This product is the dried aerial part of the Polygonaceae plant Grass of Common KnotGrass (Polygonum aviculare L.). It is harvested during the summer when the leaves are lush, with roots and impurities removed, and then dried in the sun.

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

The stem of this product is cylindrical and slightly flattened, with branches, measuring 15-40 cm in length and 0.2-0.3 cm in diameter. The surface is gray-green or brownish-red, with fine, slightly raised longitudinal lines; the nodes are slightly swollen, with a light brown membranous stipular sheath, and the internodes are about 3 cm long; the texture is hard and easily broken, with a white pith in the cross-section. The leaves are alternate, nearly sessile or with short petioles, mostly fallen, wrinkled, or fragmented; when fully expanded, the leaves are lanceolate, with entire margins, and both surfaces are brownish-green or gray-green. It is odorless and has a slightly bitter taste.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter, slightly cold.

1. Benjing: "bitter, neutral."
2. Bielu: "nontoxic."
3. Diannan Bencao: "cold, bitter."
4. Bencao Zheng: "bitter and astrigent."

1. Bencao Huiyan: "act on foot taiyang bladder channel."
2. "Act on stomach and bladder channels." "
3. Bencao Zaixin: "Act on spleen and kidney channels."

bubble_chart Efficacy

Diuretic and relieves strangury, kills worms, and relieves itching.

bubble_chart Indications

Bladder heat stranguria, short and reddish urine, dribbling and painful urination, skin eczema, pruritus vulvae, leukorrhea.

1. Used for dampness-heat pouring down, heat stranguria with painful urination, etc., it can be used in combination with Lilac Pink Herb, Talc, Akebia Stem, Plantain Seed, Gardenia, Liquorice Root, etc.
2. For skin eczema, pruritus vulvae, etc., decoct this product and use it for external washing.
3. For biliary ascariasis, use Grass of Common KnotGrass and vinegar, decocted with water and taken orally.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Mainly treats soaking, scabies, ulcers, hemorrhoids, and kills three types of parasites."
2. Bielu: "Treats women's pudendal sores."
3. Tao Hong-jing: "Boiling the juice and giving it to children to drink has been proven effective in treating roundworms."
4. Yaoxing Lun: "Mainly treats the swelling and pain of the eyes caused by the eruption of mineral toxins, and is also effective in applying to heat-induced swellings."
5. Diannan Bencao: "Promotes urination. Treats five types of strangury, turbid urine, heat stranguria, stagnant essence, and blocked orifices, and also treats women's qi depression, stomach dampness stroke heat, or leucorrhea."
6. Gangmu: "Treats cholera, jaundice, and promotes urination."
7. 《Guizhou Folk Medicine Collection》: "Treats infantile malnutrition with accumulation in children, and reduces tympanites."
8. 《Jiangxi Chinese Medicinals》: "Treats anal itching caused by dampness-heat."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

9-15g; for external use, an appropriate amount, decoct and wash the affected area.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

The whole plant contains glycosides of Grass of Common KnotGrass, Daimyo Oak Bark glycosides, d-Black Catechu essence, Nutgall acid, coffee bean acid, oxalic acid, silicic acid, chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, mucilage, glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Distribution of silicic acid: leaves 1.6%, stems 0.6%, roots 0.4% (if used as a silicate drug, it can be collected throughout its growth period; if used as a flavonoid drug, it is best collected just at the beginning of flowering).

Pharmacological effects

1. Diuretic effect: Experiments have proven that Grass of Common KnotGrass has a diuretic effect. After administering a decoction of 20g/kg to saline-loaded rats, the excretion of urine, sodium, and potassium increased, especially potassium. Its ash also has the same effect, so it is believed that its diuretic effect is mainly due to potassium salts, and some believe it is due to the flavonoids it contains.
2. Hypotensive effect: Intravenous injection of water and alcohol extracts of Grass of Common KnotGrass has a hypotensive effect on cats, rabbits, and dogs.
3. Effect on uterus and hemostasis: Water and alcohol extracts of Grass of Common KnotGrass can accelerate blood coagulation, increase uterine tension, and can be used as a hemostatic agent for late abortion and postpartum uterine bleeding.
4. Antibacterial effect: A 1:10 extract of Grass of Common KnotGrass inhibits certain fungi in vitro, with weaker inhibition on bacteria.
5. Other effects: It can enhance the amplitude of respiratory movements and lung ventilation, has a grade I astringent effect, and can be used as a wound medication. Grass of Common KnotGrass glycosides have a choleretic effect on rats and dogs. The median effective dose (2.57～4.26 mg/kg) given intravenously to dogs can increase the excretion of bile salts.

1. Grass of Common KnotGrass is toxic as fodder, causing dermatitis and gastrointestinal disorders in horses and sheep, with pigeons being the most sensitive to its toxic effects.
2. The minimum lethal dose for cats and rabbits orally administered with infusions (10～20%) or decoctions (1:40) is 20 ml/kg, while intravenous injection of water extracts (1:50) is 2 ml/kg.