The stem of the water chestnut, a member of the water chestnut family, is harvested during the summer when it blooms. It can be used fresh or dried for medicinal purposes and has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying. It can be used to treat symptoms such as gastric ulcers, warts, and sores. Now let's take a look at the morphological characteristics of the water chestnut stem.
It is an annual aquatic herb. It has two types of roots, in addition to absorbing roots, there are assimilating roots; assimilating roots contain chlorophyll, grow from stem nodes, and are finely divided in a feathery shape. The stem is slender and its length varies depending on the depth of the water.
Leaves are clustered at the top of the stem, forming a lotus-like seat, triangular in shape, 2.5-4cm long, 2-4.5cm wide, with coarse serrations on the upper half of the edge and entire margins near the base. They are green, hairless on the upper side, and have fine hairs on the lower side when young, which gradually fall off. There are hairs along the veins;
The petiole is 2.5-5cm long, hairy or hairless, and there is a large sponge-like air chamber near the top. The flowers are hermaphroditic, solitary in the leaf axils; the calyx tube is short, hairy, and has 4 lobes;
There are 4 petals; 4 stamens; the ovary is semi-inferior, 2 chambers, with 1 ovule in each chamber, the style is filiform, and the stigma is head-like. The flower has a rooster-like corolla.
The fruit is a slightly flattened inverted triangle with spines on both ends, with a distance of 3-4cm between the spines, and the sepals on the ventral and dorsal side fall off. There is only one seed. The flowering period is from June to July. The fruiting period is from September to October.
