NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
Geographical distribution
Indigenous to the temperate regions of the world (especially Asia and
Europe). Naturalized elsewhere in temperate regions. It is found in the
Mediterranean and Western Asia. Rarely cultivated, it is normally harvested
from the wild (3, 5, 6, 25–29).
Description
Perennial herb, with scapes, up to 30 cm high, short rhizome, fibrous
primarily adventitious roots. Caudex short. Basal rosette-like leaves
broadly elliptic to ovate, obtuse to rounded at the top, entire or irregularly
toothed, strongly parallel-veined (3–9 ribs, usually 5), tapered into
long petioles, 4–24 cm long, 2.5–11 cm wide, pubescent when young, remaining
pubescent on the principal veins or becoming glabrous at maturity.
Stem leaves lacking. Inflorescence of dense, narrow, bracteate spikes.
Spikes less than 1 cm thick, 5–30 cm long, green-brown, smooth. Flowers
hermaphrodite, anemophilous and/or autogamous. Peduncle glabrous.
Bracts concave, ovate-oblong, obtuse, thin-margined, 1.5–4 mm long.
Calyx 3 mm long, sepals subequal, distinct, ovate to suborbicular,
2–2.5 mm long, glabrous. Corolla greenish, 4-lobed, the lobes deltoid, less
than 1 mm long. Stamens inconspicuous, filaments white, anthers violet
to yellowish-brown. Capsules, ovate, 2.5–4 mm long, glabrous, dehiscent
at or slightly below middle, the top coming off as a conical lid tipped with
the remains of the style. Seeds 5–25, black or brown, 1 mm long, finely
veined (6, 8, 27, 28, 30, 31).
Plant material of interest: dried leaves
General appearance
Dried, whole or partly fragmented twisted leaves. The dried leaves are
ovate or broadly elliptic, entire or toothed, 3–9 ribbed. The ribs taper into
a long petiole and they protrude from the cut edge. The leaves are green
or brownish-green, up to 24 cm long (including the length of petiole) and
3–11 cm wide. The fragments of cut drug are irregular; their dimensions
(length and width) vary within a 7 mm limit (1).
Organoleptic properties
Odour: slight; taste: slightly bitter (1).
Microscopic characteristics
Examining the surface of the leaf, two epidermises can be distinguished:
an upper epidermis (polygonal cells with straight cell walls) and a lower
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