and 1 free stamen. The pods are spherical, vesicular, and do not open. It blooms from May to July, with fruit ripening in July-August. It grows in damp, saline steppes of Central Asia and as a hard-to-eradicate weed on cotton plantations.
The herb, along with its fruits and flowers, is collected, dried, and sent to an alkaloid factory. It contains about 0.4% alkaloids, the main one being sphaerophysin, which has ganglioblocking properties. As a result, it lowers blood pressure (especially when elevated), increases contractions and tone of the uterine muscles, and reduces the influx of pathological impulses to affected organs (such as in gastric or duodenal ulcers).
Sphaerophysin benzoate is used in the treatment of hypertension and in obstetrics and gynecology, taken orally in tablets of 0.03 g, 2–3 times a day, or subcutaneously as a 1% solution in ampoules of 1 ml, 1–2 times a day.