Diding grass is a kind of herbal plant and is the whole grass of the poppy family plant Diding Zijin. It has strong adaptability and prefers warm and slightly cool climates. It can be grown in clay, loam, and sandy loam. Diding grass has the functions of reducing swelling, detoxification, and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that Diding grass has the effect of clearing heat and detoxification, and is mainly used to treat high fever and restlessness, influenza, infectious hepatitis, nephritis, scrofula, parotitis, boils, and other purulent infections.
Zi Hua Diding is a perennial herbaceous plant, 7 to 15 centimeters tall, and covered with white short hairs. The main root is thick and yellowish-white. The leaves are clustered from the base of the plant; the leaf stalk is 3 to 10 centimeters long, with slight wings on both sides of the upper part;
The bracts are membranous, linear-lanceolate, attached to the leaf stalk at the base; the leaf blades are oblong, ovate, or linear-lanceolate, 2 to 9 centimeters long, 0.5 to 3.5 centimeters wide, blunt at the apex, shallowly cordate or truncate at the base, with shallow blunt teeth on the margin.
The flowers are axillary, pale purple, with a diameter of about 1.5 centimeters; the flower stalk is 4 to 1.0 centimeters long, with two linear bracts in the middle; the calyx has 5 lanceolate sepals, and there are round appendages below the calyx;
The petals are 5, inverted ovate, with the lower one larger, the base elongated into a sac-like or tubular spur, about 7 millimeters long; the stamens are 5, with fused anthers, wide connectives, surrounding the ovary, and short and wide filaments;
The two lower ones have appendages with nectaries at the base, extending into the spur; the ovary is superior, with 3 carpels, 1 chamber, numerous ovules, and 1 style with 3 lobes.
The capsule is elongated, about 1 centimeter long, divided into 3 valves, each valve with ridges and grooves, and with persistent calyx at the base. The seeds are oval, brownish-yellow, and smooth. The flowering period is from March to April, and the fruiting period is from May to August.
1. "Handbook of commonly used Chinese herbal medicines in Liaoning": "Clearing heat and detoxification. Used to treat abscesses, boils, lymph node tuberculosis."
2. "Handbook of Hebei Chinese herbal medicines": "Used to treat acute infectious hepatitis."
3. "Handbook of plateau Chinese herbal medicine treatment": "Anti-inflammatory and detoxifying. Used to treat jaundice hepatitis, high fever, and restlessness."
