Saxifrage is a species of saxifrage in the saxifrage family, also known as stone lotus leaf, golden thread hanging hibiscus, tiger ear, etc., is a common traditional Chinese medicine, very common in rural China. For ordinary farmers, it is like an ordinary and stubborn weed, growing rapidly, even if they are removed from the roots, they will always inadvertently sprout.
They not only grow in the fields, but even the roofs and walls of farmhouses are covered with this weed, and farmers often treat otitis media or apply it to medicine. Saxifrage has slender branches, densely curled glandular hair, and scaly leaves, which some say is why it is named because its shape resembles the ears of a tiger.
Today's saxifrage is mainly distributed in Hebei, Shaanxi, southeastern Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang and other places in China, and can also be found in Korea and Japan. They are generally found at altitudes of 400-4500 m under forests, shrublands, meadows and wet crevices, and the saxifrage that is now farmed can also be used as a potted plant for ornamentation.
Many people know saxifrage not because of its ornamental properties, but because of its powerful healing properties for trauma. Saxifrage was first found in the Song Dynasty Wang Jie's "Rock Materia Medica", which is a local herbal medicine book of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is less circulated, but because it provides many painted medicinal maps and reflects the medicinal experience of the Song Dynasty folk, the book also has important value in regional herbal medicine research.
Nowadays, saxifrage is also an important part of the clinical practice experience of seedling medicine, and is now included in the "Quality Standards for Ethnic Medicinal Materials of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials in Guizhou Province".
Saxifrage whole herb can be used medicinally, and the medicinal effect after flowering is better. It tastes spicy, slightly bitter, cold, and belongs to the lungs, spleen, and large intestine. It can clear heat and detoxify, and has the effects of antipyretic, detoxification, dehumidification, cough and itching. Miao doctors also often use it to treat hot cough, urticaria, otitis media, eczema of the external auditory canal, rubella itching, chronic leg ulcers, pediatric convulsions and other diseases.
It can be seen that saxifrage itself is not a very valuable medicinal herb, and its use is mostly concentrated on folk remedies and empiricist-led use. So it is such a medicinal herb, what cultural values and historical symbols are worth digging deep behind it? This article will explain the folklore of saxifrage and its modern and contemporary imagery.
Saxifrage and surgical diseases
In the "Zhejiang Folk Herbal Medicine", for the treatment of otitis media, "fresh saxifrage leaves will be used to pound juice into the ear". In the "Sichuan Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine", saxifrage and green dai are also used to treat urticaria. In many endemic herbalities, saxifrage is directly mashed for diseases such as eczema and boils, and applied externally. It can be seen that this is a common topical herb for clearing heat and disinfection. There are also many folk legends about saxifrage associated with surgical diseases.
According to legend, there was a county official from Sichuan in ancient times, and the emperor sent him to Anhui Xiao County to be an official. When he went, corrupt officials were corrupt and domineering, and the people were even more miserable and bitter. After taking office, the county official eliminated bad administration, developed water conservancy, and developed agriculture, but in a few years the life of the local people slowly improved.
However, not long after, the county official suddenly found that he had a lot of small red bumps on his back, and at first he didn't care too much, but he didn't see well, so he began to worry. Soon the county official came to inspect a village and met a monk who said that he had developed a lot of vicious sores. The county official did not believe it at first, thinking that it was just an ordinary pimple, and the monk said: "Although it is a small pimple now, if it is allowed to develop, it will kill you."
For now, the only way to do this is to rummage through the entire county to find a medicinal herb called 'saxifrage', mash it and apply it to the vicious sores, and it will get better. Although he could order the people of the county to help him find it, as an incorruptible parent official, he was not willing to work so hard and lose money, so he only let the old servants around him look for 'saxifrage'.
Who knew that because of the accent of the county official, the old Yan Yan misheard 'Saxifrage' as 'Second Sister-in-law Hu'. He made several inquiries and brought Hu's second sister-in-law to the county official's residence, and when he returned, the two found out that there was a trouble. But when the county official went to see this second sister-in-law Hu, he saw that the room was empty, and the saxifrage that had been pounded was left on the table. The county magistrate's vicious sores soon healed.
