Chinese herbal medicine Mao Cao Ye is the leaf of Bai Mao. It can be harvested all year round and mainly grows on roadsides and slopes. It has high medicinal value and has the effects of dispelling wind and dampness, clearing heat and detoxifying. Now let's learn about the efficacy and function of Mao Cao Ye together!
What is Mao Cao Ye?
Bai Mao is a perennial herb. It is 20-100cm tall. The rhizome is white, creeping and covered with scales. The stem is erect, cylindrical, smooth and glabrous, with many old leaves and residual leaf sheaths at the base.
The leaves are linear or lanceolate; the root leaves are almost the same length as the plant; the stem leaves are short, 3-8mm wide, brown leaf sheaths, glabrous, or with short marginal and apical hairs, and short leaf tongues.
The conical inflorescence is compact and spike-like, terminal, cylindrical, 5-20cm long and 1-2.5cm wide. The spikelets are lanceolate or elongated and arranged in pairs on the inflorescence axis, with one spikelet having a longer pedicel and the other spikelet having a shorter pedicel.
The flowers are bisexual, each spikelet has 1 flower, and the base is covered with white silky hairs; the two glumes are equal or the first glume is slightly shorter and narrower, with 3-4 veins, and the second glume is wider, with 4-6 veins.
The lemma is membranous, glabrous, the first lemma is obovate or elongate, the second lemma is lanceolate and equal in length to the first lemma; there are 2 stamens, the anthers are yellow, about 3mm long; 1 pistil with a longer style, the stigma is plumose.
The caryopsis is ellipsoid, dark brown, and the mature fruiting spike is covered with long white hairs. It blooms from May to June and fruits from June to July.
The efficacy of boiling Mao Cao Ye into porridge
1. Dispelling wind and dampness
Dispelling wind and dampness is one of the important effects of boiling Mao Cao Ye into porridge. When boiling Mao Cao Ye into porridge, you can first decoct Mao Cao Ye, Chen Ai, and Shi Chang Pu together, and then add rice to cook the porridge. After it is cooked, take it out and eat it. It has a good therapeutic effect on rheumatic diseases in humans.
2. Promoting blood circulation and alleviating pain
Boiling Mao Cao Ye into porridge can promote blood circulation and alleviate pain. It has a good therapeutic effect on dysmenorrhea in women. When women experience dysmenorrhea, they can decoct Mao Cao Ye with water and add millet to cook the porridge. After the porridge is cooked, add an appropriate amount of brown sugar for seasoning, mix well, and take it while hot. Take it once a day to quickly relieve the symptoms of dysmenorrhea.
3. Clearing heat and detoxifying
Mao Cao Ye is a kind of cold and cool Chinese medicinal material, and rice, which is boiled with it, is also a kind of heat-clearing food. Eating porridge boiled with them can clear heat and detoxify, as well as diuretic and dampness-removing. It has certain preventive and relieving effects on various symptoms of body heat and edema in humans. In addition, boiling Mao Cao Ye into porridge can also prevent various common diseases such as athlete's foot and damp-heat jaundice.
