The traditional Chinese medicine, Goosefoot Herb, has a cold nature and is effective in resolving accumulations, dispelling stasis, and reducing swelling. It can treat colds and wind-cold, dysentery, infantile malnutrition, and itchy skin. It is distributed in Southwest China, Central South China, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Taiwan, among other places.
Image of Goosefoot Herb
【Treatment of Itchy Skin with Goosefoot Herb】
Oral administration: Decoction, 9-15 grams. External use: Crush and apply or boil in water for washing.
Goosefoot Herb for treating itchy skin: Half a catty of Goosefoot Herb and Summer Cudweed. Boil in water and use it for external washing. (Selected Chinese Medicinal Herbs of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai)
【Original Form of Goosefoot Herb】
Goosefoot Herb is a perennial herbaceous plant that can grow up to 2 meters tall. It usually has a taproot, but occasionally a conical root. The stem is erect, striped, covered with soft hairs, and branched in the upper part. The leaves are heteromorphic; the basal leaves have long petioles, including leaf sheaths that are 2-13 cm long.
The leaf blades are tripartite, with ovate or round lobes. The lobes on both sides are slightly oblique at the base, and the lobes at the top have a heart-shaped or wedge-shaped base, measuring 1.5-4 cm long and 1-3 cm wide. The lower and middle stem leaves are tripartite or pinnately divided, while the upper stem leaves are smaller, with short petioles or no petioles, and have leaf sheaths. The leaflets of the pinnately divided or trifid leaf blades are lanceolate, and all leaf edges are serrated.
Usually, there are no involucres, occasionally 1-5; the rays of the umbel are 6-15 (-30) and measure 1-4 cm long; the bracteoles are shorter than the pedicels; the umbels have 6-20 flowers, with unequal pedicels; the petals are obovate and white, with a concave apex and a wedge-shaped base; the involucels are hairy; the pistil is cylindrical, with a length 2-3 times that of the pistil base; the young fruit is upright and later bends to both sides.
The mature fruit is ovoid, with linear fruit ribs; there are 2-3 oil tubes in each furrow, and 4-6 fused surface oil tubes. The flowering and fruiting period is from May to October.
