Pepper mountain, or water pepper - Polygonum hydropiper. Buckwheat family - Polygonaceae.
Typical habitats of the water pepper (Peppermint Peppercorn) are wet marshy and marshy meadows, banks of water bodies, edges of bogs, ditches, shoals, urems and even strips along forest roads. Peppermint is considered to be a hydromesophyte, i.e., it is the most common plant. е. plants growing at the contact of aquatic and terrestrial ecotopes. The habitat of the water pepper plant (Peppermint) is Holarctic. And is distributed pepper bush almost throughout the European part of Russia, except for the extreme tundras and the Crimea; pepper bush is also found in the Far East; in the steppe zone comes mainly along the river valleys.
Water pepper (peppermint) is an annual herbaceous plant with a straight stem branching from the base. The numerous lanceolate leaves of the peppered throat and stem turn red by fall. During the flowering of water pepper, which lasts from July to fall, cyst-like inflorescences develop at the ends of the stems; they bear sparsely arranged greenish-pink small florets (Fig. 7). The fresh leaves of the water pepper have a sharp burning peppery flavor, determined by a resinous secretion contained in numerous glands. Hence the name of the species. Literally translated from Latin, polys means "many", gony means "knee", and in general, "many-kneed water pepper" (hydor means "water", piper means "pepper"). But it has other names: "frog grass", "hunchback" - also reflecting the essence of this species.
The medicinal raw material of the water pepper plant is the entire above-ground part of the plant, which is collected during flowering, i.e. during the flowering period. е. most of the summer. When studying the raw material of the water pepper plant (peppercorns), it turned out that it has flavone glycosides (7 species), some tannins (3-4%), organic acids, essential oils, saponins, vitamins K, PP and C, carotene. The medicinal properties of this mountain plant are determined by the presence of the glycoside polygopy-perine and a significant amount of vitamin K, as well as flavonoids, among which is rutinol, reducing the
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fragility and permeability of small blood vessels. The plant water pepper (peppercorn) is used in scientific medicine. Its liquid extract or infusion has styptic and antiseptic properties. Their effects are much stronger than ergot or the traditional American "gold seal". The calming effect of the extracts on the nervous system is also known. The main direction of application of water pepper (peppercorns) - stimulation of uterine muscle contraction in bleeding. Preparations of water pepper (bitter pepper) in this case (and in any other bleeding) accelerate blood clotting and thus reduce the bleeding time. An extract of the water pepper (peppercorn) plant is included in an anti-hemorrhoidal suppository called anesthesol.
Water pepper (peppermint) has been known as a medicinal plant since antiquity. There are references to it in the ancient Roman scholar Dioscorides. The water pepper plant (peppercorns) was used in ancient China as an external irritant and as a spicy seasoning for food. And in the Middle Ages, it was popular with alchemical scientists. It is also mentioned by Paracelsus, the famous 16th century physician.
In Russian folk medicine, the water pepper plant was prescribed as an antidiarrheal and analgesic. It is known to use the herb water pepper (peppercorns) for kidney stone disease, stomach ulcers. In Russia, tea made from the herb water pepper (peppercorns) was a favorite. They drank it for bleeding, headaches. Fresh herb of water pepper (peppercorns) was applied to the back of the head instead of mustard. Freshly ground above-ground parts of the peppercorns can also replace mustard, and give even better effect. Use the plant water pepper (peppercorns) and in food as a seasoning for various dishes. Peppercorn is also used for dyeing fabrics, producing yellow, golden, black, and khaki colors.
In the Far East, there are other species of bittergrass plants known that can replace snake bittergrass. For example, the Ussuri mountaineer, typical of wet places, mountains and mossy thickets of cedar shrubbery, or the Manchurian mountaineer, found in damp valleys and mountain meadows..
