Castanea mollissima

Castanea mollissima

(Tang materia medica)

[synonyms]? Li (notes of Guo Pu in Erya),? Li (compendium), Yeli, Maoao Li (Chinese tree taxonomy), Jinli, Yemao Li, Maoli (Jiangxi herbal medicine manual).

[source] it is the involucre or bark or root of Castanea mollissima.

[plant morphology] Maoli, also known as?,? (Erya), wild chestnut.

Deciduous shrubs or small trees, 6-15m high. The leaves are alternate. Thin leathery, elliptic oblong or oblong obovate to oblong lanceolate, 9.5-13 cm long, 3.5-4.5 cm wide, base obtuse or slightly subcordate, apex acuminate, margin with short spiny small serrate, 12-16 pairs of pinnate lateral veins, bright above, hairy on veins, brown yellow below, with squamous glandular spots. Flowers unisexual, monoecious: male inflorescence spicate, solitary in axils of new branches, erect, 6-7 cm long, single covered, stamens 10-14; female inflorescence in lower part of male inflorescence, usually 3-flowered, ovary inferior, 6-locular; involucre subglobose, 3-4 cm in diameter, with slender spines outside, 4-5.5 mm in length. There are 3-7 nuts in each cupule; the nuts are oblate, brown, 1-1.5 cm in diameter. The flowering period is May. The fruit period is from September to October.

It grows in sunny shrubs of hills or mountains. It is distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, etc.

The seed kernel of this plant (Maoli kernel) is also used for medicine. See special section for details.

[function indications] treat pneumonia, tuberculosis, erysipelas, sore poison.

[usage and dosage] oral administration: decoction, 0.3-1 Liang. External use: wash with boiling water.

[prescription selection] ① for tuberculosis: one or two for maoligen, one or two for Daqingye, three for huci, Diyi, Baiji, Baihe and Baibu, and two for tudahuang. Pig lung for Yin, water fried, take soup, eat lung.

② Treatment of pneumonia: chestnut root, tiger thorn root, Vitex negundo root, Gardenia jasminoides root each three money, wick as a guide, decoction.

③ Treatment of erysipelas, sore poison: chestnut involucre or bark, decoction wash. (herbal medicine manual of Jiangxi Province)