The Chinese medicine Pucao root, also known as Xicao root and Mangcao, is the root of the Sedge plant Scirpus mucronatus. Wild Pucao root is a unique traditional Chinese medicine, do you know what diseases it mainly treats?
Image of Pucao root
【How to identify Pucao root in Chinese medicine?】
Pucao root, also known as Xicao root and Mangcao, is the root of the Sedge plant Scirpus mucronatus. It has a mild and slightly bitter taste, and a cool nature. It belongs to the Stomach, Bladder, and Kidney meridians.
It is a perennial herb, 60-100cm tall. The rhizome is thick and short with long slender rootlets. The stems are clustered, relatively thick and strong, sharply triangular in shape, with 2 leaf sheaths at the base, and no leaf blades.
There is 1 bract, an extension of the stem, upright and 3-14cm long. The spikelets are 2-9, clustered into a head-like shape, pseudo-lateral, ovate or long ovate, 8-16mm long, 4-6mm wide, with numerous flowers.
The scales are long ovate, 4-5mm long, pale brown, with short pointed tips and a single midrib, with short reddish-brown stripes on both sides. There are 6 lower bristles, nearly equal in length to the small nutlets, with backward-pointing spines.
The stamens are 3, with linear anthers; the styles are 3. The small nutlets of Scirpus mucronatus are broadly obovate, flattened and triangular, 2-2.5mm long, glossy brown-black when ripe, with indistinct wrinkles. The flowering and fruiting period is from May to September.
【Main diseases treated by Pucao root】
1. Treats hot stranguria and urinary retention: 30g of Pucao root, 30g of Shiwei, 30g of Haijinsha. Decoction and oral administration.
2. Treats damp-heat syndrome with leukorrhea: 30g of Pucao root, 30g of Sanbaicao. Decoction and oral administration.
3. Treats toothache due to stomach fire: 15g of Pucao root, 15g of bitter buckwheat, 15g of Digu Pi, 15g of Artemisia argyi. Decoction and oral administration.
