Hello everyone, I'm nutritionist He Haizhen. The author is a native of the countryside and a lover of Chinese herbal medicine. Follow me and share with you all kinds of wild plants common in the countryside every day to learn more about plants.
Speaking of abacus, everyone knows that it is a simple calculation tool invented by people in the mainland, although it has a long history, but with the development of modern society, this ancient way of calculation has been gradually replaced. And the plant shared by the author today, its tree will also grow an "abacus", isn't it very magical?
This plant is the abacus that everyone in the countryside is very familiar with, and it is named because the shape of its fruit looks like an abacus. In fact, its fruit is not only like an abacus, but also like the pumpkin that we often eat with our vitality, but it is much smaller, so we prefer to call it "wild pumpkin".
There are many aliases about abacus, such as steamed bread tree, steamed bread fruit, abacus beads, water gourd, wild hawthorn, mountain oil orange, mountain orange, children's box, lion rolling ball, fine-leaved fruit box, small-leaved vine tree, etc., it is an erect small shrub plant of the family Euphorbiaceae, and it is also a relatively rare plant in rural areas.
The abacus is generally born in the mountains, roadsides, village edges, bushes, hillsides, forest edges, valleys, etc., and is widely distributed, mainly distributed in the south of the Yangtze River basin in the mainland, especially in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Anhui, etc.
The abacus is a plant with a strange shape, and it will be unforgettable when you see it once. If we meet it in the wild, we will always be amazed by the shape of its fruit, which looks like an abacus bead, a small pumpkin, and a small steamed bun at the same time, and it is red when ripe, which is really beautiful.
Abacus is a small shrub plant, and it has many branches, so it grows not very tall, about 2 meters, the whole plant is densely pubescent, the leaves are alternate, oblong to obovate-oblong, the young leaves are green, and slowly turn red, which has a certain ornamental value.
Now this season, it is the season when the abacus branches and leaves are luxuriant, and it will not bloom until around August, and it grows in the leaf axils, it is reddish, and it grows very small, and the fruit bears fruit around October, and the fruit is peculiar and beautiful, and it is often planted as an ornamental plant.
In fact, the abacus not only has a certain ornamental value, but also the medicinal value is also very high, its medicinal roots, stems, leaves, fruits, has the effect of invigorating blood stasis, reducing swelling and itching, for colds, flu, cough, hepatitis, sore throat, leucorrhea, gastroenteritis, dyspepsia, dysentery, skin eczema, etc.
In particular, the underground root of the abacus is more valuable, and the effect of clearing heat and dampness is also effective for rheumatoid diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic paralysis, damp heat and low back pain, joint pain, etc., so many people call it "rheumatic root", and people who understand it are digging.
The so-called "knowledge is treasure, not knowledge is grass", every plant that grows in the countryside has its value and use, and this abacus is the same, I didn't expect its value to be so precious and play so much.
Dear friends, do you have this kind of abacus in your hometown? It is a "pumpkin" that grows on a tree, and its roots are of high value, and people who know it will look for it.
Remark:
1. This article is a popular science article and does not constitute medication advice, please follow the doctor's advice!
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