Author: Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wu Junbiao
The ancients often "bathed and burned incense" before doing great things to show respect or pray. As one of the four top incense materials for incense burning, sandalwood is widely used and has high economic value, integrating aroma, medicinal and materials, and is known as "green gold" and "king of spices". Let Xiaobian take everyone to understand sandalwood from several aspects such as traits, medicinal value, and folk applications.
<h1>01, the properties of sandalwood</h1>
Sandalwood, a dry heartwood for the trunk of sandalwood family sandalwood santalum album L. Native to southern India and the Timor Islands of Indonesia, It is also produced in Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan, Taiwan and other places in China, with a height of 10 to 15 meters. The outer surface of the medicinal herb is grayish yellow or yellowish brown, smooth and delicate, some with scars or longitudinal cracks; the cross-section is brownish yellow, showing oil marks; the brown rings are obvious or inconspicuous, and the longitudinal split texture is straight. The aroma is fragrant, the aroma is stronger when burning, the taste is light, and the chewing is slightly spicy.
<h1>02, the medicinal value of sandalwood</h1>
The sandalwood is removed from impurities, first sawn into small pieces, and then split into thin slices or small pieces with a knife to obtain sandalwood drinking tablets. Sandalwood taste spicy, warm; return to the spleen, stomach, heart, lung meridians. It has the effect of appetizing and pain-relieving in the line temperature. The Compendium of Materia Medica records: "Cure choking diaphragm vomiting." He also grew black seeds on his face, washed them with slurry water every night, and rubbed them with juice." Clinically, it is mainly used for cold condensation stagnation, chest discomfort, chest palsy heartache, abdominal pain, vomiting and eating less.
Sandalwood mainly contains volatile oils, and modern pharmacological studies have shown that sandalwood has anti-myocardial ischemia, relaxing vascular smooth muscle, antibacterial and calming effects.
<h1>03, sandalwood medicinal dietary therapy</h1>
Safflower sandalwood tea: 1 cent (about 3g) of safflower, 7 cents of white sandalwood (about 2g). Put the herbs in a cup and brew them with boiling water, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, you can brew them several times until the taste is light. Suitable for patients with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction.
Danxiang honey drink: 15 grams of danshen, 9 grams of sandalwood, 3 grams of hot licorice, 30 grams of honey. After decoction of salvia, sandalwood, and licorice root, remove the residue to extract the juice and add honey. Can be decocted many times and drunk anytime. It can tonify the spleen and stomach, activate the blood, and is suitable for stomach and duodenal ulcers, stomach pain and other diseases.
<h1>04, the folk application of sandalwood</h1>
Natural flavors: Sandalwood oil, the main ingredient of sandalwood, contains 90% sandalwood alcohol, is recognized by the world as a valuable raw material for the manufacture of high-grade cosmetics, with a unique fragrance, and the aroma is rich and long-lasting, but also a high-quality incense, incense and smoked clothing, carrying a natural ingredient with sachets.
Craft carving materials: sandalwood wood is delicate, smells extremely fragrant, sweet and exotic, often used as high-grade utensils, inlays, carvings and other materials. Many deities and temples are carved from sandalwood, such as the white sandalwood statues (giant Buddha, 26 meters high and 3 meters in diameter) in beijing's Lama Temple, which are carved from white sandalwood; and are often used to carve Buddha beads, fans, pendants, pendants, ornaments and furniture.
Applied to religious ceremonies: The ancient Egyptians used sandalwood to burn in religious ceremonies to worship the gods; in Asia, smoking sandalwood became an important ritual for Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.
<h1>Pharmacist reminds</h1>
The main ingredient of sandalwood is volatile oil, which should be taken after decoction; it can also be taken as a pill powder.
Because of the spicy and warm taste of sandalwood, the "Materia Medica" records: "If the yin is full of fire, those who move blood to cause coughing, do not use it." Therefore, the yin and false fire are forbidden to serve, and those who spit out hot spit should be used with caution.
Sandalwood is a precious and scarce medicinal herb, the price is higher, there are more counterfeits on the market and it is difficult to distinguish, it is recommended to buy through formal channels such as hospitals.
First instance: Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association Ye Yingxia, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
Second instance: Zhang Geng, Wuhan Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine
The above is the original work of the volunteers of the "Drug Safety Cooperation Alliance", if you reprint, please indicate the author and source!
【PSM Public Welfare】The official public account (PSMChina) is a public welfare organization jointly initiated and established by the China Over-the-Counter Drug Association, the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association, the Chinese Medical Association, etc. - PSM Drug Safety Cooperation Alliance, which gathers resources and gathers strength to promote public drug safety.