Buglyas deracea – Gypsophila paniculata

Description of buglyas, bugly dercephalus:

Gypsophila paniculata L. (Old or other familiar names: emperor’s beard, paintweed, coffinflower, footmoss, soapwort, dandelion root, apothecary’s dandelion, tadpole.) Carnations – Caryophyllaceae Perennial plant, which develops from caryopsis. Stems strongly branched, hairy at the base with lower leaves, glabrous above. Inflorescences are very dense, giving it an owl-like veiled appearance. Flowers are white. There are two types of soapwort, the white and the red. The white Hungarian soapwort is provided by the bugle weed (Gypsophila paniculata L. ), whereas the red Hungarian soapwort is provided by the root of the bogwort (Saponaria officinalis L. ). The former is the valuable and highly prized article sought under the name radix saponariae hungaricae. It is more valuable because it grows thickly, while the red soapwort, on the other hand, remains only thin and is therefore less valuable and rarely used. A white Hungarian soapwort for harvesting the bugle weed or veil flower (Gypsophila paniculata L. ), the root of which must be dug up. Bugleweed is a perennial plant that starts to bend in April. Its stems grow to a height of 40-100 cm, branching out from the base into a dense, multi-branched, forked, two- or three-branched, flowering spike, which bears an endless number of tiny, but very large, white flowers. Its flowers are so small and blue, and so numerous on the branched inflorescence, that the whole plant has a bushy, boggy, veiled appearance, and for this reason it is much favoured for bouquet-work, because it covers the bouquet in a fine white veil. This is why it is called a veil flower and is considered an ornamental garden plant. The smallness of the flowers may have given rise to the name dervinea. The individual flower has a five-toothed green calyx, a pair of five small white petals with a perianth; inside these are ten stamens and the seed coat, from which a small seed pod is produced. The leaves of the stems of the derecanth are opposite each other, i.e. two opposite each other, lanceolate and strongly pointed. The stem is hairy only at the base, with the lower leaves, and glabrous above. It belongs to the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae ). It blooms from June to August and grows wild in the sandy plains of the lowlands. Mostly along railway embankments. It is found in loose sandy and stony places, in arable land and on sandhills, and is less common in hilly areas. Similar to it, but differing from it in its hairy inflorescence, is the Hungarian Stitchwort(Gyps. hungarica Borbás). The root of the Bugly Stitchwort, when dried, is a much sought-after commercial and notable export, and is well paid for abroad in fine white quality. The root is smooth-barked, with a brownish surface and a beautiful white, compacted inner tissue. It is sold properly peeled. The white soap root is usually of different thicknesses. The thinner soap root, which grows in the wild, especially in poor soil, is only a finger thick, whereas soap root grown in the garden in rich soil can grow to the thickness of a hair. The thicker the soapwort, the more valuable it is. The root of the Hungarian white soapwort contains a special substance calledsaponin. It is this special substance that gives the soap root its striking property that, when rubbed in water, it lathers vigorously, like soap. It has therefore been used since time immemorial for washing fabrics, because its foam combines with the grease in dirty fabrics in the same way as soap foam and removes grease stains. Soap root is excellent for cleaning the most delicate fabrics, silk fabrics, ribbons and delicate underwear, because it does not attack even the most delicate fabrics and does not harm their most delicate colours, but on the contrary, it refreshes them. Moreover, fabrics do not shrink when washed with soap root as they do when washed with soap. It is used extensively for washing wool and sheep, in wool and silk spinning factories and in cloth dyeing. In medicine radix saponariae although soap root is not widely used as a medicine. It used to be used against slime but is now used only for washing. Today it is more important in industry. For domestic consumption, mainly for washing wool, Italian soap root of inferior quality is imported in bulk from Italy, which is the Gypsophila from Struthium reaches. The Italian soap root has a looser weave inside and is properly covered with moisture on the outside. In our country, the soap root is called the thorny hygviricz (Glycyrolina echinata) but the latter cannot be used for washing wool because it does not contain saponin.

Occurrence:

It grows in warm, sandy places in Egypt and the Mediterranean. In our country it is found along railway embankments, on looser sands, especially on sandbanks in the lowlands and less frequently in the hills.

Part of the species to be collected:

The 0.5 – 1 m long, 2-4 finger thick, usually branching into one or two twigs, solid root, which radix Saponariae hungaricae which is sold commercially as. The outside of the root is covered with a yellowish-brown wrinkled parar layer, the inside is pale yellowish.

Active ingredient:

Saponalbin, methylsaponalbin, gypsophila-saponin.

Harvesting and drying:

The root, dug up in early spring or late autumn, must first be cleaned of mud or soil, washed, then the parar layer removed and cut into slices in the same way as salami is cut, about 6-8 cm of root is dried in a mild oven or in the sun.

Cultivation:

A plant suitable for planting in dry quicksand areas, propagated by sowing seeds, possibly by division of the plants in March or September. The plant requires 60×60 cm of space. To plant one cat. acre, 150 grams of seed or 40,000 plants are required, from which 15 to 20 q (mase) of 2-3 year old roots can be collected.

Processing and marketing:

Used in medicine for making decoctions, in the factory industry for cleaning finer fabrics (silk, furs, etc.). Source: Dr Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic medicinal plants, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses