Narrow-leaved pepper or Machiko

Pepper - Piperaceae. Pharmaceutical name: matiko leaves - Matico folium (formerly: Folia Matico).

Botanical description.

Shrub 2-m tall, with short-petioled leaves and almost 20-cm long rolled cobs. It grows in the Andes in northern South America, preferring moist forests: in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

Active ingredients: essential oil, resins, bitterness, tannins.

Application. It is used as a mild diuretic, which also has a disinfectant effect on the urinary tract. Previously also used to stop bleeding (internal and external).