Cercidiphyllum japonicum

Cercidiphyllum japonicum

(records of medicinal plants of Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang Province)

[synonym] Bajiao Xiangqing (Zhejiang Tianmu yam flora), wujunshu and shanbaiguo (Chinese higher plant Atlas).

[source] it is the fruit of Lianxiang tree.

[plant morphology] Lianxiang tree

Deciduous large trees, up to 40 meters high. Bark gray or brownish gray: branchlets glabrous, long branches thin, short branches opposite on long branches. Leaves opposite or nearly opposite, papery, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 4-7 cm long and 3.5-6 cm wide, apex obtuse, base cordate, margin glandular obtuse teeth, 5-7 palmate veins, blue-green above and white below; stipules lanceolate, caducous. The flowers are unisexual, dioecious, with first leaves open; each flower has one bract, without petals; the male flowers are usually 4 clusters, nearly sessile, calyx 4, stamens mostly, spirally arranged, medicine linear red; the female flowers are 2-6 clusters, with common stem, slightly green, calyx 4, carpel 4-6. Follicles 2-4, 10-18 mm long, brown or black, slightly curved. Seeds ovate, brown, with transparent wings at the top. The flowering period is from May to June. The fruiting period is October.

It grows in the forest of higher mountain or in the mixed forest of valley and stream. It is distributed in Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Sichuan.

[chemical constituents] the leaves contain pyrocatechol.

[function indications] Zhejiang Tianmu yam Zhi: "it is used to cure children's convulsion, cold limbs, one or two fresh fruits of Lianxiang tree, four to five coins of coriander, two to three coins of bluestone silkworm (pteridophyte water keel), fried in water and taken on an empty stomach. "