The underground centipede, also known as the seven-fingered fern, centipede grass, water centipede, or false seven-leaf one-flower, is the rhizome of the plant seven-fingered fern in the family Pteridaceae. It is a perennial herb that can be harvested throughout the year. It grows in riversides, ditches, or wetlands in forests. The underground centipede has medicinal properties such as pain relief and blood stasis dispersal, and can treat injuries from falls and other conditions.
[Functions and Indications]
The underground centipede has the effects of clearing heat and relieving fatigue, clearing heat and transforming phlegm, dispersing blood stasis and relieving pain, etc. It can treat fever, cough, dysentery, internal injuries from falls, blood stasis pain, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, cough, asthma, injuries from falls, snake bites, and other conditions.
(1) "Guangxi Medicinal Plant Atlas": "Clears heat, transforms phlegm. Treats fever, cough, and injuries from falls."
(2) "Guangxi Medicinal Plant Directory": "Stops cough, removes blood stasis to promote new growth, relieves pain. Treats dysentery, pneumonia, snake bites."
[Dosage and Administration]
Orally take 6-9g, decocted in water, or grind into powder, take 1.8g each time.
[Clinical Applications]
1. Cough and asthma: Take 9g of underground centipede and 3g of licorice, decocted in water and taken orally.
2. Injuries from falls: Take an appropriate amount of underground centipede, grind into powder, and take 2g each time, accompanied by rice wine or boiling water.
Soak the underground centipede in children's feces for forty-nine days, wash it clean and dry it, then grind it into powder. Take six cents each time, accompanied by wine or boiling water. (Guangxi Medicinal Plant Atlas)
3. Dysentery: Take 9g of fresh underground centipede, 20g of fresh purslane, mash and juice them, and mix with saltwater for oral administration.
