Winterberry is a traditional Chinese herb used for clearing heat, detoxification, promoting blood circulation, and stopping bleeding. Besides these benefits, do you know what other effects winterberry has?
[Nutritional Value of Winterberry]
Winterberry fruits can be eaten fresh, but every part of the plant is valuable. The stems of winterberry can be used directly as medicine and effectively treat sprains, limb soreness, and other skin diseases.
In the summer and autumn seasons, the whole plant of winterberry can be harvested. After cleaning the surface impurities, the leaves and branches of winterberry should be separated and dried. The trunk can be soaked in medicinal wine, while the leaves can be preserved and used when needed.
The medicinal wine soaked with winterberry stems can be rubbed on the affected area for better treatment of sprains and injuries.
In addition, for skin diseases, fresh winterberry branches and leaves can be burned into ashes, mixed with alcohol, and applied to the affected area for effective treatment.
[Plant Morphology of Winterberry]
Winterberry (as recorded in "Compendium of Materia Medica") is also known as lung-shaped grass, drifting sand, cold thorns, mountain fireberry, or large thorny waves.
It is an evergreen creeping shrub. The stems are often oblique and about 30 cm high, with a lot of hairs and few or no thorns. The creeping branches can reach up to 2 meters in length.
The leaves are single and alternate, nearly circular with a diameter of 4-8 cm. They have 5 shallow lobes with serrated edges, a rounded and blunt tip, a heart-shaped base, and are nearly hairless on the upper side while densely covered with fine hairs on the lower side and petiole.
The inflorescence is cymose, axillary, with 5-10 flowers, and the peduncle is covered with grayish-white hairs. The flowers are white, with 5 sepals covered with hairs on the outside. The aggregate fruit is nearly spherical and red. The fruiting period is from October to November.
[Functions and Indications of Winterberry]
It clears heat and detoxifies, promotes blood circulation, and relieves pain. It is used for diseases such as jaundice caused by damp-heat, postpartum fever, high fever in children, irregular menstruation, excessive leukorrhea, stomach pain, hemorrhoids, and anal fistula.
The root is used for jaundice hepatitis, stomach pain, irregular menstruation, postpartum fever, and hemorrhoids.
The leaves are used for pulmonary tuberculosis with hemoptysis and for external use in treating traumatic bleeding and eczema.
