Alum Root, also known as Cucumber Fragrance, Jade Card, Mountain Date, etc., is cold in nature and has a sour and bitter taste. It is non-toxic and belongs to the Liver Meridian and Large Intestine Meridian. It is a plant in the Rosaceae family and is distributed in Europe and China. Below, I will introduce the Chinese herb Alum Root for you!
Alum Root has the effects of cooling blood, stopping bleeding, detoxifying, and healing wounds. It is used for rectal bleeding, hemorrhoids bleeding, bloody dysentery, excessive menstrual bleeding, scalds, abscesses, and ulcerations.
Alum Root is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows 1-2 meters tall. The rhizome is thick and produces multiple spindle-shaped cylindrical roots. The stem is erect and has edges.
The leaves are pinnately compound and alternate; the basal leaves are larger than the stem leaves, with long petioles, while the stem leaves are nearly stalkless, with semi-circular, embracing stipules with triangular teeth along the edges;
The leaflets are 5-19 in number, elliptic to elongated-ovate, 2-7 centimeters long, 0.5-3 centimeters wide, with pointed or blunt apex, truncate or broadly wedge-shaped base, and sharp rounded serrations along the edges. The leaflets have short or almost no petioles.
The flowers are small, densely arranged in inverted-ovoid, short cylindrical, or nearly spherical spike-like inflorescences, sparsely distributed at the top of the stem; the inflorescence stalk of Alum Root is slender and smooth or slightly hairy; the flowers are dark purple, with two membranous bracts lanceolate in shape and covered with fine silky hairs;
The calyx is 4-lobed, with elliptic or broadly ovate lobes; the stamens are 4, attached to the throat of the calyx tube, with blackish-purple anthers; the ovary is superior, ovoid and hairy, with a slender pistil and nipple-shaped stigma.
The fruit of Alum Root is elliptic or ovate, brown, with 4 longitudinal ridges, resembling narrow wings. There is one seed. The flowering and fruiting period is from June to September.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Alum Root is considered cold, sour, astringent, and should be used with caution for those with deficiency-cold and stagnation. It is not suitable to use Alum Root preparations for external application on patients with large-area burns to prevent excessive absorption of tannins and the occurrence of toxic hepatitis.
