Big sticky medicine

Big sticky medicine

(common folk herbs in Kunming)

[synonyms] Rhizoma Cimicifugae and Rhizoma gymnorrhizae (commonly used folk herbal medicine in Kunming), Rhizoma Cynanchi and Caulis Sinomenii (Atlas of Chinese higher plants).

[source] it is the root and leaf of hongwushuige, a Urticaceae plant.

[plant morphology] kudzu

Subshrubs, ca. 2 m tall, much branched, densely short hairy. Leaves alternate, leaf blade ovate or narrowly ovate, 3-12 cm long, 1.5-4.5 cm wide, apex acuminate, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin serrate, sparsely pubescent above, rough, pubescent below, 3 basal veins; petiole 1-5 cm long; stipules small, lanceolate triangular. Flowers unisexual, usually monoecious, yellowish green, clustered in leaf axils, sessile or almost sessile; male flowers ca. 2 mm in diameter, perianth segments 4, narrowly obovate, stamens 4; female perianth tubular, ca. 12 mm long, coarsely hairy, stigma filiform, ca. 1 mm long. Achene ovate, ca. 6 mm in diam., surrounded by perianth lobes. Seeds smooth and glossy.

It grows on hillside grassland, shrub, forest edge or roadside. Distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and other places.

[collection] collected in autumn, winter or spring, washed, dried or fresh.

[nature and taste] it is hot, astringent and slightly pungent.

Functions and indications: dispelling wind and dampness, relaxing tendons and collaterals.

[selected prescription] for the treatment of eye wind and fracture of knee: appropriate amount of large viscosity medicine, mashing or dispensing medicine for external application. This product is irritant to the skin. Use Vaseline gauze to separate the local skin first and then apply. (the following is the common folk herbs in Kunming.)