The popular name of the herb is common bruise - night blindness. It is a biennial herb that is often used in various traditional medicine recipes.
Plant appearance
The plant belongs to the borage family and is quite poisonous, reaches a height of 1 m, fusiform root. The stem of the plant is single, erect, thick and often branched, covered with red spots, just like the leaves. Both the stem and leaves are covered with long spiny bristly hairs that sit on white tubercles. Night blindness has a basal rosette of leaves, spatulate-lanceolate, and the lower stem leaves are oblong-lanceolate, narrowed into a petiole at the base. All other numerous leaves have a narrow-linear pointed shape, whole-edged and with one median vein.
Bisexual flowers that grow along the entire length of the stem are pink at first, then turn blue, rarely turn white. Flowers sit on very short pedicels, collected in forming a simple inflorescence with large curls, paniculate. Outside, the corolla, like the rest of the plant, is covered with down. Flowering begins in June-July, in August, each flower forms a dry fruit, which breaks up into 4 lumpy nuts with three edges each, pointed at the top.
Plant in folk medicine
An ordinary bruise grows in weedy places, along roads, on dry slopes, at the edges of forests. In folk medicine, flowers and leaves of night blindness are mainly used, they are harvested during the flowering period. Night blindness should be dried in the shade, in a well-ventilated place, or in a special dryer.
The water extract of the common bruise has an antihormonal effect, and the alcohol extract has a curariform effect. The roots and bark have antibacterial activity. In general, the plant has an expectorant and diuretic effect, sedative properties. Infusion of the aerial part in the right proportions causes increased blood clotting, increasing the number of leukocytes and lymphocytes.
Outwardly, a decoction from the aerial part is used for rheumatism and tendon sprains. Fresh leaves are sometimes used as a wound healing agent. When used internally, proportions and great care must be taken, since all parts of the plant contain alkaloids that paralyze the nervous system. When eaten by animals, serious lesions of the gastrointestinal tract are noted - in all but sheep.
Household use
From the flowers and roots, a dye for wool is prepared, giving it a carmine red color. In the production of paints and varnishes, oil from the seeds of night blindness is often used.
The plant is valuable as a melliferous plant and is often cultivated in gardens and parks.
