Baogai grass, also known as mendbone grass, is mainly harvested in spring and summer. It belongs to the family Lamiaceae and the genus Teucrium. It is an annual or biennial herb. The name "Baogai grass" is easy to understand, just by looking at its appearance.
Image of Baogai grass
The upper lip of the small flowers of this wild grass stretches straight up, which is the most attractive part, resembling the umbrellas commonly seen by ancient Buddhist and Taoist practitioners. Therefore, it is called "Baogai grass".
The layers of leaves on the stem resemble lotus seats, so naturally, "Buddha seat" became the name of this wild grass. If this grass were discovered nowadays, what would it be called?
Plants are always closely related to human affairs. Every plant, relying on its long life, can often introduce you to the current trend inadvertently. "Baogai," "Buddha seat," and a host of other tree and grass names related to "Buddha."
Image of Baogai grass
Most Baogai grass blooms with purple flowers, but there are exceptions. Occasionally, among a cluster of pink and purple flowers, one or two white flowers can be seen. The snow-white petals are delicately adorned with a few purple spots, making them particularly eye-catching.
Baogai grass has weak stems, square in shape, often with a purple color, and sparsely hairy. It can grow up to 10-60 centimeters tall. The leaves are kidney-shaped or round, with a heart-shaped or round base, and have rounded teeth and small lobes. They are hairy on both sides; the basal leaves have petioles, while the stem leaves lack petioles and clasp the stem.
Image of Baogai grass
The flowers are arranged in 2 to several clusters, without stalks, axillary, and without bracts. The calyx is tubular, 5-6 millimeters long, with 5 teeth, and covered with long fine hairs on the outside and edges of the teeth. The corolla is purple-red, 9-17 millimeters long, covered with hairs on the outside, with a slender tube.
The base of the corolla does not have a hairy ring, the throat expands, the upper lip is erect and oblong, helmet-shaped, and the lower lip is 3-lobed, with the middle lobe fan-shaped and deeply concave at the apex, and the lateral lobes are broadly triangular. There are 4 stamens, 2 long and strong, with red anthers, and the style is 2-cleft and needle-shaped.
The small nut is oblong, 3-angled, with a truncate top, dark brown, and has white scale-like projections. The flowering period of Baogai grass is from March to April, and the fruiting period is in June.
