BITSA

BITSA, a Soviet farm located 27 versts from Moscow, at the Bitza station of the Moscow-Kursk Railway (under the administration of the Moscow Pharmacy Administration since 1925), where work is conducted on the cultivation of medicinal plants. Main attention is given to the following plants: 1) Atropa belladonna L. (belladonna), 2) Digitalis purpurea L. (foxglove), 3) Hydrastis canadensis L. (golden seal), 4) Rheum palmatum L., variet. tanguticum maxim, (rhubarb), 5) Salvia officinalis L. (sage) and 6) Valeriana officinalis L. (valerian). Analytical data have established that the products of these plants, in terms of active ingredient content, meet all pharmacopeia requirements. The leaves of Atropae belladonnae contain alkaloids 1½-2 times more than the amount required by the pharmacopeia. At Bitsa, experimental research work is conducted on studying cultivation techniques, the influence of various fertilizers, lighting, time of sowing, and other factors on the yield of medicinal plants and their content of active ingredients. Bitza has a demonstration nursery with 150 species of various plants used in scientific and folk medicine. A museum of cultivated medicinal plants has been organized at Bitza. Before the revolution, the owner of Bitza was the firm V. K. Ferrein, which cultivated medicinal plants here.