Smilax glabra seed price and planting time, can it treat gout?

Smilax glabra, also known as lengfantuan or yingfantou, is a perennial evergreen climbing shrub, mostly growing on hillsides or under forest, and its dried rhizome can be used as medicine. So, how much do Smilax glabra seeds cost? When should they be planted? Can it treat gout?

1. How much do Smilax glabra seeds cost?

The price of Smilax glabra seeds is about 180 to 200 yuan per jin, but prices vary greatly depending on seed quality, variety, place of origin and market.

2. When should Smilax glabra be planted?

Smilax glabra is propagated by seed. The sowing period is from late March to early April in spring. Use the drill method, open furrows at a row spacing of 20 cm, sow the seeds evenly, cover with soil about 1 cm thick, keep the soil moist, and transplant when the seedlings are about 10 cm tall.

For Smilax glabra, open holes at a plant spacing of 25 cm, plant 1 plant per hole. When the seedlings are about 30 cm tall, a frame should be set up and the stems and vines guided onto it to promote growth. Pay attention to loosening the soil and weeding, and apply topdressing 1 to 2 times.

3. Can Smilax glabra treat gout?

Smilax glabra can treat gout. Smilax glabra has effects such as detoxifying and removing dampness, and benefiting the joints. The Compendium of Materia Medica records that Smilax glabra can strengthen the spleen and stomach and dispel wind-dampness; when the spleen and stomach are strong, the nutrient and defensive qi follow properly, and when wind-dampness is dispelled, the sinews and bones are benefited. The Inner Canon also records that large Smilax glabra is sweet and bland and neutral in nature, can remove spleen dampness; when dampness is removed, the nutrient and defensive qi follow properly and the sinews and vessels become supple, the muscles become firm, and contracture and pain and draining sores are healed. Therefore, when Smilax glabra is used to treat gout, its detoxifying and dampness-removing actions have a uric acid-lowering effect, and furthermore, using the principle that “when free flow occurs there is no pain, when there is pain there is no free flow”, the medicine's benefit to the joints can relieve pain. Thus, using Smilax glabra to treat gout can achieve the therapeutic effect of colchicine, and without rebound or toxic side effects.