Introduction of Hai Jin Sha:Climbing Fern Spore or Spora Lygodii.
✵The article gives records of the herb Climbing Fern Spore, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, its botanical source one plant species, ①.Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of this plant species, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of this plant species, the features of the herb Climbing Fern Spore, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Spora Lygodii(Climbing Fern Spore).
Pin Yin Name: Hǎi Jīn Shā.
English Name: Climbing Fern Spore.
Latin Name: Spora Lygodii.
Property and flavor: cold, sweet, tasteless.
Brief introduction: The herb Spora Lygodii is the spores of Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw., used to eliminate damp-heat and as a lithagogue for treating bladder damp-heat and urinary calculi. The herb is commonly known as Spora Lygodii, Hǎi Jīn Shā.
Botanical source: Herbal classic book defined the herb Spora Lygodii(Hai Jin Sha) as the dry ripe spores of the species (1).Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. It is a plant of the Lygodium Sw Genus, the Lygodiaceae family of the Polypodiales order. This commonly used species is introduced:
(1).Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw.
Botanical description: Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw is also known as Ophioglossum japonicum Thunb., commonly known as Hǎi Jīn Shā. A perennial climbing herbaceous liana, 1~5 meters long. Roots are fibrous, black-brown, and piliferous; rhizome is nearly brown, thin and long, amphitropous (decumbent). Leaves are in two types, many, herbaceous (grasslike), and opposite, and grow on the short branch sides of rachides, the tip of the short branch has dormant buds (resting buds) which are covered with trichomes; trophophyll (vegetative leaf) is pointed triangle, bipinnate; the primary leaflets are in 2~4 pairs, alternate, oval (egg-shaped), 4~8 cm long, 3~6 cm wide, has a short stalk with narrow wings; pinnules are in 2~3 pairs, ovate-triangular, palmately 3-lobed, lobes are short and broad, apical lobes are 2~3 cm long, 6~8 mm wide, the margin is irregular shallowly crenate.
The fertile frond is ovate-triangular, length and width are subequal (nearly equal), 10~20 cm; the primary leaflets are in 4~5 pairs, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, 5~10 cm long, 4~6 cm wide; pinnules are in 3~4 pairs, ovate-triangular, mostly are shrunk and lacerated.
The under surface margin of pinnae has penicillate (fringelike) fertile spikes, black-brown (dark brown), spikes are 2~5 mm long; the surface of the spore has small nodules.
Ecological environment: The plant grows in dankish thickets on mountain slopes or roadside forest edges. The plant is distributed in the east, central and south areas, southwest and northwest areas of China. It is mainly produced in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Zhujiang River area, the southwest area, northwest, Hong Kong, and east big island of China. It is also distributed in tropical Australia, Ceylon, Java.
Growth characteristics: The plant Lygodium japonicum has a strong climbability and resistance. It prefers to grow in sandy clay and sandy loam with good drainage.
Characters of herbs: The spore is powdery, brownish yellow, or tawny (yellow brown). The herb is light, smooth, and slippery, it floats on the water surface after being sprinkled into the water, then gradually sinks after being heated, and explodes and flashes when it is burning, has no residual ash and dregs. The herb has a slight odor and a mild taste. The herb of a better grade is yellowish brown, light in weight, and feels smooth when it is twirled by hand.
Pharmacological actions: ①.diuretic and removing urinary calculus; ②.choleretic effect; ③.inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri and Bacillus typhi.
Medicinal efficacy: Clear dampness and heat, clear heat and detoxification, treating stranguria and relieve pain, alleviate water retention and treating stranguria. It is indicated for pyretic stranguria, stony stranguria, urolithiasis, bloody stranguria, stranguria marked by chyluria (stranguria due to chyluria), gonorrhea (white turbidity), morbid leukorrhea, urethralgia, urinary tract infection, lithangiuria, swollen and fullness of water dampness, damp-heat jaundice, hepatitis, nephritis and edema, sore throats, mumps, enteritis, damp-heat dysentery, dysentery, hematemesis (vomiting blood), epistaxis (nosebleed, or bleeding from five aperture or subcutaneous tissue), hematuria (bloody urine), traumatic hemorrhage, skin eczema, herpes zoster, etc.
Administration of Spora Lygodii (Hǎi Jīn Shā):
Reference:
Administration Guide of Spora Lygodii (Hǎi Jīn Shā)
TCM Books:
①.Internally: 6~15 grams, better wrapped to decoct; ②.Internally:water decoction, 1.5~8 qian (about 4.5~24 grams), or prepare to finely ground herb powder and take; ③.Internally:water decoction, 5~9 grams, wrapped to decoct,or prepare to finely ground herb powder and take, 2~3 grams each time.
Article Links.
URL QR code:
References:
1.Introduction of Hai Jin Sha:Climbing Fern Spore or Spora Lygodii.