Green silk thread

Green silk thread

(Guangzhou Air Force Manual of common Chinese herbal medicine)

[source] it is the whole herb of Acanthaceae.

[plant morphology] lanceolata

Small shrub, about 1 m high. The branches are herbaceous, prismatic, pubescent, grayish brown in appearance, with concave longitudinal straight ridges and slightly enlarged nodes. Leaves opposite, papery, ovate to ovate lanceolate, ca. 5 cm long, apex acuminate to acuminate, entire, slightly shrunk above, pilose or glabrous. The spike is short and slightly scattered, terminal or in the upper leaf axil, with a involucre composed of 4 leaflike bracts below; 1 flower inside; calyx small, 5-cleft; corolla tube slender, 2-cleft, upper lip narrow, lower lip 3-cleft, about 2.5 cm long, purple, glandular hairy; stamen 2; style 2-cleft. Capsule oblong, ca. 8 mm long. It blooms in autumn.

It is wild in the wetland beside the ditch and roadside, and now it is mostly cultivated. Distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi and other places.

[collection] it can be harvested all year round, washed, dried or fresh.

[flavor] sweet and light, slightly cold.

[function indications] it can eliminate inflammation, disperse blood stasis, stop bleeding and cough. Treatment of tuberculosis, hemoptysis, bronchitis, diabetes.

[usage and dosage] oral administration: decoction, 3-5 yuan (fresh 0.5-1 Liang). External use: tamping.

[selection] treatment of traumatic injury, knife injury: fresh green silk thread, smash external application.