NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
Medicinal uses
Uses supported by clinical data
Internally used for treatment of chronic dysentery, and acute and chronic
enteritis (35). Oral administration and simultaneous external application
have been used in patients with psoriasis (17).
Uses described in pharmacopoeias and well-established documents
Internally: as a mild sudorific and diuretic for treatment of bladder and
kidney problems, for conditions producing blood in the urine (haematuria)
(36), as an astringent, and for treatment of diarrhoea and ulcerative
colitis (15, 28).
Uses described in traditional medicine
As a diuretic, antidiarrhoeal, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory (37), anthelminthic,
febrifuge, diaphoretic, for gallbladder and as a kidney tonic (38).
Used for the treatment of alopecia (4), scrofulosis (39), gout, arthralgia
(40), furunculosis, diathesis (a constitutional predisposition towards a
particular state or condition and especially one that is abnormal or diseased),
seborrhoeic dermatitis, acne vulgaris (17, 27, 41–43), eczema (44),
infantile rickets (45, 46), digestive tract ailments, flatulence, fevers, bladder
and kidney stones, as a styptic haemostatic and for curing insect bites
(47). Used externally as a bath for various diathesis conditions, especially
in children (28).
Pharmacology
Experimental pharmacology
Antimalarial activity
A 90% ethanol extract of the dried whole plant was active against Plasmodium
falciparum at a concentration of 20 µg/ml (48).
Choleretic activity
Oral administration of the total flavonoids isolated from the aerial parts
of the plant to rats (500 mg/kg body weight (bw)) significantly induced
choleretic activity. Subsequently, an increase of cholic acids and cholesterol
in bile was observed (49).
Antiulcer activity
Separate intragastric administration of methanol and aqueous extracts of
the aerial parts to rats, at a dose of 500 mg/kg bw, showed antiulcer activ-
42