Nv Lou Cai is a medicinal and edible plant, but because few people have heard of it, most people do not know its morphological characteristics. Let's learn about the efficacy and function of Nv Lou Cai together.
Morphological Characteristics
Nv Lou Cai is an annual or biennial herb, 20-70 centimeters tall, with the whole plant densely covered with short soft hairs. The stem is erect and branched at the base.
The leaves are opposite; leaf blades are lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2-5 centimeters long, 3-8 millimeters wide, gradually pointed at the apex, wedge-shaped at the base, entire margin, and densely covered with short soft hairs. The upper leaves are sessile, and the lower leaves have petioles.
The umbel inflorescence is umbel-like, with 2-3 branches of flowers on each branch; bracts are linear; sepals are elliptic, densely covered with short soft hairs on the outside, with 10 veins and 5 lobes at the apex; petals are 5, inverted ovate, with 2 shallow lobes at the apex, narrow and claw-like at the base, and 2 scales at the throat; stamens are 10, filaments slender; pistil is 3.
The fruit of Nv Lou Cai is oval-shaped and the same length as the sepals. The seeds are numerous, small, dark brown, and have blunt tuberculate protrusions.
Morphological Identification
The whole plant is densely covered with short soft hairs, 20-70 centimeters long. The root is slender and spindle-shaped, lignified. The stem is branched at the base.
The leaves are opposite, with complete leaf blades lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 4-7 centimeters long, 4-8 millimeters wide, pointed at the apex, and gradually narrowed at the base; the upper leaves are sessile.
The flowers are pink, usually 2-3 on each branch. The fruit is oval-shaped. The seeds are kidney-shaped, small, dark brown, with small tuberculate protrusions on the edge. It has a faint odor and a mild taste.
Microscopic Identification
Leaf surface observation: The periclinal wall of the upper epidermal cells is significantly more straight than the lower epidermis, and the stomata of the upper and lower epidermis are paracytic or anomocytic.
Both the upper and lower epidermis have non-glandular hairs composed of 2-3 cells, especially at the veins; the tips of the non-glandular hairs are slightly curved or straight, 292-1000μm long, with a diameter of 17-42μm; the tips are blunt round, thin-walled, and have obvious wart-like protrusions. The mesophyll cells contain clusters of calcium oxalate crystals with a diameter of 17-84μm.
