Official name: Fodder Galega

Latin name: Galega officinalis L.

Other names: Horse ribs, Medical Galega

Description: The Fodder Galega is a perennial large herbaceous plant of the Leguminosae family with a short, multi-headed rhizome with numerous roots. The stem is bare, hollow, reaching a height of up to 1m. The leaves are successive, lanceolate or elliptic with one spike at their tips. The flowers have bracts, light blue, pale purple, whitish to white, collected in racemes. The fruit is a linear bean with barely noticeable pinches with many seeds. It blooms in June – August. It is found throughout Bulgaria along the rivers, forests and thickets and in moist places with an a altitude of up to 1300m.

Part of the herb used: Fhe flowering aerial parts – the stems (Herba Galegae) are used

Harvest time: The herb is harvested during flowering in June – August, with the upper stems cut together with the leaves and flowers. Harvesting take place in sunny and dry weather.

Chemical composition/Content and properties: The Fodder Galega contains tannins, glycosides, resinous substances, essential oil, alkaloids (mainly gallegine), flavonoids and saponins, vitamin C, chromium, quercetin, etc.

Medicinal action and application: The medical Galega has a diuretic and diaphoretic effect, increases milk secretion and lowers blood sugar thanks to the alkaloid gallegine, contained in it. It has been proven that the medicinal plant also has an anti-clotting effect. It is used in mild forms of diabetes, as a diaphoretic for colds and fevers, in diseases of the kidneys and bladder to relieve urination, in enlarged prostate, to purify the blood, as an anti-helminthic agent. Externally, the Fodder Galega is applied crushed on the skin for insect stings and bites, it is applied in the form of poultices for lichen, as an insecticidal agent against flies, fleas, bedbugs, moths.

Possibilities to offer at the customer’s request:

“Vesselino” LTD offers its customers the herb in the following varieties:

• Stalks (Herba Galegae) – dried whole, crushed, cut to a certain size at the customers’s request, ground into powder/flour