Bloody swallow-wort-Chelidonium majus
Description of bloodroot swallow-wort:
Chelidonium majus L. (Old or other known names: bloodthirsty swallow-grass, bloodthirsty swallow-grass, swallow-grass, great swallow-grass, greater swallow-grass, bloodthirsty grass, blood-flowing grass, blood-flowing grass, blood-flowing grass, golden grass, golden-conescent, cinado or cinadonia, cinadonia grass, burian, milk buryan, duckweed, goat’s milk, dog’s milk, yellow dog’s milk, heavenly gift, poison ivy, all locked up, pulling grass, bunchgrass, sparrow grass, bloody marigold, bloody marigold, ) Poppies – Papaveraceae A perennial plant growing from a quarter to a metre tall. Stems straight, thin, branched, mostly with hairs, which stand outwards and singly. Its leaves are deeply cleft on the wing. Flowers are small, yellowish-purple with 3 to 8 flowers forming a sparse umbel, oblong-stalked, four-petalled. Characteristic of the plant is that when freshly broken, yellowish sap flows from all parts of the plant. The fresh sap of the plant is used to kill warts and corns. Its stems are fleshy, tuberous, cylindrical, branching in several directions and reddish brown. Fibrous, 5-10 cm long
Occurrence of bleeding swallow-wort:
In Europe, South Africa, Russian Asia, except in the northernmost regions, it grows in large quantities. In our country, it is found everywhere along fences, in fallow fields, meadows, thickets and forest edges. Moister soils, ditch banks, acacia groves are favourite places.
Part of it to be collected:
Leafy, flowering stems which herba chelidonii both the rootstock and the stems.
Active constituents of bleeding swallow-wort:
30 kinds of alkaloids, the most important being coptisine, chelidonin in the roots (some say similar to morphine i.e. analgesic and antispasmodic), chelidoanthine, malic acid, citric acid, chelidonic acid, pyorhopine, chelerythrine (cardiac poison), sangvinarine, berberine, protopine, plant acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, and the milk fluid contains protein-degrading enzymes.
Collection and drying of bloodroot:
The above-ground part of the plant, which flowers between May and September, should be cut with a sickle or knife and dried in a ventilated attic out of direct sunlight. When dry, the plant loses almost all of its disgusting smell.
Processing and marketing:
Tinctura and extractum chelidonii are made from it. Extract and tincture (fresh root) are used to make a medicine Source: Dr. Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic herbs, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses