Red clay seed

Red clay seed

(Guizhou folk medicine)

[synonym] bizicao (Leguminosae), hongtuzicao, Hongqing wine jar and guoluqing (Guizhou folk medicine).

[source] it is the whole grass of Desmodium sichuanense.

[plant morphology] Desmodium sichuanense

Small shrubs. Stem 40-90 cm high, ca. 2.5 cm in diam., angular with branches, pubescent and glabrous. 3 compound leaves, leaflets narrowly lanceolate, apex 4.2-6.8 cm long and 1-1.3 cm wide, lateral ones smaller, apex acute, margin slightly wavy, upper few glabrous, lower veins sparsely pubescent; petiole 1-2.5 cm long; stipules lanceolate subulate, abscission, 6-10 mm long. Racemes axillary or terminal, up to 26 cm; bracts stipules, abscission; pedicels 2-3 mm long. Flowers purplish red, ca. 5 mm long; calyx ca. 2 mm long, lobed; corolla butterfly shaped, flag petal rounded, apex slightly concave, wing petal adnate to keel petal; stamens 10; ovary linear, almost glabrous. Pods ca. 2 cm long, usually with 2 nodes, dorsally curved, nodes deeply divided to ventral sutures, upper truncate, base cuneate, peduncle 3 mm long. The flowering period is from August to September.

It grows in mountain shrub or grassland. It is distributed in Sichuan, Hubei, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Yunnan and other places.

The root bark of this plant is also used for medicine. Please refer to the special section for details.

[functions and indications] Leguminosae, illustrated by the main plants in China: "treating malaria. Smash, mix flour, steamed bread. "