Chinese name: Red Cart Messenger

Other names: Deerhorn Seven, Fine Water Hemp Leaf, Stone Edge Cai, Small White Sand, Grand Stair Grass.

Source: It is a plant of the genus Elatostema umbellatum Blume var. majus Maxim.[E. involucratum Franch. et Sav.], family Urticaceae, and is used as a medicine with the whole herb.

Ecology: Born in shady and wet places between streams and valleys.

Resource distribution: distributed throughout the central part of China.

Harvesting and Storage: Harvested in summer and fall, with beautiful appearance, dried in the sun.

Taste and flavor: Slightly bitter, flat.

Functions and Indications: Clearing heat and removing dampness, promoting blood circulation, and reducing swelling. It is used in bacterial dysentery; used externally to treat rheumatic arthralgia, bone fracture, carbuncle and swelling poison.

Use and dosage 3 to 5 qian (raw medicine pounded and soaked in wine, to 2 cups of rice water, each time to take 1 cup, 2 times a day); external use of the appropriate amount of pounded wine toned compresses on the affected area.

Remarks on the similarity of plants of the same genus are as follows:

Lushan Stairgrass (Elderberry, White Dragon Bone) Elatostema stewardii Merr. Roots for broken bones, stems and leaves for coughs;

Elatostema rupestre (Ham.) Wedd. for stone-born stairgrass;

Elatostema lineolatum Wight var. majus Thw. for narrow-leaved stairgrass.

Excerpts from the National Compendium of Chinese Herbal Medicine

Botanical Forms The red cart messenger, also known as: grand staircase grass.