Zizhu leaf, the dried leaf of the plant Du Honghua in the family Lamiaceae, has a bitter and astringent taste and a neutral medicinal property. It is harvested and dried in the summer and autumn. It has a bitter, astringent, and cooling nature. What are the functions and effects of Zizhu leaf?
Image of Zizhu leaf
Zizhu leaf has the effects of cooling blood, astringing and stopping bleeding, dispersing stasis, detoxifying, and reducing swelling. It is commonly used for bleeding, coughing up blood, vomiting blood, bloody stools, excessive menstrual bleeding, bleeding from external injuries, and hot toxic sores and burns.
Zizhu leaf is a shrub or small tree with young branches covered in gray-white long hairs. The leaves are opposite, elongated oval to lanceolate in shape;
There are short soft hairs on the upper surface, which become slightly rough when aged, and the lower surface is densely covered with gray-white hairs, with indistinct golden-yellow glandular spots on both sides; the umbel inflorescence is branched 5-7 times, with a total peduncle length of 2-4cm;
Image of Zizhu leaf
The calyx is 4-toothed and covered in star-shaped soft hairs; the corolla is purple, tubular, 4-cleft at the apex, and slightly covered in fine hairs; there are 4 stamens; the ovary is superior, with 4 chambers. Zizhu leaf is a berry-like drupe, small and spherical, with glandular spots and turning purplish-red when ripe. It blooms in the summer.
Zizhu leaf is often curled and wrinkled, and some may be broken. When flattened, it is elongated oval to lanceolate in shape, 15-30cm long and 5-11cm wide;
Image of Zizhu leaf
The apex is gradually pointed, with serrated edges, short soft hairs on the upper surface, and densely covered with gray-white hairs on the lower surface. It has a slight aroma and a slightly bitter taste.
"Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Medicines in Clinical Practice": Zizhu leaf has a cooling property without being cold and also has a blood-activating effect. Therefore, it can astringe and stop bleeding without leaving stasis, activate blood circulation without causing depletion, and cool the blood without obstructing or stagnating it. It is an excellent hemostatic agent and is widely used in various internal and external bleeding conditions.