Another story took place during the reign of the Sui Emperor, saying that the excavation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal made the people's livelihood poor. On the west gate of Jiaxing lives a family with a beautiful daughter in the family. She had been washing clothes in the river water in the middle of winter for a long time, and her fingers inevitably developed frostbite. At that time, the village tyrant was rampant, and some ruffians took a fancy to this girl, and one day wanted to take advantage of the unprepared robbery of the people's daughter, so they threw themselves at her while she was washing clothes by the river.
The girl was unprepared for a moment with her hands propped up on the ground, stained with saxifrage juice. She immediately shouted, and the villagers ran to chase away the village bully. Soon after, something unexpected happened, and the girl's years of frostbite were miraculously cured. It is thought that it must be the effect of this saxifrage.
In fact, the authenticity of these two folklore is not reliable, and as with many legends, it is a true manifestation of collective memory. It can be seen that the miracle effect of saxifrage for trauma, such as boils, eczema, chilblains and other symptoms is talked about by people. It is precisely because of this that many stories related to this will be passed down to future generations.
Literary imagery of saxifrage
When it comes to the literary imagery of saxifrage, the most widely known and studied by scholars is Shen Congwen's "Border City". In "Border City", the image of saxifrage appears repeatedly, which is very closely connected with the protagonist Cuicui and her emotional life. In addition to the strong local characteristics of saxifrage itself, many scholars also hope to find its symbolic meaning from its natural characteristics and cultural traditions in connection with texts.
If the author chooses it as a plant image throughout the text, it is to some extent analogous to the purity and beauty of emerald, giving people an association of 'vanilla beauty'. At the same time, it is not difficult for readers to find that saxifrage and the love in Cuicui's heart have a close connection. Jade's 'crimson cheeks' when she gets saxifrage symbolizes a woman who has just opened her heart.
From a humanistic point of view, saxifrage represents tenacity and true love. The repeated appearance of this plant imagery is likely to deliberately shape a certain character of the protagonist from Shen Congwen's point of view. More important is the symbolism behind it: a symbol of a beautiful ideal.
For the protagonist Cuicui, saxifrage is a symbol of noble and pure love in his heart. The literary imagery of saxifrage has been given new value in Shen Congwen's writing, making it not only limited to the practical perspective of traditional concepts, but also gaining more humanistic significance.
People who have read the novel "Border City" think that they will be very impressed by the plant of saxifrage, and the beautiful girl Cuicui in the novel has an obsessive dream, dreaming that she "hears a beautiful singing voice, soft and lingering", and she "flew everywhere like following this sound, flew halfway up the cliff of the opposite stream, and picked a large handful of saxifrage".
Saxifrage is a perennial evergreen herb of the genus Saxifrage of the saxifrage family, also known as stone lotus leaf, golden thread hibiscus, tiger ear and so on. Saxifrage is widely distributed in Hebei, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other regions of the mainland.
Saxifrage shows the beauty of the tea valley in the small city of Xiangxi under the pen of Mr. Shen Congwen, but it is not just a façade, and it can be used in many fields.
Saxifrage as a Chinese medicinal herb
The "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty recorded: "(Saxifrage) cures ears, pounds juice drops, hemorrhoids are swollen and painful, and smoked in a dry smoking barrel." ”
Later generations mostly believe that saxifrage is cold, slightly bitter and slightly toxic, and its effect is to dispel wind and heat, cool blood and detoxify, etc., and can be used to treat rubella, eczema, otitis media, whooping cough, erysipelas, pulmonary carbuncle, leakage, chilblains, child tuberculosis, poisonous insect sting, hemorrhoids and other diseases.
When saxifrage is used in medicine, the whole grass is mostly collected in spring and summer, preferably with its thick red brown leaves, and taken with more frying soup internally, and smoked with more "pounded juice drops" or frying water externally.
