The Benefits and Effects of the Resurrection Plant (Selaginella), How to Grow It, and Its Medicinal Value
The resurrection plant is a Chinese medicinal herb, also called Selaginella or rock cypress. It is a perennial fern, and the whole plant can be used as medicine. Its medicinal value is extremely high, and it can be used to prevent and treat some common human diseases. Regarding thebenefits and effects of the resurrection plant, many people are not very clear about it. How exactly should the resurrection plant begrown? And what medicinal value does it have? Below I will give you a comprehensive understanding.
I. The Benefits and Effects of the Resurrection Plant
1. Invigorating blood and regulating menstruation
The resurrection plant has an important effect of invigorating blood and regulating menstruation. It can speed up blood circulation and also prevent purpura. In daily life, it can be used to treat many common conditions such as amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea in women, as well as traumatic injuries and blood stasis with swelling and pain. Its therapeutic effects are also particularly outstanding.
2. Stopping bleeding
The resurrection plant is a Chinese medicinal herb that can stop bleeding. It can accelerate platelet coagulation and stop bleeding quickly. In daily life, when people experience external bleeding from an injury, grinding the resurrection plant into powder and applying it externally can stop the bleeding. In addition, this Chinese medicinal herb can also be used to treat many common conditions such as hematemesis, blood in the stool, and blood in the urine, and its therapeutic effects are also very obvious.
3. Preventing gastric ulcers
The medicinal effects of the resurrection plant are particularly outstanding. It can relieve spasms and pain and also eliminate inflammation. In daily life, it can be used for the prevention and treatment of many common conditions such as gastric ulcers, gastritis, and stomach pain. It can accelerate the healing of ulcers and reduce the occurrence of gastric ulcers.
4. Preventing and fighting cancer
The resurrection plant is a Chinese medicinal herb that can prevent and fight cancer. The natural medicinal components it contains can prevent the cancerous transformation of human tissue cells and also inhibit the regrowth of cancer cells. Moreover, it can inhibit the activity of various viruses in the human body and reduce the damage these viruses cause to human tissue cells. Taking it in moderation in daily life can significantly reduce the incidence of cancer.
5. Whitening and fading spots
Whitening and fading spots is also an important effect of the Chinese medicinal herb resurrection plant. It can inhibit pigment deposition and also nourish and whiten the skin. In daily life, grind the resurrection plant into powder, mix it evenly with egg white to make a mask, and then apply it externally to the facial skin.
6. Relieving spasms
The apigenin contained in the resurrection plant has a moderate antispasmodic effect on smooth muscle.
II. How to Grow the Resurrection Plant
1. The resurrection plant likes to grow in a warm and humid environment, and it also has a certain tolerance to drought, shade, and poor soil, so this plant is relatively easy to grow. The placement location needs to have smooth ventilation and no direct sunlight. It can be placed on a windowsill or kept indoors.
2. Avoid sunlight. The resurrection plant does not like long-term direct sunlight, especially intense exposure. Usually, it only needs scattered light or soft light to ensure normal growth. Therefore, in daily care, attention should be paid to taking necessary shading measures in the growing environment in a timely manner.
3. Temperature assurance. The resurrection plant grows best in a temperature environment between 22°C-28°C. In summer high-temperature weather, in addition to taking good shading measures, ventilation should also be strengthened and water sprayed appropriately to maintain moisture and lower the temperature. In winter, it is usually necessary to ensure that the temperature in the growing environment is above 10°C to maintain normal growth, and the temperature must remain above 0°C for it to overwinter safely.
4. Scientific watering. During the growing season, the resurrection plant prefers a humid growing environment and has certain requirements for both pot soil humidity and air humidity, so as to ensure the plant maintains good growth. Usually, water only after the pot soil becomes dry, and it is also relatively drought-tolerant. During periods of drought, the leaves will curl inward, and after receiving water, they will quickly return to a normal growth state.
5. Reasonable topdressing. The resurrection plant does not depend heavily on fertilizer, after all, this plant is relatively tolerant of poor soil. However, in order to keep it in good growing condition during the growing season, liquid fertilizer can usually be applied once every 2 weeks, with the concentration controlled at about 30%, mainly nitrogen fertilizer, supplemented by phosphorus and potassium fertilizer.
6. Timely repotting. As a potted resurrection plant, it is usually planted in a shallow pot, and after being potted for a long time, it needs timely repotting and soil replacement. If the original pot has enough growing space, then we only need to replace the soil. Repotting is usually carried out in spring, and when repotting, simply replace the old soil with new pot soil.
III. The Medicinal Value of the Resurrection Plant
The resurrection plant is not only an ornamental plant, but also a precious medicinal plant. It is an astringent hemostatic agent and can be used to treat bleeding from traumatic injuries and knife wounds.
[Synonyms] Undying.
[Source] The whole herb of the Crassulaceae plant Hylotelephium verticillatum.
[Plant form] Hylotelephium verticillatum is a perennial herb, 40-100 cm tall. Fibrous roots are fine. Stems are erect and unbranched.
Leaves are in whorls of 3-5 or opposite, oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm wide, apex acute, base cuneate, margin with wavy sparse teeth, often pale white beneath, almost sessile.
The corymb is terminal, flowers densely borne, the top forming a hemispherical shape, 2.5-6 cm in diameter; 5 sepals, lanceolate, about 1 mm long; 5 petals, yellow-white, pale green to white, oblong-elliptic, 4-5 mm long; 10 stamens; scales strip-shaped and cuneate; 5 carpels, oblong.
Flowering period is July-September.
It grows in grass on high mountain slopes or among stones by ditches.
It is distributed in Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Northeast China, and other regions.
[Collection] Collected in summer and autumn, washed clean and used fresh.
[Nature and flavor] Bitter and astringent, neutral.
[Functions and indications - benefits of the resurrection plant] Detoxifying, reducing swelling, stopping bleeding.
Treats wounds, unnamed swelling and toxin, snake bites, and scorpion stings.
[Usage and dosage] External use: pound and apply, or squeeze the juice and apply.
[Selected formula] To treat snake bites: fresh resurrection plant, Rumex japonicus, Curculigo orchioides, and alum in appropriate amounts each, pound into a paste and apply to the wound.