Bigtail Shaker is an annual upright herb, 15-50 centimeters tall. It blooms in summer and is found in mining areas, riverbanks, and creeks. Let's take a look at its collection, storage, and habitat distribution with me!
Bigtail Shaker
Collection and Storage of Bigtail Shaker
It is harvested in autumn and can be used fresh or dried.
Morphology of Bigtail Shaker
Bigtail Shaker is an annual herb, 15-60cm tall. The roots are cylindrical and yellow-brown in color.
The stem is erect, stout, and branched, with rough hairs.
The leaves are opposite or nearly opposite; leaf stalks are 2-5cm long; leaf blades are ovate to elliptic, 4-10cm long and 2-4cm wide, with short pointed or gradually pointed tips, rounded or truncate bases, extending down to the leaf stalk, slightly serrated or slightly wavy margins, and sparsely hairy on both surfaces.
The inflorescence is scorpioid cyme, 5-20cm long, slender and curved, solitary, unbranched, terminal or opposite to leaves, without bracts;
The flowers are densely arranged in 2 rows on one side of the inflorescence axis; sepals are deeply divided into 5 lanceolate lobes, with rough hairs;
The corolla is light blue or blue-purple, occasionally white, tubular with a long foot, 3-5mm long, with 5 shallowly divided lobes, nearly circular, expanded, smooth at the throat, and without appendages; stamens are 5, hidden, attached at the base of the corolla;
The ovary is small, with a very short style and a broad conical stigma at the tip.
The fruit is ovoid, 4-5mm long, with longitudinal ribs, deeply divided into 2 lobes, each lobe divided into 2 single-seeded segments. It blooms from April to July and bears fruit from August to October.
Bigtail Shaker
Habitat Distribution of Bigtail Shaker
Ecological environment: It grows in open fields, field edges, roadside grasslands, or stream banks below an altitude of 600 meters.
Distribution: It is found in Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, and other places.
Pharmacological Effects of Bigtail Shaker
The water extract of the roots can lower blood pressure and stimulate respiration when injected intravenously into anesthetized cats. It has an inhibitory effect on the isolated frog heart; the alcoholic extract has no effect.
The water extract has no significant effect on the isolated guinea pig ileum, but it can increase tension in the isolated rabbit duodenum; the alcoholic extract has an inhibitory effect.
It has no effect on the abdominal muscles of frogs, but it has a significant stimulating effect on the isolated rat uterus.
Both water and alcoholic extracts have oxytocin-like effects. Leaf extracts have anti-tumor effects (prolonging lifespan) on Schwartz leukemia (ascitic type) in mice.
Precautions for Using Bigtail Shaker
"Nanning Pharmaceutical" warns that it should not be used by pregnant women.
