Guizhou Ethnic Minority Medicinal Plants (Volume 1)

Author: Luo Tinghua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-07-01
Features:
Kidney Fern Bui Name: Masyunghyaz
Miao Name: Zidshuab
Alias: Crystal Fruit, Cooling Fruit, Sparrow Egg, Centipede Grass.
Key Identification Points: Perennial herb. Rhizome with an upright main axis and long creeping stems radiating from it, with spherical buds growing from the short branches of the creeping stems, covered in yellow-brown fuzz. Leaves are clustered, grassy, smooth, and hairless, pinnately compound, with leaflets that are stalkless and attached to the rachis at joints. Spore clusters are born at the tips of each lateral vein. Capsule covers are round and kidney-shaped.
Growing Environment: Terrestrial or epiphytic in forest understories along streams, rock crevices, tree trunks, etc.
Taste and Nature: Bitter, acrid, slightly astringent, neutral.
Functions and Uses: Clearing heat, promoting diuresis, calming the lungs, stopping coughs, softening hardness, resolving stagnation. Used for infections with fever and coughs, tuberculosis with hemoptysis, dysentery and enteritis, pediatric malnutrition, urinary tract infections. External use treats mastitis and lymph node inflammation.
Traditional Medicinal Experience:
1. Tuberculosis: Cook 30–60 grams of Crystal Fruit and eat once daily.
2. Cough: Boil 15–30 grams of Crystal Fruit and rock bean together and drink the decoction. For persistent coughs, stew with preserved meat.
3. Irregular menstruation: Steam or stew 9 grams of Crystal Fruit, December Locust Flower, and Epimedium together with chicken or meat. For inverted or absent menstruation, stew 30 grams of Crystal Fruit with sweet wine.
4. Hoarse voice or oral mucosal trauma: Chew and swallow several pieces of Crystal Fruit slowly.
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