Bitter wood

Chinese Name: Kumu

[category]: Wood

Indian quasi wood twin and leaf

[alias]: Ailanthus altissima, Kupi tree, Kudan tree, xiongdan tree.

[source]: it is the branch and leaf of picrasmaquassioides (D. Don) benn.

[harvesting]: it can be harvested all year round and dried in the sun.

[nature and taste]: cold in nature, bitter in taste.

[plant morphology]: deciduous tree. The bark is grayish brown, smooth, with gray pores and markings, and the branchlets are green to reddish brown. Leaves alternate, pinnate compound, leaflets 9-15, ovate or ovate elliptic, 4-10 cm long, 2-4.5 cm wide, apex acute, margin irregularly obtuse serrate, pilose along midvein. Corymbose racemes axillary, flowers unisexual; sepals, petals, stamens and ovary carpels 4-5. Drupe obovate, 3-4 concurrent, blue to red, with persistent calyx. The flowering period is from April to June.

[growing place]: it grows on hillside, valley and moist place near the village. Produced in the south of the Yellow River Basin.

[chemical composition]: it contains a-N (nigakilactone a-N), C-G (picrasin C-G), C-C (hemiacetal) and also contains nigakinone, methyl bitter ketone, i-hydroxymethyl - β - carboline, etc.

[function indications]: antibacterial, fire eliminating, dampness removing and detoxification. For cold, acute tonsillitis, enteritis, eczema; snakebite.

[note]: the branches are cylindrical, 0.5-2cm in diameter, with grayish green or brownish green surface, fine longitudinal lines and punctate lenticels, brittle; the wood segments are flaky, yellow; the leaves are odd pinnate compound leaves, and the leaflets are oval or ovate lanceolate. The taste is very bitter.