Folk names: soap grass, white carnation, cuckoo soap, dog soap, cleanliness.
Parts used: grass and rhizome. The substances contained in the medicinal soap dish have a positive effect on tone and chemical reactions in muscle tissue.
Pharmacy Name: Soap herb - Saponariae herba (formerly Herba Saponariae), red soap root - Saponariae rubrae radix (formerly Radix Saponariae rubrae).
Botanical description. Perennial plant 25-80 cm high, with strongly branched reddish-brown, yellowish rhizome inside the finger-thick. The stem is ribbed, branching at the top. Leaves are supple, elongated, dark green, with 3 veins and a rough edge. Flowers are white or slightly pinkish, shiny, with a slight smell, collected by bundles at the ends of branches. Blossoms from May (June) to September. It occurs in floodplain forests, on sandy shores, gravel and pebble slopes, and among shrubs.
Collection and preparation. Collect grass during flowering. Drying should be carried out quickly. For this purpose artificial heating with temperature up to 50″С is suitable. Rhizomes can be collected either in early spring or late autumn. The dug rhizomes are cleared of sticky soil and dried in the air, previously divided in half.
Active ingredients: saponins. Flavonglycoside is also found in the grass.
Healing effect and application. Soapy soap is a raw material containing saponins and is therefore suitable for liquefaction of thick bronchial mucus. It is used for coughing and bronchial diseases, but much less frequently than other saponin-containing plants (cow, primrose). Soapy soap also has a mild diuretic and laxative effect, so it is sometimes part of the so-called blood purification collection. Previously, soap decoction was often used for skin diseases in the form of compression. It can still be recommended today, as the antifungal effect of saponins soapyna is confirmed. The German Public Health Service supports this application. o Soap tea: 1 teaspoon of grass and soap rhizomes is poured into 1/4 of a liter of cold water and then insisted for several hours. Then the infusion is brought to a boil and squeezed. When coughing to drink follows 2 cups a day. For skin washes and compressors it is necessary to dilute this infusion with an equal amount of chamomile tea.
Application in folk medicine. In folk medicine and rhizome, and grass is primarily used as a means of preventing coughing. The second place is occupied by chronic skin diseases, when inside and outside recommend soap tea, and finally, soap tea is valued as an effective blood-cleaning agent. Jerome Side wrote (1577) about the "power and action" of the soap dish: "The root of the soap dish should be mixed with honey in a larger or smaller amount and densely applied to the affected area. Thick phlegmata is separated and excreted, serves to improve the kidneys and spleen, also helps suffocating people, expels urine, relieves stools, treats female dementia. Should also help weak, cooled men. The old people have this root in case of blindness, opacity of eyes is used. And when they wanted to soften the yolvacas in solid growths, they put a ground root... They boiled the root in vinegar or wine and used it. Members of the Order, such as the Franciscan brothers, washed their hoods for them (it was possible not to buy soaps, not to hire laundresses, as the poor brothers of the Order of St. Francis complained).
Side effects. Like all saponin-containing drugs, the soap dish cannot be overdosed when used. Otherwise, it will cause visible irritation of the stomach and intestines or kidneys. When used in the recommended dosage, you should not be afraid of side effects.