Monk's Rhubarb
From Wikiwel
Other Names : Rumex alpinus, Munk's rhubarb, Alpine dock, Great monk's rhubarb.
Special Precautions of Monk's Rhubarb
Health Benefits and Uses of Monk's Rhubarb
The root has medicinal properties: rich in anthracenic compounds, it is laxative and depurative.
- The leaves of the Alpine sorrel were cooked and canned like sauerkraut. So they delivered a valuable and protein-rich pig feed, but also emergency food for starvation years, since it was presereved in pits many years.
- It was used as a native substitute for the rhubarb root of the trade, so as a means of treating diseases that had originated from "spoiled cholera and rotten phlegm".
- The root is astringent and laxative
- It has a regulatory effect on the digestive system, similar to but weaker than rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum)
- It can act either as a laxative or a cure for diarrhoea according to dosage.
- The root is harvested in early spring and dried for later use.
- Cancer : It was found that extracts of Polygonum hydropiper, Rumex acetosa, Rumex alpinus, Rumex aquaticus, Rumex scutatus and Rumex thyrsiflorus at 10 or 30 µg/mL demonstrated substantial cell growth inhibitory activity (at least 50% inhibition of cell proliferation) against one or more cell lines.
