Hemorrhoidal Grass

HEMORRHOIDAL GRASS, a name designating various herbaceous plants used in folk medicine for the treatment of hemorrhoids; in this context, female and male H. G. are often distinguished. In the Moscow province, under the name of female H. G. is known the water pepper Polygonum hydropiper L., called gorchak in many provinces of the RSFSR and in Ukraine. Male H. G. in the Moscow province is called Polygonum lapathifolium L. — the spreading buckwheat, called male gorchak in some parts of the Central Black Earth region, and pochechuynaya trava (piles herb) in the Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod provinces. Female H. G. — Polygonum hydropiper, used for uterine bleeding, has also been introduced into scientific medicine (Kravkov, Tsitovich). Another species of Polygonum, namely Polygonum persicaria L. — gorchak, piles herb, is also called male H. G. in the Moscow province. In the Kursk region, H. G. is called Galium aparine L. — cleavers. From the indicated plants, aqueous infusions or decoctions are prepared and drunk for hemorrhoids, or the fresh juice is squeezed from H. G. and used to anoint hemorrhoidal nodules; for the same purpose, an ointment is prepared from it. The action of H. G. is due mainly to the presence of tannins in them.