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Meadow Crane’s-bill
is a perennial plant up to 80 cm tall, with a short, thick root. The stem is erect, branched at the top. Leaves opposite, simple, radially divided or divided, with leaflets. The lower ones have a lot of rosette leaves, their stems are 15-30 cm long. The leaf blade is 6-12 cm long, 8-16 cm wide, divided almost to the base into rhombic ovoid parts, which in turn are divided into tufts. In the middle part of the trunk, leaves with shorter stems, divided into 5 parts, the upper ones are sessile, three-parted. Upper surface of leaf blade with appressed hairs throughout, hairs on underside mostly only on veins. Blooms from June to August. Inflorescence - dichasia. Fruit - 2.5-3 cm long 5-nut drupe. The plant has pronounced autochory - the ripe seeds are thrown away from the mother plant as the petals of the fruit curl up.
For medicinal purposes, the above-ground part of the plant, rarely the rhizomes, is collected. Lilacs are collected during flowering, dried in a shady and well-ventilated place or in forced dryers not exceeding 40-45C. Stored in wooden boxes or glass containers for no longer than 1 year.
Roots with rhizomes are collected in autumn, cleaned from the soil, rinsed, cleaned from the remains of the stems. Wrap a little and dry on sieves in a well-ventilated and shaded room.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
contains starch and other carbohydrates, triterpene saponins, tannins, phenolcarbonic acid, catechins, flavonoids, vitamin C, and carotene. The leguminous plant contains carbohydrates, glucose, fructose, raffinose, saponins, alkaloids, vitamin C and K, tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanins and leucoanthocyanins, minerals: iron, manganese, nickel, zinc, etc.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
contains a lot of tannins. More than 16% tannins were found in the flowers, but there are especially many of them in the dry rhizome >30%. In addition, the rhizome contains a lot of dyes, calcium and also unexplored substances.
Medicinal significance
Meadow Crane’s-bill
has astringent, disinfectant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-toxic, wound-healing, anti-bleeding, anti-itching, sedative, pain-relieving properties and also helps dissolve salt deposits in kidney stones. The plant is also useful in rheumatism and gout.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
is used orally for malignant neoplasms, bone fractures, epilepsy, upper respiratory tract diseases, fever, gastritis, enteritis, food poisoning, dysentery, long and heavy menstruation and hemorrhoidal bleeding, kidney stones, rheumatism, gout, heart diseases. Externally, to treat purulent wounds, ulcers, hernias, rheumatic joint pains, anal and genital fistulas, angina, inflammations of the mucous membrane of the oral cavity and throat, leucorrhoea and hair loss.
Water extracts are often recommended by doctors to be taken orally to stop internal bleeding.
In folk medicine,
Meadow Crane’s-bill
is used in the form of infusions and decoctions to fight insomnia, epilepsy, fever, rheumatism, diarrhea, bleeding in women's diseases, eczema, toothache and scabies.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
powder is great for stopping bleeding from wounds.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
has anti-toxic properties, in relation to snake venoms.
The plant is an effective astringent, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent for the treatment of diarrhea, inflammation of the digestive tract (gastritis, enterocolitis), dysentery.
Meadow Crane’s-bill
can be used to dissolve kidney stones, rheumatic joint damage, gout. This plant is widely used to treat uterine, hemorrhoidal and pulmonary bleeding. In case of nosebleeds, you can insert a tampon soaked in the solution of the plant.
In the recent past, it was found that
Meadow Crane’s-bill
is capable of suppressing the activity of the CNS, therefore, this plant is used in cases of excessive nervous tension, insomnia and feverish conditions.