The efficacy of grass silkworm

The grass silkworm has strong medicinal value and is recorded in many Chinese medicine books. The grass silkworm is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family and the genus Stachys, 13 to 23 cm tall. It is native to North China and is grown all over the country. The rhizome is long and horizontal, densely covered with white-brown narrow scales. Because its underground stem resembles a silkworm pupa or a snail, it is also known as snail vegetable, pagoda vegetable, nectar seed, and earth silkworm. What are the specific effects of grass silkworm?

Nature and flavor

Sweet in taste; neutral in nature. It enters the lung, liver and spleen meridians.

Function and indications

Dispel wind and dampness, clear away heat and detoxify, relieve exterior symptoms and clear the lungs, replenish deficiency and strengthen the spleen. It is used to treat wind-heat colds, rheumatic pain, damp-heat jaundice, cough, asthma, lung abscess, mastitis, swollen and painful gums, diphtheria, gonorrhea, leucorrhea, snake bites, and infantile malnutrition.

Traditional prescription

① Treat facial paralysis, qi and blood deficiency, headache and dizziness caused by stroke: Grind the whole herb of Yinshi Fern into powder. Take one coin each time, soaked in wine and taken orally. ②Treat rheumatic joint pain or waist and back rheumatic pain: 4 liang of dried whole herb of Yinshi fern. Soak in one pound of wine and take frequently.

③Treat lumbar muscle strain and joint pain: 3 liang of Yinshi fern rhizome. Decoction in water.

④Treat sprain: remove the hair from the fresh rhizome of Yinshi fern, mash it, and apply it to the injured area.

⑤Treat lung abscess: 1 to 2 liang of fresh Yinshifen rhizome. Decoction in water and add rock sugar.

⑥Treat mastitis: Take appropriate amount of fresh rhizome of Pteris yinli and mash it for external application.

⑦Treatment of herpes zoster: Take fresh rhizomes of Pteris cretica, mash them and squeeze out the juice, add a little realgar powder and apply it to the affected area. (⑤ The following prescription is from ⑧ for treating toothache caused by wind and fire, tonsillitis: 3 to 5 qian of Yinshi fern root. Decoction in water.

⑨Treat swollen and painful gums: 3 to 5 qian of Yinshi fern rhizome (double the amount for fresh ones). Decoction, remove the residue, and cook with eggs.

⑩Treatment of hemorrhoids: pound the rhizomes of fresh fern together with white or vinegar dregs, and apply to the affected area.

⑾ Treat hemoptysis and urticaria: 3 liang of Yinshifen rhizome. Decoction in water, add appropriate amount of sugar, and take on an empty stomach in the morning and evening.

12. To treat wind-heat cold: 2 liang of whole grass silkworm herb. Take it in decoction.

13. Treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: 4 liang of root of Herba Lycopodiellae. Stewed pig lungs are often eaten.