There are many strange records of saxifrage as medicines, such as the use of saxifrage to treat plague, and the use of saxifrage instead of tea to treat throat closure. Saxifrage is also a commonly used folk herb, and its use to treat diseases can be seen everywhere.
Saxifrage as a minority medicine
Saxifrage is not a patent of traditional Chinese medicine, and Tibetan and Miao doctors also use saxifrage as a medicinal herb. Miao doctors often use saxifrage to treat many diseases such as hot cough, rubella itching, chronic leg ulcers, urticaria, otitis media, eczema of the external auditory canal, and children's convulsions.
Saxifrage as a Tibetan medicine has a large number of records and related studies, such as Tangut saxifrage, transliterated as mulberry drop. Mulberry drops are mostly collected during the blooming flower, and they are mostly washed and dried after drying. Based on the records of "Jingzhu Materia Medica", the mulberry drops used as medicinal herbs in Yushu, Guoluo and other areas of Qinghai can be judged to be Tangut saxifrage of the saxifrage family according to its plant characteristics.
The Tibetan name of Ganqing Saxifrage is Songjiti, which is mostly distributed in Qinghai, Gansu, Tibet and Sichuan Serta and Derge counties, and it is possible to see Songjiti under coniferous shrubs at altitudes of 2900 to 4900 meters.
Ganqing saxifrage is a very commonly used Tibetan medicine, its taste is bitter and cold, mostly used to clear fever hepatobiliary fever, heal injuries, can treat acute otitis media, wind fever cough and other diseases.
The black saxifrage is known by its Tibetan name as Chastcolor Dao and grows mostly in bushes, meadows and stone crevices between 2,800 and 4,600 meters above sea level. Zhensedao is a commonly used top product, mostly distributed in Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and western Sichuan counties. Its aerial parts are mostly used in medicine, and Tibetan medicine believes that its nature is sweet and warm, and it is mostly used to replenish blood, disperse stasis, and treat eye diseases.
Modern research on saxifrage
It is precisely because of the high medicinal value of saxifrage that modern pharmacological research on it is also everywhere. Modern research has proved that saxifrage has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitussive and other effects, can inhibit the proliferation of prostate fibroblasts, can be used as an apoptosis inducer, and can even be used for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Saxifrage has excellent antioxidant activity and can scavenge free radicals, and may have broad development prospects in the future. Saxifrage decoction has also been shown to have a protective effect against acute lung injury in mice and may be used to reduce acute lung injury caused by paraquat poisoning in the future.
In recent years, some people have also used saxifrage to treat toothache, and the effect is still considerable. Other cases of using saxifrage to treat diseases can be consulted, mainly to shorten the time of tooth extraction and hemostasis, treat chronic tracheitis, treat prostatic hyperplasia, treat urticaria, etc.
It should be noted that clinically a patient has taken saxifrage tablets to cause high blood pressure and edema, which is still worthy of our vigilance.
Saxifrage as an ornamental plant
Saxifrage is evergreen all year round and does not wither in winter. It prefers a semi-shaded and cool environment, does not tolerate high temperatures and dryness, barren land and cold do not hinder its tenacious growth, but not seeing the sun may make it sick and crooked. All in all, saxifrage is still very suitable as an ornamental plant.
Saxifrage can be grown in small pots, and its unique beauty can relieve people's work pressure and make people feel more relaxed. Saxifrage can be arranged in the study, living room, balcony and other places, which will bring a touch of elegant interest to people's lives.
Saxifrage can be grown in rock gardens, as a forest cover greening plant, and can also play the role of a shady wall greening plant.
There are many varieties of saxifrage that are common as an ornamental plant, such as a species of flowering saxifrage whose leaf edges are naturally lined with a layer of white edge. The back of the leaf has a faint purplish-red color. Some people call the similar form of saxifrage "Goshocha", which takes its name from the pattern of ox cart wheels used by nobles near the old imperial palace in Kyoto, Japan.
