Red acorn

Red acorn

(Lu Chuan Ben Cao)

[source] it is the seed kernel of Castanopsis hystrix.

[plant morphology] Castanopsis hystrix, also known as chili, Hongli and hongchuantan.

Evergreen trees, up to 25 meters high. Bark gray to grayish brown, branchlets purple brown, with pale brown lenticels. Single leaf alternate; thin leathery; ovate lanceolate, 7-10 ha m long, 1.5-2.8 cm wide, base broadly cuneate, apex acuminate, caudate, entire, or upper part with sparse and fine teeth, upper surface glabrous, lower surface densely covered with reddish brown scales, lateral veins slender, 10-12 pairs, obvious on the back; petiole 4-8 mm long, puberulent. The flowers are unisexual, male and female are monoecious; the male flowers are in erect spikes, while the female flowers are in short spikes; the ear is 5-9 cm long, glabrous; the involucre is spherical, dehiscent, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, densely covered with cone-shaped hard spines with nuts 1-3 inside. Nuts ovate, apically mucronate, 6-10 mm long, 4-8 mm in diameter. The flowering period is from March to May. The fruit period is from November to December.

On hillsides and wet valleys. Distributed in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

[collection] harvest in winter.

[nature and taste] Lu Chuan Ben Cao: "sweet, warm. "

[function indications] Lu Chuan Ben Cao: "nourish and strengthen, strengthen stomach, and eliminate food. Treatment of loss of appetite, spleen deficiency diarrhea. "

[usage and dosage] oral administration: stir fry or cook, 1-2 Liang.