Traditional Chinese medicine name loofah sigualuo
Alias water melon network, Tian Luo Jin, loofah net, silk melon pulp and loofah cloth.
English name towelgourdvegetablespoon, vegetablespoon.
Vascular bundles from mature fruits of Luffacylindrica(L.)Roem. of Cucurbitaceae.
Plant morphology annual climbing herb. The whole plant is densely pilose when young, and nearly hairless when old. The stems are round, often angular, and the young stems are green and sparsely pilose. Leaves alternate, petiole polygonal, pilose; Leaf blade is heart-shaped, palmately 3-7-lobed, lobes are often triangular, with fine teeth on the edge, dark green on the top and light green on the bottom, with bristles when young, and rough and hairless when old. Flowers unisexual, monoecious; Female flowers solitary, stipitate; Male flowers are racemes, calyx 5, deeply parted, lobes green, ovate-lanceolate, and the outside is puberulent; Corolla yellow, light yellow, 5-parted, lobes broadly obovate, with wavy edges; Stamens 3 ~ 5, anthers 2-loculed, curved like "S", filaments separated. The fruit is always drooping, long and cylindrical, with green longitudinal stripes; Seeds ovoid, black, with wings at the edge. The flowering period is May to July, and the fruiting period is June to September.
Distribution of origin It is cultivated all over China. Location: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and other places. Zhejiang Cixi produces the best quality.
Harvest and process fruits in summer and autumn, when the skin turns yellow, pick them when the inside is dry, and rub off the skin and pulp; Or soaking in water, taking out, washing, cutting off both ends, beating off seeds, drying in the sun, and squashing after the peel and pulp rot.
The characteristics of medicinal materials are fine and tough network formed by interweaving filiform vascular bundles vertically and horizontally. All of them are flattened long cylinders or long prisms, with thin ends and slightly curved, 25 ~ 70cm long and 5 ~10cm in diameter. The surface is yellowish white to dark yellow, and sometimes the pericarp and membranous pulp remain, which is light, tough, elastic and difficult to break. On the cross section, there are 3 cells in the ovary, which are hollow and occasionally have residual seeds. No breath, light taste.
The nature and taste are flat and sweet. Enter lung meridian, stomach meridian and liver meridian.
Efficacy and function: promoting blood circulation, dredging collaterals and expelling wind. It belongs to blood-activating analgesic classified under drugs for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.
Clinical application dosage is 3 ~12g. It can be used to treat chest and hypochondriac pain, abdominal pain, lumbago, testicular pain, menstrual pain of women, and breast obstruction caused by various reasons; Lung-heat cough, hemorrhoids and fistula, metrorrhagia, etc.
Pharmacological research analgesia; Anti-inflammatory; Calm down. Decoction, fresh juice and methanol extract all have cough relieving effect; Methanol extract can obviously increase the secretion of phenol red in respiratory tract; The decoction and alcohol infusion have inhibitory effects on pneumococcus and common bacteria in respiratory tract.
Chemical components include cellulose, xylan, mannan, galactan, lignin and so on.
The use of taboos is not clear.
Related prescriptions ① Treatment of chest and hypochondriac pain: 9 grams of fried loofah sponge, 9 grams of red peony root, 9 grams of white peony root, 9 grams of corydalis tuber and 6 grams of green tangerine peel. (Anhui Chinese Herbal Medicine)
② Treatment of chest pain and heart pain: Luffa sponge15g, orange sponge 3g, Salvia miltiorrhiza10g, Allium macrostemon12g. Decoct with water. (Annals of Sichuan Traditional Chinese Medicine 1979)
③ Treatment of cough, excessive phlegm and chest pain: The old loofah is burning and finely researched. Mix sugar, 2g each time, 2 ~ 3 times a day, and take it with warm water. ("Food Chinese Medicine and Convenient Prescriptions")
④ Treatment of rheumatic joint pain: Luffa sponge15g, Lonicera japonica Thunb. 24g, Clematis chinensis12g, Spatholobus suberectus15g. Decoct with water. (Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Shandong)
⑤ Treatment of arm pain: loofah sponge10g, Gentiana macrophylla 6g, Notopterygium root 3g and safflower 4g. Decoct with water. (Selected Prescriptions for Common Diseases by Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine)
Dietotherapy is sweet and cool. Enter lung, liver and stomach meridians. Being light and profitable.
Dredging channels and collaterals, clearing away heat and toxic materials, promoting diuresis, reducing swelling and stopping bleeding. Indications include chest pain, rheumatic arthralgia, muscle spasm, female amenorrhea, galactorrhea, phlegm-heat cough, toxic carbuncle due to heat, hemorrhoid and leakage, edema, dysuria, hematochezia and metrorrhagia.