Introduction of Sheng Jiang:Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens or Fresh Ginger.
✵The article gives records of the herb fresh ginger, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, and its botanical source one plant species, ①.Zingiber officinale Rosc., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of the plant, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of the plant, the features of the herb fresh ginger, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens(Fresh Ginger).
Pin Yin Name: Shēng Jiāng.
English Name: Fresh Ginger.
Latin Name: Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens.
Property and flavor: warm, pungent.
Brief introduction: The herb Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens is the fresh rhizome of Zingiber officinale (Willd.) Rosc., used (1).to induce sweating for releasing the superficies in cases of wind-cold affliction, (2).to warm the middle for stopping vomiting. The herb is commonly known as Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, Fresh Ginger, Shēnɡ Jiānɡ.
Botanical source: The herb Fresh Ginger is the fresh rhizome (tuber or rootstalk) of Zingiber officinale Rosc., it is a plant species of the Zingiber genus, the Zingiberaceae family (ginger family), the Zingiberales order. This commonly used species is introduced:
(1).Zingiber officinale Rosc.
Botanical description: Zingiber officinale Rosc is a perennial herb, it grows up to 50~80 cm high. The rhizomes are thick and hypertrophic, the fracture surface is yellow-white, and it has a strong spicy odor. Leaves are alternate, arranged in 2 rows, sessile, amplexicaular (stem-clasping); the paraphyll is 2~4 mm long; leaves are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 15~30 cm long, 1.5~2.2 cm wide, the apex is acuminate (gradually tapering), the base is narrow, leaf base is sheath-shaped and amplexicaular (stem-clasping), glabrous.
Scapes grow out from rhizome, 15~25 cm long; spikes are elliptic, 4~5 cm long; bracts are egg-shaped or oval, about 2.5 cm long, pale green, pale yellow at the edge, with a small tip at the apex; hypanthium (calyx tube) is about 1 cm long, has 3 mucronate teeth; corolla is yellow-green, the corolla tube is 2~2.5 cm long, 3 lobes, lanceolate, less than 2 cm long, the middle labellum is oblong and obovate, shorter than the corolla lobes, and is covered with purple stripes and pale yellow spots, and oval, yellow-green lobes on both sides with purple edges; 1 stamen, dark purple, anthers are about 9 mm long, and connective appendages wrap the style; ovary is 3-loculed, glabrous, 1 style, stigma is subglobose.
Capsular fruit, many seeds, black. Its flowering period is in August.
Growth characteristics: Zingiber officinale Rosc prefers a warm and moist climate, is not resistant to low temperature and frost, afraid of dampness, and is afraid of strong direct light. It is appropriate to choose sloping land and slightly shady plots for cultivation, better choose a field with deep soil layers, loose, fertile, and well-drained sandy loam to heavy loam.
Historical story of ginger: Ginger is native to subtropical forest areas of Southeast Asia and China, the plant Zingiber officinale has been cultivated for so long that it is no longer found in a wild state, the cultivation area of ginger expanded during the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D., Ginger spread from China to other areas of East Asia since the 3rd century A.D., from southern China to the Spice Islands, and spread both east and west. The exact year it spread to Europe is unknown but as early as the years of the early Roman Empire (the ancient empire, centred on the city of Rome, that was established in 27 BCE following the demise of the Roman Republic and continuing to the final eclipse of the empire of the West in the 5th century CE.), physicians Dioscorides (Pedanius Dioscorides, Greek physician and pharmacologist whose work De materia medica was a classical source of modern botanical terminology and pharmacological text for 16 centuries.) and others already recorded that zingiberi came as an exotic eastern plant, at that time Zingiber officinale was already planted in Eritrea and East Africa, Greek dieticians recorded that the herb ginger's effect is warming, digestive, gently laxative, appetizing, it helps in cases of cataract, and it is an ingredient in antidotes against poison.
Characters of herbs: This herb ginger is an irregular lump, slightly flat, with finger branches, 4~18 cm long, and 1~3 cm thick. The surface is yellow-brown or grayish-brown, with ring joints, and there are stem marks or buds at the tip of branches. The herb is brittle (crisp) and easily broken, the fracture surface is light yellow, obvious ring pattern in the endodermis, and scattered vascular bundles. It has a special aroma, and the taste is spicy. Likewise, it is better to have large, plump, and tender pieces.
Pharmacological actions: ①. Reduce the range of stomach motion in vivo in rabbits, non-competitive antagonistic effect; ②. Significantly inhibit acid and stress-induced gastric mucosa injury in rats; ③. Resist the vomiting effect of cupric sulfate; ④. Inhibitory effects on liver injury.
Medicinal efficacy: Ginger dissipating cold and relieving exterior syndrome, calm the adverse-rising energy and controlling nausea and vomiting, eliminating phlegm and stopping cough, detoxicate poisons, indicated for anemofrigid cold (a wind-cold type of common cold), fever with aversion to cold, headache and stuffy nose, vomit, retch, phlegmatic cough, diarrhea (loose bowels), detoxify poisons of Pinellia tuberifera, Rhizoma arisaematis, fish and crab, the meat of birds and beasts, etc.
Administration of Fresh Ginger (Shēng Jiāng):
Reference:
Administration Guide of Fresh Ginger (Shēng Jiāng)
TCM Books:
①.Internally: 3~10 grams; ②.water decoction, 1~3 qian (about 3~9 grams),or extract juice.Externally: mashed and apply stick, apply at the affected area or fried and ironing; ③.water decoction, 3~10 grams, or extract the juice and take after mixing it with water, wine.Externally: proper amount, mashed and apply stick, or fried and ironing, or extract juice and smear.
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1.Introduction of Sheng Jiang:Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens or Fresh Ginger.
✵The article gives records of the herb fresh ginger, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, and its botanical source one plant species, ①.Zingiber officinale Rosc., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of the plant, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of the plant, the features of the herb fresh ginger, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Pin Yin Name: Shēng Jiāng.
Botanical description: Zingiber officinale Rosc is a perennial herb, it grows up to 50~80 cm high. The rhizomes are thick and hypertrophic, the fracture surface is yellow-white, and it has a strong spicy odor. Leaves are alternate, arranged in 2 rows, sessile, amplexicaular (stem-clasping); the paraphyll is 2~4 mm long; leaves are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 15~30 cm long, 1.5~2.2 cm wide, the apex is acuminate (gradually tapering), the base is narrow, leaf base is sheath-shaped and amplexicaular (stem-clasping), glabrous.
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