Bixu is a highly nutritious Chinese medicinal herb. The entire plant can be used as medicine and has the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, promoting diuresis, and reducing swelling. It especially has a good improvement effect on the human urinary system. Let's introduce the efficacy and function of Bixu below!
【Morphological characteristics of Bixu】
Bixu is an annual herb. The stem is prostrate, ascending, or erect, 10-40 cm tall, with many branches from the base and longitudinal ridges. The leaves are elliptical, narrowly elliptical, or lanceolate, 1-4 cm long, 3-12 mm wide, blunt or acute at the apex, wedge-shaped at the base, with entire margins, hairless on both sides, and obvious lateral veins on the lower side. The petiole is short or nearly absent, with a joint at the base. The sheath of the bract is membranous, brownish in the lower part and white in the upper part, with obvious tear veins.
The flowers are solitary or clustered in leaf axils, distributed throughout the plant. The bracts are membranous. The pedicel is slender with a joint at the top. The corolla is deeply divided into 5 elliptical segments, 2-2.5 mm long, green, with white or pale red edges. There are 8 stamens, with expanded filaments at the base, and 3 pistils with head-like styles.
The fruit is ovoid, with 3 ridges, 2.5-3 mm long, blackish-brown, densely covered with fine stripes composed of small dots, dull, and nearly equal to or slightly longer than the persistent corolla. It flowers from May to July and fruits from June to August.
【Nutritional value of Bixu】
Every 100 grams of tender stems and leaves of Bixu contain 79 grams of water, 6 grams of protein, 0.6 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbohydrates, 50 milligrams of calcium, 47 milligrams of phosphorus, 9.55 milligrams of carotene, 0.58 milligrams of vitamin B2, and 158 milligrams of vitamin C.
The whole plant contains bixuoside, bixuling, juglone glycoside, verbascoside, quercetin, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, kaempferol, umbelliferone, isokaempferide, euphorbia factor, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside.
It also contains dextrorotatory catechins, ellagic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, oxalic acid, silicic acid, ferulic acid, mucilage, glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc., with a sugar content of 2%-3%.
It also contains bixuoside, quercetin, and a small amount of tannins, wax, and trace amounts of emodin. Bixuoside is quercetin-3-O-arabinoside.
【Efficacy and function of Bixu】
1. Diuretic and antidiuretic
Bixu is a Chinese medicinal herb that can enter the bladder meridian and kidney meridian. It can improve human bladder function and has the ability to promote diuresis. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is commonly used to treat human damp-heat urinary disorders, especially for infections, urinary stones, hematuria, and other conditions of the human urinary system, with particularly good therapeutic effects.
2. Insecticidal and antipruritic
After being used as medicine, Bixu has a strong insecticidal ability and can eliminate parasites in the human body. It has a particularly good therapeutic effect on abdominal pain caused by parasitic worms in humans. It is commonly used to treat human ascariasis and cerebral cysticercosis.
Bixu also has excellent antipruritic effects. It can eliminate sensitive bacteria on the surface of human skin and has obvious therapeutic effects on the occurrence of sores and itching on the surface of human skin.
