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Adiantum capilus-veneris L.
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English Name |
Maidenhair, Southern Maidenhair |
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Latin name |
Adiantum capilus-veneris L. |
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Family & Genus |
Adiantaceae, Adiantum |
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Description |
Herbs, 15-40cm tall. Rhizomes slender and crab shaped, densely brown, lanceolate scales, entire. Leaves sparse; petioles 8-15cm long, chestnut black, nearly base scales, upwards smooth, with gloss; leaves thin papery, ovate-triangular or oblong-ovate, 10-25cm long, 8-16cm wide, bipinnate below the middle; pinnate 3-5 pairs, alternate, with peltioles, ovate-triangular, base 1 pair largest, up to 5cm long, pinnately lobed to pinnate, others become smaller upwards; small pinnate 3-4 pairs, with short stalk, fan-shaped or rhombic, external margin lobed to parted, lobes with blunt teeth, two sides nearly cuneate, asymmetrical; veins fan-shaped, multi-binary branched, prominent both sides, extend to leaf's margin. Sori oblong or round-reniform, transversely borne below indusium which is metamorphic lobes apically turned backward or downward, each pinnate 3-10, indusium round-reniform to oblong, upper margin straight, brown, entire. |
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Distribution |
Growing in crevices of stream rocks at altitude 100-2,800m, houses nearby and wall roots. Distributed in East, South-central and Southwest China, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and etc. |
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Part Used |
Medical part: whole plant. Chinese name: Zhuzongcao. |
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Harvest & Processing |
Harvested in Sumner, autumn, well washed, used fresh or sundried. |
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Chemistry |
Leaves contain astragalin, isoquercitrin, rutin, kaempferol-3-glucuronide, qucerciturone, kaempferol-3, 7-diglucoside, kaempferol-3-sulphate, 1-p-coumaroylglucose-6-sulphate, 1-p-coumaroylglucose-2-sulphate, 1-caffeoylgalactose-6-sulphate, sitosterol, stigmasterol, and campesterol, etc. |
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Properties & Actions |
Bitter, cool.Clearing heat, detoxifying, inducing water circulation and treating stranguria. |
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Indications & Usage |
Cold and pyrexia, cough with lung heat, diarrhea due to damp-heat, dysentery, stranguria with turbid urine, leukorrhea, mammary abscess, scrofula, furunculosis, scalding injuries and venomous snake bite.Oral administration: decocting, 15-30g, or made as medicinal liquor. External application: decocted for washing, or applied in powdered form. |
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Examples |
1. Pyrexia due to influenza: Maidenhair 60g, sheathed monochoria herb 30g, radix scutellariae 15g, shengcypsum fibrosum 30g. Decoct in water. Take in three respective doses.
2. Stranguria caused by urinary stone and bloody stranguria: herb of maidenhair 15g, climbing fern 15g, tiesiniu 15g. Decoct in water.
3. Scrofula: whole herb of maidenhair 9-30g. Decoct in water. |
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