Source: "Medicinal Plants in Desert Areas of China"

The pinyin name Bīnɡ Cǎo Gēn

The source is the root of the grass plant Lai grass. Excavated in autumn, washed and dried.

Original form

Lai Cao, also known as: Akebia pachyphylla, Agropyron pachyphylla, Bincao, Elypsis elata.

Perennial herb, 40-90 cm tall. With descending rhizomes; root-like. The stems are solitary and form dense clumps, upright, rigid, with 2 to 3 nodes, and the upper part is densely pubescent. The leaves are flat, involute when dry, 8 to 30 cm long and 4 to 7 mm wide. The upper surface and edges are rough or pubescent, and the lower surface is smooth or slightly rough. The leaf sheaths are mostly smooth, or the upper edge is ciliated when young. The leaf sheath at the base is withered and yellow in color, and remains fibrous; the ligule is gummy, truncated, 0.8 to 1.5 mm long. The spikes are upright, 10 to 15 cm long, 8 to 10 mm wide, gray-green; the cob is covered with short hairs and is strong, with internodes 3 to 7 mm long, and 2 to 4 spikelets are born on each side of the cob. On each node, the lemma is lanceolate, hairy, and the glume is tapered and linear with 1 vein. The length of the lemma is 10 to 13 mm, and there are 4 to 7 florets. The flowering and fruiting period is from June to October.

Habitat distribution occurs in moist fertile sandy land, canal edges, field ridges, and lowlands between hills. Distributed in Northeast China, Hebei, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other places.

Its nature and flavor are sweet and cold.

Functions include clearing away heat, stopping bleeding, and diuresis. Treat colds, nosebleeds, and asthma.

Attached Recipes

1. To prevent and treat colds: 5 qian each of wheatgrass root, reed root, licorice root, horsetail root, and black wolfberry root (called Wugen Decoction in Yumen), decoct in water Take it twice a day.

2. Treat nose bleeding: one or two each of wheatgrass root, mulberry leaves, and chrysanthemum, decoct in water and take.

3. Treat asthma and blood-stained phlegm: Add wheatgrass root, add sugar, decoct in water and drink as tea.

4. Treatment of nephritis: Decoction of wheatgrass root with other medicines.

Excerpt from "*Dictionary"