Baogai grass is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and other parts of China. It has the effects of clearing heat and dampness, promoting blood circulation and dispelling wind. It can treat various diseases and is commonly used as a bone-setting medicine. Let's take a look at the pictures of Baogai grass below.
Baogai grass picture
Baogai grass is an annual or biennial herb, 10-50cm tall.
Root: cylindrical roots, thin, with a light brown surface.
Baogai grass picture
Stem: erect or trailing, with many branches at the base, 4-sided, with shallow grooves, purple or dark blue. It has short, inverted hairs when young, which gradually fall off. The plant is 10-30cm tall.
Leaves: round or kidney-shaped, 0.5-2cm long, 1.2-2.5cm wide, rounded at the apex, truncate or heart-shaped at the base, with deep rounded teeth or shallow lobes on the edges, sparsely hairy on both sides. The lower leaves have long petioles, while the upper leaves are nearly sessile and semi-amplexicaul.
Baogai grass picture
Flowers: umbel inflorescences with 6-10 flowers, nearly stalkless. The bracts are lanceolate or diamond-shaped, with hairy margins. The calyx of Baogai grass is tubular or bell-shaped, 5-6mm long, the calyx teeth are lanceolate or diamond-shaped, almost equal in length to the calyx tube, and the outer surface is densely covered with white straight long hairs.
Calyx with 5 lobes. Corolla 1.2-1.8cm long, purple-red to pink, except for the upper lip which is densely covered with short red hairs, the rest is sparsely hairy or hairless.
Baogai grass picture
The corolla tube of Baogai grass is slender and straight, without a hairy ring on the inner surface. The upper lip is erect, oval, 4mm long, with a blunt apex, and the lower lip is slightly longer, with 2 or 3 lobes.
The stamens are hidden inside, the filaments are hairless, and the anthers have white hairs. The ovary is hairless. The style has 2 shallow lobes at the tip.
Baogai grass picture
Fruit: Baogai grass has small nutlets that are inverted oval or inverted triangular, 3-sided, 2mm long, 1mm wide, light grayish-yellow, with large white wart-like protrusions on the surface.
Seeds: 0.5-1mm long.
