English name: Sweet briar, Wild briar
Family: Rosaceae
Botanical characteristic: Thorny shrub, up to 3 meters high. The ovate, oddly pinnately compound leaves are five to seven-numbered, with a serrated edge. The flowers are arranged at the top of the stem alone or in spikes. The crown and chalice are quintuple. The fruit is hairy, hard achenes that fill the cavity of the calyx. It hardens and forms a false fruit of a rose – a rosehip.
Microscopic drawing:
Distribution: It grows on the edges of forests, on slopes, by roads, on sunny slopes.
Drug: Cynosbati fructus sine semine
Harvesting method: Rosehips are harvested in September and October. The ripe, red, hard fruits are harvested by hand in dry, sunny weather, without stalks. Protective equipment is needed.
Drying: Rosehip fruits are dried naturally in one layer, in a draft. They are dried with artificial heat at a temperature of up to 35 °C.
Active substances: Rose hips contain a huge amount of vitamins. In particular, vitamin C, vitamin A and B vitamins. Sugars, flavonoids, carotenoids, organic acids and tannins are also found in rosehip fruits.
Uses: The drug is slightly diuretic and laxative, but therapeutically it is mainly used as a source of vitamin C.
Selected herbal preparations: AGROKARPATY Metabolic tea Magic 20×2 g, APOTHEKE Strawberry with cream Organic fruit tea 20×2 g, Biomin MOVE cps 60 pcs, PLUS LEKÁREŇ Complex vitamin C + acerola + rose hips + zinc bags with orange flavor 20 pcs, FITOFERRUM FORTE tablets 30 pcs, NaturProdukt NCE KOLAGEN + corn + corn + rose + vitamin C cps gelatine 30 pcs.