potentilla_erecta_l.

Potentilla erecta (L.) Raeusch. - syn.Potentilla tormentilla Necker; Potentilla sylvestris Necker; Tormentilla erecta L. - Rosaceae
(common) tormentil, Tormentill, Aufrechtes Fingerkraut, Blutwurz

Erect perennial herb, up to 30cm high, native to Europe, West Sibiria, West Asia, naturalized in North America; flowers yelloe, 7-11mm across.

„The plant is particularly used in herbal medicine as an astringent because of its tannin content, which is unusually high for a herbaceous plant. This is linked to its use as a red dye, which is due to the structurally similar phlobaphene content. Phlobaphenes can be extracted from the root of the common tormentil and is known as tormentil red, alongside the triterpene alcohol tormentol.“
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentilla_erecta

Potentilla erecta rhizomes and roots contain 17-22% tannins.
[Über den Gerbstoff der Rhizoma Tormentillae., Herrmann, K., Enge, W., Archiv der Pharmazie, Vol.290(6), 1957, 276-280]

„The administration of tormentil root extract in controlled doses shortened the duration of rotavirus diarrhea and decreased the requirement for rehydration solutions. Tormentil root extract appears to be an effective measure to treat rotavirus diarrhea in children… In the treatment group 8 of 20 (40%) children were diarrhea-free 48 h after admission to the hospital, compared with 1 of 20 (5%) in the control group (P < 0.0001). Subjects in the treatment group received smaller volumes of parenteral fluids than subjects in the control group.“
[Effect of oral administration of tormentil root extract (Potentilla tormentilla) on rotavirus diarrhea in children: a randomized, double blind, controlled trial., Subbotina, M.D., Timchenko, V.N., Vorobyov, M.M., Konunova, Y.S., Aleksandrovih, Y.S., Shushunov, S., The Pediatric infectious disease journal, Vol.22(8), 2003, 706-711]

„Tormentil extracts (TE) have antioxidative properties and are used as a complementary therapy for chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In individual patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) positive effects have been observed… During therapy with 2400 mg TE per day, median CAI and C-reactive protein improved from 8 (6 to 10.75) and 8 (3 to 17.75) mg/L at baseline to 4.5 (1.75 to 6) and 3 (3 to 6) mg/L, respectively. During therapy, the CAI [clinical activity index] decreased in all patients, whereas it increased during the washout phase. Neither undegraded nor metabolized tannins could be detected by liquid-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in patient sera. Conclusions: TE appeared safe up to 3000 mg/d. Tannins from TE are not systemically absorbed.“
[Tormentil for active ulcerative colitis: An open-label, dose-escalating study., Huber, R., Ditfurth, A. V., Amann, F., Güthlin, C., Rostock, M., Trittler, R., Merfort, I., Journal of clinical gastroenterology, Vol.41(9), 2007, 834-838]
http://dspace.biblioteca-innsz.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/11736/623E.pdf?sequence=1

„For Potentilla erecta [roots] altogether 43 compounds have been identified and structurally elucidated. Due to the high amount of 17-22% of tannins in the rhizomes of Potentilla erecta (i.e. 15-20% condensed tannins, ca. 3.5% hydrolysable tannins; Hiller, 1994), this group of natural compounds has been in the focus of many phytochemical studies. The condensed tannins of Potentilla erecta consist of dimeric and trimeric type B proanthocyanidins in which the catechin units are connected via 4,8-, 4,6-, 6,6- or 6,8-bonds. The [4,8]-2,3-trans-3,4-cis-bi-(+)-catechin is a rare example of a cis-configurated dimeric proanthocyanidin (Schleep et al., 1986), found in Potentilla erecta. Several precursors for condensed tannins were identified for this plant source including (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, (+)-gallocatechin and (-)-epigallocatechin.“
[Potentilla - A review of its phytochemical and pharmacological profile., Tomczyk, M., Latté, K.P., Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol.122(2), 2009, 184-204]

„Persistent diarrhoea may cause dehydration and loss of electrolytes. Rehydration and substitution of electrolytes are the primary therapeutic goals. Acute, unspecific diarrhoeas are in most cases self-limiting diseases, a supportive treatment with astringents like tormentil may help to reduce the duration and the severity of the complaints. However, if the symptoms persist for more than 3 days the diarrhoea should be treated and monitored by a doctor. Only limited data is available regarding the use of tormentil in children and adolescents in the case of diarrhoea. Astringents like purified tannins are recommended in standard literature for children because of their safety compared to therapeutic alternatives (Mutschler et al. 2008). However, acute diarrhoea may be life-threatening especially for young children when not properly treated. Therefore the use of tormentil in the case of diarrhoea in children and adolescents is not suitable for a traditional herbal medicinal product. Moreover, no data on the safe use in children and adolescents are published for the herbal preparations which are included in the monograph. Therefore the use should be restricted to adults. The use as a gargle in the case of inflammations in the mouth does not show any limitations. However, there are no data regarding a posology in children and adolescents available. Therefore the use should be limited to adults. No data are available on the safe use during pregnancy and lactation. Therefore the use of tormentil is not recommended during pregnancy and lactation.“
[Assessment report on Potentilla erecta (L.) Raeusch., rhizoma, EMA, 2010]
http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Herbal_-_HMPC_assessment_report/2011/03/WC500103670.pdf

„Potentilla erecta is a therapeutic plant used in folk medicine to treat inflammatory states, wounds and diseases of the alimentary tract. The results of the study reveal the effects of an aqueous extract of P. erecta rhizome on certain microorganisms occurring in food. The main components of the extract were catechins. The extract was shown to display an inhibiting effect against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, as well as against yeast such as Candida lipolitica KKP 322 and Hansenula anomala R 26. The extract did inhibit the growth of Gram-negative bacteria, however, no inhibiting effects were observed on moulds in the studied range of concentrations, i.e. 0.13 to 64 mg dry matter/ml…
The rhizome of P. erecta analyzed in our study was found to be characterized by high contents of tannins (21.3%), polyphenolic acids (3.84%) and of a few precursors of condensed tannins. In the aqueous extract obtained from the rhizome, contents of those compounds were several times higher, with the highest concentrations observed for catechin and epicatechin, i.e. 5.32 and 5.87 g/100g, respectively. The extract also contained significantly higher quantities of epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin and epicatechin gallate compared with the rhizome of P. erecta“
[Antimicrobial effect of an aqueous extract of Potentilla erecta rhizome., Synowiec, A., Gniewosz, M., Bączek, K., Przybył, J., Herba Polonica, Vol. 60(2), 2014, 18-28]
http://herbapolonica.pl/magazines-files/497035-Synowiec%20et%20al.pdf

Lindman, C.A.M., Bilder ur Nordens Flora, vol. 2: t. 300 (1922-1926)
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=833296