Bog Bean

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Menyanthes Trifoliata, Bog Bean, Buck Bean, Marsh Trefoil

It is distributed almost throughout the European part, Western and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Prefers swamps, ponds with shallow waters and swampy shores, and marshy meadows. Forms large thickets.

It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Menyanthaceae family up to 30 cm tall. The rhizome is long, creeping. The leaves are simple, ternate, and long-stemmed, with elliptical segments, coming directly from the rhizome. Blooms in May – June.

The flowers are white or pale pink. Inflorescences are oblong brushes located on a leafless arrow. The fruit is a box that opens with two leaves and ripens in July – August.

Medicinal raw materials are leaves. They are collected during flowering and fruiting without petioles. So that the leaves remain green, they are dried in the air in the shade, then in the dryer. Stored in a closed container for 2 years.

The leaves of the three-leafed watch contain bitter glycosides, the alkaloid gentian, flavonic glycosides, vitamin C, as well as choline, fatty oil, linoleic and palmitic fatty acids, tannins, iodine and other compounds.

The preparations of the plant have anti-inflammatory, moderately laxative, choleretic, antiseptic, antipyretic, anthelmintic, and general tonic effects.

It is used internally for gastritis with low acidity, constipation, flatulence, rheumatism, edema, and anemia, to stimulate appetite, and externally for washing old ulcers, wounds, and scrofula in children.

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