Chinese medicine "Chishen San" has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, activating blood circulation and reducing swelling, and is mainly used to treat dysentery, leukorrhea, headache due to blood heat, menorrhagia, amenorrhea, breast abscess, and bruises. What are the cultivation techniques for Chishen San?
Image of Chishen San
Chishen San is an annual or perennial herb, 30-50cm tall. The rhizome is thin and yellow, and the adventitious roots are black-brown. The stem is slender, upright or slanting, slightly branched, purple, with nodes or fine white hairs, or nearly hairless.
The leaves are opposite; the petioles are short, winged, with leaf ears at the base, and the upper leaves are nearly stalkless; the leaf sheaths are tubular, membranous, up to 1cm long, with marginal hairs or hairless; the leaf blades are ovate, deeply lobed, 5-8cm long, 3-8cm wide;
The terminal lobes are larger, triangular-ovate, gradually pointed at the apex, and the lateral lobes are 1-3 pairs, nearly truncate at the base, hairless or hairy on both surfaces, with purple-black spots on the upper side, and fine marginal hairs.
The capitulum is clustered at the top of the branch, usually in pairs, and the peduncles have glandular hairs; the calyx is 5-lobed, pink, and green along the back;
The stamens are 8, shorter than the calyx; the stigma is globose and 3-lobed. The achene is ovate, 3-angled, black-brown with fine dots. Flowering period is from July to August.
Image of Chishen San
1. Biological characteristics
Chishen San prefers shade and moisture, and can tolerate cold. It grows better in loose, fertile, and well-drained soil.
2. Cultivation techniques
It is propagated by division and seeds, with division as the main method. After the winter dormancy period and before the spring emergence, dig up the rhizomes, divide them into individual plants, and leave a bud and adventitious roots on each plant. During planting, plow the land, open high ridges about 1.3m wide, and dig holes with a row and plant spacing of about 33cm.
Plant 2 plants per hole for Chishen San, compact the soil in the planting area, apply livestock manure water and wood ash, and finally cover with fine soil to be level with the ridge surface.
3. Field management
After planting, cultivate and weed 3 times a year. The first weeding is done in March just after emergence, the second weeding is done in June to July, and the third weeding is done during the winter dormancy period, after cutting off the withered stems and leaves, and soil cultivation for winter. For the first and second fertilization, livestock manure water is mainly used, and for the third fertilization, wood ash or compost can be applied.
