Medicinal value and efficacy of plantain

　　Plantain ； It relieves the heat in the liver and intestines, subsides dampness and heat, clears the eyes, promotes urination in water channels, and removes dampness and paralysis. Taking it for a long time will lighten your body and resist aging. A man is injured and a woman is wet with fluids and has no desire to eat. It nourishes the lungs, strengthens the yin and replenishes the essence, so that the woman can have a child. Improves eyesight and cures red pain. It can remove wind poison, liver apoplexy and heat, poisonous wind rushing to the eyes, red pain and obstruction, brain pain and tears, suppressing elixir poison, and removing troublesome heat in the heart and chest. Nourishes the liver. The woman had difficulty in giving birth. Guide small intestine heat, relieve heat-dampness and diarrhea.

　　——"Compendium of Materia Medica"

　　Speaking of plantain, almost everyone knows it. Perhaps because it mostly grows on the roadside where vehicles pass by, the ancients gave it such a name. Regarding the name of plantain, there has been a story about the general Ma Wu circulating among the people.

　　According to legend, Ma Wu, a famous general in the Han Dynasty, once led an army to conquer the Qiang people in Wuling. He lost the battle due to the unfamiliar terrain and was besieged by the enemy in a deserted place. It was June. Scorching heat and no rain. Due to lack of food and water, the soldiers and horses were hungry and thirsty. distended pain , blood in urine, diagnosed as "hematuria" by the military doctor. But there was no medicine to clear away heat and diuresis, and they were helpless. The soldiers were all very anxious. A groom named Zhang Yong accidentally discovered that three horses with hematuria had recovered without treatment. He was surprised. He carefully observed the horses' activities and saw that a kind of cow-ear-shaped weed on the ground nearby was eaten by the horses. He thought that the horse might be cured by eating this kind of grass. To confirm the effect of this kind of grass, he pulled out some of the grass and drank the decoction for several days. He felt comfortable and his urine was normal, so he reported it to Ma Wu. General Ma Taixi asked: "Where does this grass grow?" ”Zhang Yong said with a finger ； “Right in front of the cart. ”Ma Wu smiled and said: "God help me, what a plantain! ”Immediately ordered the whole army to eat this grass, and the blood in urine was cured after taking it. The name plantain has been passed down like this.

　　Plantain Seed is listed as top grade in the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica". It is almost all over the north and south of the Yangtze River. It has different names in different places. Therefore, Plantain Seed has many aliases, such as Dangdao, Clover, Ma Xi, Beef Remains, Bugloss, Carrotweed, Lichen, Shrimp Toad Clothes, etc. Plantago seed is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It is a yin medicine in the yin. It is used on the liver, kidney and small intestine meridians. It has the effects of diluting water and relieving stranguria, expelling dampness and stopping diarrhea, improving eyesight and eliminating phlegm. clinical Commonly used for edema and fullness, hot stranguria and astringent pain, summer-dampness diarrhea, red and swollen eyes, and phlegm-heat cough Treatment of other symptoms.

　　Not long ago, I treated a patient with sty. When he saw the doctor, he said that two days ago, his right eyelid felt itchy, swollen, and red. Later, the pain became severe. The eyelid was so swollen that he could not open it. He could not see clearly. He also started to have headaches and headaches at night. fever . The examination revealed that he had obvious tenderness and induration on his right eyelid, as well as swollen and tender lymph nodes in front of his right ear, yellow tongue coating, and thready pulse. The diagnosis was that evil wind and heat poisoned the eyelids, causing local qi and blood to stagnate, causing pus to form. The treatment should be to dispel wind and heat, purge fire and detoxify. The prescription is to use Zhuye Xiejing Decoction with a modified formula: 15 grams of Plantago, 9 grams of Bupleurum, 9 grams of Gardenia, 3 grams of Cimicifuga, 9 grams of Alisma, 3 grams of Scutellaria baicalensis, 9 grams of Cassia, 6 grams of Scutellaria baicalensis, 9 grams of bamboo leaves, 10 grams of Fangfeng, 12 grams of Groundwort, 15 grams of Dandelion, and 3 grams of Shengjun (below). Decoction in water, one dose per day, take twice in the morning and evening. The patient recovered after taking three doses of medicine. This prescription can purge fire and detoxify, clear away heat and dampness, soothe the liver and expel wind. It has a good effect on local abscesses caused by evil wind and heat poisoning in the eyelids. If taken as early as possible in the early stage of the disease, most of the time the inflammation will subside without purulence within three days. If the inflammation is severe, 30 grams of isatis root and 40 grams of gypsum (fried first) can be added to strengthen the heat-clearing and detoxifying effect, and usually satisfactory results can be achieved.