Great celandine.

Celandine Greater

A perennial herbaceous plant of the poppy family, up to 90 cm high. The root is tap root, slightly branched. The rhizome is multi-headed, short. The stem is hollow, ribbed, densely branched, covered with hairs, and at the break it secretes yellowish-orange juice. The leaves are pinnate, alternate, crenate, pinnately dissected, light green above, bluish below. The lower leaves are on long petioles, the upper ones are sessile.

Blooms in May - June. The flowers are bright yellow, collected in umbels. The fruit is a capsule. Ripens in July - September.

Greater celandine is distributed throughout most of the European territory of the USSR, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It grows in shady places near homes, in vegetable gardens, forests, fields, cutting areas, burnt areas, on mountain slopes and screes.

The above-ground part of the plant is used to dye wool yellow. In veterinary medicine it is used to treat bloody urine in cattle and ringworm in dogs. In gardens and vegetable gardens it is used as an insecticide against pests.

The aerial part of the plant serves as the medicinal raw material. The grass is collected in May - June during the flowering phase in dry weather, cutting or breaking off branches at a height of 10-15 cm from the ground. Dry in an attic or under a canopy with good ventilation or in a dryer at a temperature of 50-60°C, spreading out in a thin layer. When bent, finished raw materials break rather than bend. Store in bags or wooden containers for 3 years.

The aerial part contains biologically active substances with medicinal properties. Celandine preparations are used for skin diseases, inflammations, as an analgesic, diuretic and choleretic agent.