Wild yam is a wild plant that combines edible, medicinal, and landscaping qualities. Its fruits and whole plant can be used medicinally. The fruit of wild yam can be eaten directly, and crushing the whole plant and applying it externally has excellent hemostatic effects. Let's learn about wild yam below!
Picture of wild yam
Wild yam is mainly used to treat chronic bronchitis, rheumatism, diarrhea, dysentery, mastitis, edema, irregular menstruation, postpartum blood stasis pain, rectal bleeding, nosebleeds, scrofula, bone fractures, bruises, knife wounds, rabies bites, abscesses, pustular acne, snake bites, etc.
Yam is a perennial deciduous vine with latex throughout. The aerial roots are like tendrils, climbing on trees or stones. The stem is cylindrical or slightly flattened, brownish, with many branches and slightly swollen nodes.
Single leaves are opposite; leaf stalks are 1-2 centimeters long; there are 2 bracts, conical, pointed at the tip, entire; leaf blades are ovate, ovate-oblong, or oblong, about 3-6 centimeters long and 2-4 centimeters wide;
The apex is obtuse, with wavy serrations on the edges, and the base is rounded or heart-shaped. The upper surface is green with stiff hairs, and the lower surface is lighter with hairy veins.
Picture of wild yam
The flowers of yam are unisexual and usually borne inside a fleshy involucre. The involucre is flattened spherical and reddish-brown, partially buried in the ground on creeping branches. The fruit is small. The flowering period is from April to May.
1. For treating dysentery: Take 4 liang (approximately 160 grams) of fresh yam vine, fry it until charred, then roast it with yellow sugar, and take it as a decoction. (From "Chongqing Herbal Medicine")
2. For treating coughing up blood and heat due to yin deficiency: Take 5 to 8 qian (approximately 15 to 24 grams) of yam stem, decoct it in water, and take it orally. (From "Hunan Materia Medica")
3. For treating unidentified swelling and burns: Mash the yam vine, mix it with sesame oil, and apply it to the affected area. (From "Hunan Materia Medica")
4. For treating yam ulcers: Take a handful of yam vine, use it fresh, crush it, and apply it to the ulcer, leaving the head exposed and changing it as it dries. If the ulcer has already ulcerated, use cotton, tree root bark, dried and ground into fine powder, and sprinkle it on the ulcer. (From "Guizhou Folk Medicine").
