Xianhecao, a traditional Chinese medicine, has a bitter and astringent taste. It is flat in nature and has the functions of tonifying deficiency, stopping bleeding, resolving accumulation, stopping diarrhea, killing parasites, detoxification, and reducing swelling. It is harvested in summer and autumn when the branches and leaves are lush but before flowering, and the whole plant is cut, cleaned of soil, and dried in the sun.
Image of Xianhecao
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that Xianhecao is mainly used to stop bleeding, treat malaria, stop diarrhea, and detoxify. It is used for coughing up blood, vomiting blood, excessive menstrual bleeding, malaria, bloody dysentery, fatigue and overexertion, abscesses, swelling, and toxic sores, as well as for vaginal itching and abnormal vaginal discharge. Take 0.5-1 liang of Xianhecao, decoct and drink it, once a day, for 5-7 days. It has a certain preventive effect on influenza caused by spirochetes.
It is a perennial herb, 50-120 cm tall. The stem is erect, covered with white long soft hairs, sometimes with scattered short soft hairs, and branched in the upper part. Odd-pinnate compound leaves are alternate, with petioles. There are 2 stipules, oblique-ovate, deeply toothed, and covered with long soft hairs.
There are 3-9 leaflets, long elliptical or elliptical, 1-6 cm long, 0.6-3 cm wide, with sharp tips, cuneate bases, sometimes slightly oblique, sharply serrated edges, and both sides covered with soft hairs, with numerous yellow glandular dots; the larger leaves at the top and middle are interspersed with smaller leaflets.
Image of Xianhecao
The inflorescence of Xianhecao is cymose, terminal and axillary, narrow and long, 10-20 cm long; the flowers have short stalks, and there are 2 trilobed bracts at the base; the calyx is simple, with 5 lobes at the apex, and the lobes are inverted ovate and densely covered with hooked thorns.
There are 5 petals, yellow, inverted ovate, with a slightly concave apex; there are 10 or more stamens; there are 2 pistils, and the pistil heads are capitate. The fruit is enclosed in the persistent calyx with hooks. The flowering period is from July to September, and the fruiting period is from September to October.
It grows in wasteland, slopes, roadsides, and grasslands. It is distributed in most parts of China. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Hubei. In addition, it is also produced in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hebei, Shandong, Hunan, Yunnan, and other places.
