What are the effects and functions of elm bark

The main producing areas of elm bark are marginal or plain areas, distributed in Heilongjiang and Jilin. Such plants are only found in the northern region. After picking, separation and processing, they can be added to traditional Chinese medicine to treat edema, erysipelas and the body's qi and blood problems. All kinds of toxins can be solved with elm bark, but when preparing the medicine, not only elm bark is used. Some other raw materials need to be added to the elm bark.

Plant introduction

The elm tree is a deciduous tree, 15 to 20 meters tall, with a breast diameter of up to 80 centimeters; the bark is dark brown and cracked longitudinally; the twigs are grayish white. The leaves are simple and alternate, obovate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, with acuminate or acute apex, rounded or cuneate base, usually oblique, with single serrations on the margin, dark green on the surface, glabrous, with short soft hairs on the back when young, and only clusters of hairs in the vein axils later, with 9-14 lateral veins on each side, and petioles 2-8 mm long, glabrous. The flowers are bisexual, blooming before the leaves, in clustered cymes, growing in the leaf axils of the previous year's branches, with short stalks, bell-shaped perianth, 4 to 5 shallow lobes, the stamens are the same number as the perianth and are opposite, the anthers are purple; the ovary is superior, the style is 2-lobed, and there is a joint between the pedicel and the perianth. The samaras are nearly round and flat, about 1.5 cm long, glabrous, with a concave tip, and the core is located in the middle or upper-middle part of the samaras; the fruit wings are membranous, and the fruit stalk is about 2 mm long; there is one seed, which is brown. The flowering period is from March to April, and the fruiting period is from April to June.

It grows in hilly and mountainous areas or on roadsides, ridges of fields or villages in plains. Distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin,

Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Tibet and the vast areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Harvesting and processing

Harvest in winter and spring, scrape off the gray-brown cork while it is fresh, split it longitudinally, tap it lightly with a wooden mallet to separate the bark from the wood core, peel off the white bark, and dry it in the sun.

Medicinal material properties: Dry bark, mostly in the shape of a long and slightly twisted plate, or with both sides slightly curled inward, long, short and wide

Vary in width, 1 to 3 mm thick. The outer surface is pale yellowish white or nearly white, with a few brown spots, relatively flat, with longitudinal cracks and a few fibers; the inner surface is yellowish white or grayish yellowish white, smooth. Lightweight and tough. It has a faint smell and a slightly sweet taste. The best ones are dry, white and have thick skin.

Pharmacology

Nature, flavor and function: sweet and neutral. Non-toxic. Diuretic, relieving stranguria and reducing swelling. Used for urinary obstruction,

Gonorrhea, edema, carbuncle on the back, erysipelas, scabies. The usual dosage is 5 to 10 grams, decocted into a soup for oral administration, or boiled in water for washing, or mashed for external application.

Note: The fruit is used to treat malnutrition, fever and emaciation in children. The flowers are used for childhood epilepsy, urinary problems, and heat injuries. The leaves are used to promote urination, treat stranguria and reduce edema.