What are the medicinal values ​​of Alsophila spinulosa?

Alsophila spinulosa is a common plant in daily life. It has a very beautiful appearance and a very fresh taste. It also has certain medicinal value and can be used as medicine. Eating Alsophila spinulosa can effectively improve the symptoms of rheumatism in the body, and can also play the role of clearing away heat and relieving cough. It is very good to the human body and can also play a health-care role for the human body.

Medicinal value of Alsophila spinulosa

The pith of Alsophila spinulosa can be used as medicine after the outer skin is removed. It tastes spicy, slightly bitter, and is neutral in nature; it can eliminate rheumatism, strengthen muscles and bones, clear away heat and relieve cough. It is often used to treat bruises, rheumatism, lung heat cough, prevent influenza, meningitis, nephritis, edema, kidney deficiency, low back pain, metrorrhagia in women, abdominal pain due to central accumulation, ascariasis, pinworms and rinderpest, etc. It can induce sweating inside the stem and can treat ringworms when used externally. The pith of its stem contains about 27.44% starch, which can be extracted to replace starch as food. Its rhizome has the effects of clearing heat and relieving boiling.

Growth habit

It grows beside mountain streams or in sparse woods, at an altitude of 260-1600 meters. Alsophila spinulosa is a semi-shade tree species that prefers warm and humid climates and grows in alluvial soils or under forests beside valley streams. It can be cultivated in mountainous areas, dam areas and courtyards where the temperature is 5-35℃. It can be planted in the ground, in pots or barrels, but the relative humidity must be high.

This species likes to grow in moist slopes of ravines and sunny places beside streams. Dozens or hundreds of plants often form dominant communities, and some are scattered in the bushes at the edge of the forest. Alsophila spinulosa is widely distributed in my country, from 18.5°-30.5° north latitude. The northernmost record is Linshui County, Sichuan, which is located in the eastern part of the Sichuan Basin and has a subtropical humid monsoon climate. Affected by the topography, the climate is about 2-4°C higher than that of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River at the same latitude. It has the characteristics of warm winter, spring drought, hot summer, autumn rain, high humidity, many clouds and fog, little sunshine, and obvious dry and wet seasons. The soil is mostly acidic.

Morphological characteristics

The stem of Alsophila spinulosa can be up to 6 meters tall or higher, 10-20 centimeters in diameter, with remnant petioles at the top and densely interwoven adventitious roots at the bottom. The leaves are spirally arranged at the top of the stem; the ends of the stem segments, the fist-curled leaves and the base of the petioles are densely covered with scales and chaff-like hairs, the scales are dark brown, shiny, narrowly lanceolate, brown-brown bristle-like at the tip, and have narrow, light-colored, serrated thin edges on both sides; the petioles are 30-50 cm long, usually brown or lighter on the upper side, with thorn-like protrusions along the rachis and feather axis, and a discontinuous lenticel line on each side of the back, extending upward to the rachis.

The leaves are large, oblong, 1-2 m long, 0.4-1.5 m wide, and deeply pinnate-lobed three times; the pinnae are 17-20 pairs, alternate, the base pair is shortened, about 30 cm long, the middle pinnae is 40-50 cm long, 14-18 cm wide, oblong, and deeply pinnate-lobed twice; the pinnules are 18-20 pairs, the base pinnules are slightly shortened, the middle ones are 9-12 cm long, 1.2-1.6 cm wide, lanceolate, acuminate at the apex and with a long tail, the base is broadly cuneate, sessile or with a short petiole, and deeply pinnate-lobed; the lobes are 18-20 pairs, obliquely spreading, the base lobes are slightly shortened, the middle ones are about 7 mm long, about 4 mm wide, sickle-lanceolate, with short tips, and serrated edges; the veins are pinnate-split on the lobes, and the lower side veins of the base arise from the base of the midrib; the leaves are papery, green when dry; the rachis, rachis and midrib are covered with coarse stiff hairs above, and with small gray-white scales below.

The sori are borne at the bifurcation of the lateral veins, close to the midrib, with septa and raised receptacles. The sori cap is spherical and membranous; the sori cap is spherical, membranous, cracked on the outside, easy to break, and folded back to cover the main vein when mature.