Camel Thorn Common.

Camel Thorn Common

Camel thorn is a spiny subshrub of the legume family up to 1 m high. The stem is splayed and branched with numerous spines. The root is long, with deep horizontal shoots.

The leaves are simple, alternate, oval, with modified shoots-spines in the axils. Blooms from May to autumn. The flowers are pink or red with a typical moth structure, located on spines. The fruit is a bean with 4-5 kidney-shaped seeds. Begins to ripen in July.

Distributed in the south of the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Western Siberia and Central Asia. It grows on clayey, gravelly, slightly saline soils, in semi-deserts and deserts, on sand, uncultivated areas, in irrigated areas of rivers and canals, and forms thickets.

Used for livestock feed. In hot weather, the plant secretes a sweet liquid called “manna,” which is used for food and medicinal purposes.

The aerial part serves as the medicinal raw material. Contains essential oil, alkaloids, vitamins, tannins. It has anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, wound-healing effects. Used for gastrointestinal diseases, colds, coughs, externally for purulent wounds and dermatitis.