Annual wind grass – Mercurialis annua
Description of annual wind grass:
Mercurialis annua L. (Old or other familiar names: pigweed, belly-grass, belly-grass, mercurial, mercury grass, hernia grass) Euphorbiaceae – Euphorbiaceae 15-30 cm tall, annual plant. Stems four-edged, branches spreading. Leaves stalked, elongated egg-shaped, roughly toothed. Its flowers are green, borne in clusters on long, thin stalks. The flowers are short-stalked, borne in the axils of the leaves. The flowers are unisexual. The fruit is covered with pointed projections.
Occurrence:
Commonly found throughout the globe as a common weed. In our country it grows on soils, fallow land and forest edges, and reproduces by falling seeds.
Part of the plant to be collected:
Leafy flowering stems, which are traded herba mercurialis annuae it is sold to the trade as.
Active ingredient:
Mercurialine and essential oil.
Collection and drying:
The above ground part of the plant, which flowers between the months of June and September, should be dried in a ventilated attic after collection. For drying, spread out in a palm-thick layer and dry in 4-7 days.
Processing and sale:
Used only in medicine, – mainly in folk medicine. Source: Dr. Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic medicinal plants, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses Béla Páter, Wild medicinal plants, their production, use, distribution, and marketing
