Celandine is a perennial herb plant of the poppy family.
The flowers are yellow and bright in long pedicels, at the ends of the stem collected by umbrellas, almost 20 mm in diameter. The calyx consists of a pair of sepals that fall when the flower opens. Regular corolla, rounded petals. Pestle with a thin short column and a small stigma of two blades.
The fruit is a bivalve box with a single nest in the shape of a pod 5 cm long and 3 mm wide. The seeds are dark brown, oval, bright, with a pale comb-shaped appendix, arranged in two rows in a box.
Celandine blooms all summer, four months, from May to August, fruits ripen in July-September, everything depends on the area where they grow.
Celandine extracts, as well as purified compounds obtained from the fresh raw materials of this plant, have antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antimicrobial properties.
The plant has anticancer properties and is anesthetic. This is an important component of the medication in the treatment of stomach ulcers. The plant has abundant juice of bright caustic orange, which strongly stains the skin and irritates it a lot. The juice is used as an external treatment procedure to remove warts, ringworm and corns.
The plant contains the alkaloid chelidonin, which is similar to the papaverine alkaloid found in poppies. This alkaloid has an antispasmodic and sedative effect on the bile ducts and bronchi. However, the results are not always consistent, especially if the medicine is not fresh. The freshness of celandine largely determines its beneficial properties and contraindications.