The Legend of Sword and Fairy has deceived you for so many years. Today I will reveal the truth.

Speaking of Jingtian, Xuejian and Longkui, I believe everyone will think of The Legend of Sword and Fairy. But do you know? These vivid images actually all come from traditional Chinese medicine. Today, I will restore the truth to you.

1. Sedum

Sedum, also known as leaf roots, sun-invincible, beating-invincible, foot-eye grass, and native Panax notoginseng. Perennial herb, 30 to 70 cm tall. The tuber is thick and carrot-shaped. Distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Yunnan and other places. However, there are quite a lot of potted Sedums nowadays, and I have a few of them at home.

Nature and flavor: light, slightly sour, astringent, and cool. Reduce swelling, detoxify, clear away heat and cool blood.

Function and indications:

(1) For sore throat, mash the herb and squeeze out the juice to gargle with. For otitis media, drop the juice into the ear. For mastitis, carbuncle, boils and swelling, mash and apply. For bleeding wounds and burns, grind the herb into powder and sprinkle on it.

(2) Treats vomiting blood, hot stomach pain, and swollen and painful joints.

Usage: decoct in water, 15-30g of fresh product; or mash and squeeze out the juice for consumption.

2. Snow Primrose

Snow primrose, also known as litchi grass, wild mustard (Jiangsu, Jiangxi), sedge, frog grass (Sichuan, Guizhou), snow green, black perilla (Jiangsu), earthworm, monkey back grass (Yunnan), small blood-activating grass, hemp chicken (Jiangxi), ditch sweet rush, expanded grass (Fujian), wintering grass (Zhejiang), pig grass (now you know why Sedum is called snow primrose pig grass), what do you call it where you are?

Snow primrose is an annual or biennial upright herb, 15 to 90 cm tall. Many branches. The main root is thick, stretches straight downward, and has many fibrous roots.

The root is bitter, spicy, cool and non-toxic. Clears away heat, detoxifies, cools blood and promotes diuresis. Used for sore throat, bronchitis, nephritis edema, carbuncle; external treatment of mastitis, hemorrhoidal swelling and pain, and bleeding.

Used for tonsillitis, hemoptysis due to pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchitis, ascites swelling, edema due to nephritis, metrorrhagia, bloody stool, thrombocytopenic purpura; used externally to treat carbuncle, swollen and painful hemorrhoids, mastitis, and vaginitis.

3. Nightshade

Solanum nigrum is an annual herb with a height of 30 to 120 cm. The stem is erect and branched. The ovate or heart-shaped leaves are alternate and nearly entire. Small white flowers bloom in summer, with 4 to 10 flowers in a cyme. The berries are spherical and turn black-purple when ripe. Both the berries and leaves are edible, but the leaves contain a large amount of alkali and must be cooked to detoxify. The whole plant can be used as medicine to disperse blood stasis, reduce swelling, clear away heat and detoxify.

Whole herb (Solanum nigrum): bitter, cold. Slightly poisonous. Clears away heat, detoxifies, promotes blood circulation and reduces swelling. Used for furuncle, carbuncle, erysipelas, bruises and sprains, chronic cough, phlegm and asthma, edema, and cancer.

Root: bitter, slightly sweet, cold. Used for dysentery, stranguria, leucorrhea, and traumatic injuries.

4. Purple Xuan

Hemerocallis, also known as "golden needle", "day lily", "forget-me-not", and "male-friendly grass", is a plant of the genus Hemerocallis in the family Hemerocallis. Its leaves are flat and long, and its underground stems are tracely poisonous and cannot be eaten directly. The flower shape is that during the flowering period, slender green flowering branches will grow. The flower color is orange-yellow, the flower stalk is very long, and it is in the shape of a lily.

Hemerocallis is not the same as daylily. Do not pick it directly from the flower garden and eat it directly to avoid poisoning. Daylily is a species of Hemerocallis, but most Hemerocallis plants other than daylily are inedible.

Dig it up in summer and autumn, remove the remaining stems and fibrous roots, wash off the soil, dry it in the sun, and use the roots as medicine.

Nature and flavor: sweet, cool.

Functions and indications: Clears heat and promotes diuresis, cools blood and stops bleeding. Used for mumps, jaundice, cystitis, hematuria, dysuria, lack of milk, irregular menstruation, epistaxis, and bloody stool. Used externally to treat mastitis.

Dosage and administration: 2 to 4 qian, apply an appropriate amount externally, mash and apply to the affected area.

Some species of daylily roots are poisonous. Overdose can cause pupil dilation, respiratory depression, and even insomnia and death. Therefore, it must be used with caution and under the guidance of a doctor to avoid accidents.

5. Paris polyphylla

Paris polyphylla, the name of a traditional Chinese medicine. It is the dried rhizome of Polygonum multiflorum or Polygonum multiflorum of the Liliaceae family. Perennial herb, about 50 cm tall. The rhizome is brown, horizontal and thick, up to 3 cm thick, with a rough surface and nodes, and fibrous roots on the nodes. The stem is single, erect, cylindrical, smooth and hairless, and often purple-red at the base. There are 5 to 9 leaves, usually 7, which are arranged in a whorl at the top of the stem, strong like an umbrella, with one flower on it, so it is called "seven leaves and one flower".

Nature and flavor: bitter, slightly cold; slightly toxic.

Functions and indications: Clears away heat and detoxifies, reduces swelling and relieves pain, cools the liver and calms the nerves. Used for furuncles, carbuncles, sore throat, snake bites, injuries from falls, and convulsions.

Dosage and administration: 3 to 9 g. For external use, apply appropriate amount, grind into powder and apply.

Note: Used in combination with honeysuckle, forsythia, etc. to treat heat-toxic sores; used together with Bidens pilosa, etc. to treat snake bites. Used for cancer, it is often used in combination with Lithospermum officinale, Scutellaria barbata, and Prunella vulgaris. In addition, this product can also be used for children with high fever, convulsions and fits.