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Youngia japonica (L.) DC.
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English Name |
Hawk’s Beard, |
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Latin name |
Youngia japonica (L.) DC. |
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Family & Genus |
Asteraceae, Carpesium |
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Description |
Annual or biennial herb, 15-80cm high. Plant body with milk, fibrous root fat, tender, white. Stem upright, one to several branches rise from basal part. Basal leaves caespitose, invert lanceolate, lyrate or pinnatifid, 8-14cm long, 1-3cm wide, terminal lobes slightly bigger than lateral lobes, lateral lobes smaller down ward, with sinuate crenate, hairless or covered with thin soft hairs, petiole with wings or with indistinct wings; stem leaf alternate, in small quantity, generally 1-2 pieces, or 3-5 pieces in a few cases, leaf shape equal to that of basal leaf, with equal lobes or without lobes, small or comparatively small; leaves upside small, fan shaped, bracteal; food value of leaf thin, covered with thin soft hairs upside, covered with dense fine hairs downside. Capitulum small and narrow, with a long peduncle, arranged in sympodium cone flower clusters; periclinium 4-7mm long; hairless, outer layer bracts 5, triangular or ovate, small, inner layer bract 8, lanceolate; ligulate flower yellow, 4.5-10mm long, 5 tines on the tip of corolla, tube 2-2.5mm long, with short thin soft hairs. Achene reddish brown or brown, about 2mm long, slightly flat, with 13 irregular longitudinal ribs; pappus white, nearly equal to achene in length. Flowering and fruiting: June to July. |
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Distribution |
Growing on roadsides, streamsides, tussock and forests. Distributed in East, South-central and Southwest China, Hebei, Shaanxi, Taiwan, Tibet and etc. The medicinal materials are produced in Fujian, Guangxi and etc. |
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Part Used |
Medical part: whole plant or roots. Chinese name: Huang’ancai. |
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Harvest & Processing |
Harvested whole plant in spring, excavated roots in autumn, used fresh or chopped into segments, and sun-dried. |
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Pharmacology |
Externally anticancer, antivirotic and antioxidative. |
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Properties & Actions |
Sweet, little bitter, cools.Clearing heat-toxin, disinhibiting urine for detumescence. |
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Indications & Usage |
Mainly used for cold, pharyngalgia, conjunctivitis, mammary abscess, ulcers, furuncles and swelling caused by toxicity, venomous snake bites, dysentery, abdominal dropsy due to cirrhosis, acute enteritis, stranguria with turbid urine, hematuria, leucorrhea, rheumatic arthritis, injuries caused by falls.Oral administration: decocting, 9-15g, fresh products 30-60g; or smashed to extract juice. External application: appropriate amount, fresh products smashed for applying. |
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Examples |
1. Treat sphagitis: fresh smoothhawk's-beard, wash clean, pestle and collect juice, add vinegar of an appropriate amount, and gargle (avoid oily or greasy food during treatment).
2. Treat mastitis: fresh Hawk's Beard 1-2 liang. Decoct in water, add liquor, swallow, pestle the residues, heat and apply externally to the affected lesions.
3. Treat abdominal dropsy due to cirrhosis: fresh Hawk's Beard root 4-6 qian. Decoct in water and swallow. |
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