The efficacy and function of glutinous rice strips

With the development of society and the close international exchanges, most people who study medicine have been seriously influenced by Western medicine, and fewer and fewer people are studying Chinese medicine, which has resulted in less and less understanding of Chinese medicine. Let’s talk about the efficacy and functions of glutinous rice sticks, a traditional Chinese medicine.

【English name】 Chinese Abelia

[Other names] Tea tree, small elm wax leaf, small tuft chicken, mountain willow, hairy wax leaf tree, water wax, white flower tree

[Source] Medicinal material source: the stems and leaves of the Caprifoliaceae plant glutinous rice strips.

[Original form] Glutinous rice strips are thin-leaved, multi-branched shrubs, up to 2m tall. The young branches are slightly hairy and reddish brown, and the bark of the old branches is cracked longitudinally. Leaves are opposite, sometimes in whorls of 3; petiole 1-5mm long; leaf blade round-ovate to elliptic-ovate, 2-5cm long, 1-3.5cm wide, acute or short-acuminate at apex, rounded or cordate at base, with sparse rounded serrations on margin, sparsely covered with short hairs on upper side, densely covered with soft hairs along the base of midrib and lateral veins on the lower side. The cymes grow in the leaf axils of the upper part of the twigs, and are composed of many inflorescences gathered into a panicle; the peduncle is covered with short soft hairs, and is smooth in fruit; the flowers are fragrant, with 3 pairs of bracteoles; the calyx tube is cylindrical, covered with short soft hairs, slightly flat, with longitudinal stripes, the calyx rim is 5-lobed, the lobes are elliptical or obovate-oblong, about 5mm long, and curved red in fruit; the corolla is white to pink, funnel-shaped, 1-1.2cm long, with fine hairs on the outside, and the lobes are 5 and round-ovate; there are 4 stamens, extending out of the corolla; the style is slender, and the stigma is disc-shaped. The fruit is about 5 mm long, pubescent, and crowned with persistent and slightly enlarged calyx lobes. The flowering period is September and the fruiting period is October.

[Habitat distribution] Ecological environment: in mountains with an altitude of 170-1500m.

【Nature and flavor】 Bitter; Cool

【Functions and indications】 Clears away heat and detoxifies; cools blood and stops bleeding. It is used to treat damp-heat dysentery, carbuncle, furuncle, epistaxis, hemoptysis, hematemesis, blood in stool, stone-breaking disease, and traumatic injury.

[Usage and Dosage] For oral use: decocted in water, 6-15g; or mashed into juice without use. For external use: take appropriate amount, decoct in water for washing or mash and apply externally.

[Discussions by various scholars] 1. “Illustrated Catalogue of Plant Names and Realities”: Tea trees are very common on the hillsides of Jiangxi and Huguang. Growing in clusters, about one foot high, with ochre stems and thorns near the roots. The leaves are attached to the stem and are similar to those of Prunus mume but shorter. Small five-petaled tube flowers bloom at the tip, similar to the genus Daphne but white. Before blooming, they are ochre tubes, with more than a hundred in a cluster, not very bright. They bloom in summer and can still be seen in late autumn.

【Excerpt】 Chinese Materia Medica

Above we introduced glutinous rice sticks and their characteristics. We can know that glutinous rice sticks have very good efficacy and functions, and have played a therapeutic and auxiliary therapeutic role in many diseases. I hope this will be helpful to everyone’s health.