Jinmin, also known as Xingye Sha Shen and Ganju Geng, is a perennial herbaceous plant. The tender leaves are edible and it is a good spring vegetable. The root can also be used for making preserved fruits. It has a sweet and delicious taste and is also used medicinally. It mainly grows in grassy slopes and is found in Henan, Shaanxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, and other places. Let's take a closer look at the introduction of Jinmin.
【Distribution】
Jinmin is found in various places, growing in grassy slopes. It can be found in Guizhou (Kaili), Guangxi (Yangshuo, Xing'an), Guangdong (Liannan, Ruyuan, Renhua), southern Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan (Chengkou, Wuxi, Fengjie, Xiushan), Shaanxi (south of Tongchuan), western Henan, southern Shanxi, southern Hebei, and other places.
The root of Jinmin is used medicinally and has similar effects as Luyin Sha Shen. It is generally harvested from spring to late autumn. After digging up the roots, they are washed with water, peeled, and dried. When used fresh, the roots are stored in soil at a moderate temperature and taken as needed. It can also be propagated by seeds, but it is not suitable for dividing due to its long main root. It prefers loose and fertile soil.
【Medicinal Properties and Effects】
Jinmin has the effects of tonifying the middle and quenching thirst, nourishing yin and clearing the lungs, and eliminating phlegm and stopping cough. It is used to treat lung heat with dry cough, prolonged cough due to deficiency, dry throat and sore throat due to yin damage, and boils and abscesses.
① "Ben Jing": It treats blood stagnation and anxiety, removes cold and heat, and tonifies the middle and boosts lung qi.
② "Bie Lu": It treats stomach obstruction, abdominal pain, hot evil in the body, headache, skin heat, and nourishes the organs and tonifies the middle.
③ "Yao Xing Lun": It can eliminate superficial wind, treat hernia with downward descent, treat constant sleepiness, nourish liver qi, and expel wind qi from the five viscera.
④ "Ri Hua Zi Ben Cao": It tonifies deficiency, stops restlessness and agitation, nourishes the heart and lungs, and treats all kinds of ulcers, scabies, itching, and abscesses, promoting pus drainage and reducing swelling and toxicity.
⑤ "Gang Mu": It clears lung fire and treats chronic cough with lung fistula.
⑥ "Yu Qiu Yao Jie": It clears lung qi, generates kidney water, relieves chest and heart restlessness and heat, cools the head and clears turbidity, treats lymphadenitis, rashes, nasal sores and throat obstruction, painful ulcers, dry and thirsty chest and abdomen, red and rough urine, and bladder retention.
⑦ "Yin Pian Xin Can": It clears the lungs and nourishes yin, treats deficiency and fatigue, coughing, phlegm, and blood.
⑧ "Zhongguo Yao Zhi Tu Jian": It lowers blood pressure.
【Application in Prescriptions】
1. For tonifying the middle and quenching thirst (refers to a condition where a man remains erect after ejaculation, known as "strong middle"; if there is also excessive drinking and urination, it is called "quenching thirst", and it can lead to the formation of abscesses). Take one pig kidney, one liter of black soybeans, and one and a half dou of water, boil until half is left. Remove the residue and keep the juice. Then add three liang of Jinmin, gypsum, two liang of ginseng, poria, magnetite, anemarrhena, kudzu root, scutellaria, and licorice, and cook together until three sheng is obtained. Divide into three doses and take. This prescription is called "Shi Zi Jin Tang".
2. Take one liang each of Jinmin, soybeans, poria, magnetite, kudzu root, cooked Rehmannia, Cortex Dictamni, Scrophularia, Dendrobium, and deer antler, and half a liang each of ginseng and agarwood. Grind them into a fine powder. Add it to boiled and mashed pig stomach and mix well to form pills the size of a wuzi. Take seventy pills each time on an empty stomach and swallow with saline water. This prescription is called "Ji Wan".
3. For boils and abscesses. Crush fresh Jinmin roots and take the juice orally, and apply the residue to the affected area. It can be cured after three applications.
4. For black blisters on the face. Take one liang each of Jinmin and cinnamon and grind them into a fine powder. Take one teaspoon each time and swallow with vinegar soup.
5. For poisoning from a plant similar to Jinmin (the leaves of which are similar to a celery-like plant and can be life-threatening if mistakenly eaten). Take eight liang of Jinmin and six sheng of water. Boil until three sheng is left. Take five he (about 250 grams) each time, five times a day.
【Precautions】
Jinmin is incompatible with Lili and Lu, so they should not be used together. It should not be taken by those with cough due to wind-cold.
① "Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu": It is antagonistic to Fang Ji and incompatible with Li Lu.
② "Ben Cao Jing Shu": Do not take it if there is no real heat in the organs and if the lungs are weak and cold, as it may cause diarrhea.