Another well-known saxifrage is the eight-room saxifrage, which has a relatively dense plant morphology, very thick leaves, and obvious folds on the edges of the leaves. "Hachibo" is a Japanese horticultural term meaning superior traits.
Other effects of saxifrage
Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom have found that the leaves of some saxifrage plants can produce a rare mineral coccolina, which may be a good carrier for sustained release drugs, which has only been found in some animals in the past, and it is the first time it has been found in plants.
The researchers also found that the leaves of a saxifrage plant have a very special cell wall structure. This cell wall structure may be able to transfer the light at the edge of the leaf to the middle of the leaf, and this cell wall structure may help develop new bioexcitation optics and photonic structures.
Saxifrage can also be used as a plant to purify water, it has the physiological and biochemical characteristics of plant absorption, degradation, fixation, and the decomposition of microorganisms in its root system to make water cleaner.
Nowadays, people still pay a lot of attention to those wild plants, whether they are originally "precious" or those that were once called weeds, and in this society can almost make people re-recognize them. In the past, people rarely paid attention to the growth of these plants and what their environment looked like, but now they can easily feel the strength and tenacity of "life". Slowly with the smooth flow of information in modern society, people gradually popularized the value of plants that were particularly precious and rare and unknown to most people on the Internet, so those farmer friends also began to have a new understanding of plants, which is very helpful for people to rationally use those valuable plants.
In China, starting from Hebei Province to the west and south, there is a wild herb that looks particularly like a "pig's ear", which used to be one of the "weeds" in people's eyes. Saxifrage itself has leaves much larger than its own roots, so people give it a particularly memorable name: ear grass, also called saxifrage. Its entire plant is not large, most of them are ten centimeters tall, and even the largest ones are less than fifty centimeters. In the past, people would only find it in the yards of those small farmhouses.
Saxifrage science
Saxifrage is an herb that can grow for many years and looks like an unflowered geranium. Friends who are not familiar with this plant can easily mistake these two plants. Saxifrage is a genus of the saxifrage family, which is widely distributed in China, Japan and Korea. This plant loves the moist and cool ecology. It grows in a "corner" of the yard, and if it is found in the wild, it grows under trees and bushes. In short, it can only be seen in cool places, and it is difficult to survive elsewhere.
As long as you have seen saxifrage friends, you will think that it is a good bonsai, but in the countryside no one will pay attention to it because there are too many beautiful plants in the wild and in the mountains, but people in the city especially appreciate the beauty of saxifrage. Saxifrage has slender foliage with curly glandular hairs on its stem, as well as kidney-shaped leaves, very inconspicuous shallow cracks and jagged edges, the front of the leaf is green, while the back leaf is purple, and the petiole is more than 20 cm long.
The appearance of the flower is an umbrella inflorescence, the petals are white, the upper three petals have purple and red spots, the bottom has yellow spots, there are a total of five petals, and there will be white long whiskers in the middle to make decorations, the whole flower looks very beautiful, this is a relatively rare flower I have seen, it is really rare, no wonder so many people in the city have to spend a lot of money on saxifrage as a bonsai. After seeing its "real look", its beauty is really easy to be surprised. It's like a white butterfly flying on the grass.
To talk about the value of this saxifrage itself, we must also start from the medicinal value of saxifrage. It is recorded in the famous mainland medical masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica", saying that saxifrage is one of the typical "Chinese herbal medicines", so it has high medicinal value, and ancient Chinese medicine recipes will use it to cool blood and detoxify, drive away wind and clear heat. And it also has a good effect on eczema, rubella, erysipelas and hemoptysis. Saxifrage is different from other herbs because the price of saxifrage is very high, even higher than the price of Huanglian.
If one day you see this wild saxifrage next to a stream or under a tree in the forest, or even in a farm yard in the suburbs, don't consider it a "weed." Because its whole plant is very precious. If you don't pay attention to protecting it, it will be another rare wild plant that goes extinct. The demise of any species is humanity's greatest regret, and we can't let that happen easily, don't you think?