Chinese medicine Red Shin Powder is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. Its roots and whole plants are used as medicine. It is harvested in summer and autumn, washed and sliced, and can be used fresh or dried. It is also known as Snakehead Polygonum, Blood Angelica, Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves, Red Ze Lan, Butterfly Flower, Red Soap Medicine, and Blood-Scattering Pill. How is Red Shin Powder cultivated and what are its functions and indications?
Image of Red Shin Powder
[What is Red Shin Powder?]
It is an annual or perennial herb, 30-50cm tall. The root rhizome is thin and weak, yellow in color, and has black-brown fibrous roots. The stem is slender, erect or inclined, slightly branched, purple in color, jointed or covered with fine white hairs, or nearly hairless.
The leaves of Red Shin Powder are opposite; the leaf stalks are short, winged, with leaf ears at the base, and the upper leaves are nearly stalkless; the leaf sheaths are tubular, membranous, up to 1cm long, with hairy or hairless margins; the leaf blades are ovate, pinnately lobed, 5-8cm long and 3-8cm wide;
The top lobes are larger, triangular-ovate, gradually pointed, and the lateral lobes are 1-3 pairs, nearly truncate at the base, hairless or hairy on both sides, with purple-black markings in the middle on the upper surface, and with fine marginal hairs.
The head-like inflorescences are clustered at the top of the branches, usually in pairs, and the peduncle of the inflorescence is glandular hairy; the calyx is 5-lobed, pink, with green along the back;
There are 8 stamens, with shorter filaments than the calyx; the stigma is spherical and 3-lobed. The achene is oval, with 3 edges, blackish-brown with fine dots. It flowers from July to August.
[Functions and indications of Red Shin Powder!]
Clears heat and detoxifies; invigorates blood and relaxes tendons. It is used for treating dysentery, diarrhea, red and white vaginal discharge, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, breast abscess, sores and boils, unidentified swelling and toxicity, snake bites, bruises and injuries, and lumbar pain caused by overwork.
1. Treatment of dysentery
Take one or two liang of Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves and decoct in water.
2. Treatment of abdominal pain
Take five qian of Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves and one qian of Acorus tatarinowii, decoct in water and take orally.
3. Treatment of red and white vaginal discharge
Take six qian of Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves, three qian of sawdust from Cunninghamia lanceolata, and three qian of sawdust from sandalwood, decoct in water and take orally; add white sugar for white discharge; add brown sugar, rose petals, and gelatin for red discharge.
Image of Red Shin Powder
4. Treatment of abscesses
Crush a piece of Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves and apply it externally.
5. Treatment of bruises and injuries
Decoct Yarrow with Missing Waist Leaves in water and mix with alcohol for oral administration. (① The above prescriptions are from the "Hunan Materia Medica")
6. Treatment of mastitis
Crush the whole plant of Red Shin Powder or Solanum tuberosum and wild buckwheat, and apply it externally with alcohol residue. ("Practical Selection of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Guangxi")
[Cultivation of Red Shin Powder]
Biological characteristics of Red Shin Powder: It prefers shade and moisture, and can withstand cold temperatures. It grows better in loose, fertile, and well-drained soil.
Cultivation techniques: It is propagated by division and seeds, with division as the main method. During the period from winter till the plants emerge in spring, the rhizomes are dug up and separated into single plants, each with buds and fibrous roots. When planting, the land is plowed, and ridges 1.3m wide are made, with holes spaced about 33cm apart.
Two plants of Red Shin Powder are planted in each hole, the soil in the planting area is compacted, and animal manure water and wood ash are applied, and finally fine soil is used to level with the ridge surface.
Field management: After planting, weeding and topdressing are done three times a year. The first topdressing is done in March just after emergence, the second in June to July, and the third when the plants go dormant in winter. The third topdressing is done after cutting off the withered stems and leaves, and the soil is also cultivated for winter. The first and second topdressings mainly use animal manure water, and the third topdressing can use wood ash or compost.
