How to propagate Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica)? A detailed guide to three common propagation methods

Livestock Farming Jan 1, 1970 0 views

The Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica) blooms almost year-round, with large, bright yellow flowers that are very beautiful. It can be propagated by three methods: sowing seeds, root cuttings and stem cuttings. Since its seeds are relatively easy to obtain, seed propagation is the method used most often

Japanese pagoda tree

1. Seed propagation method

Sow in spring. Because the seed coat has a palisade layer of tightly packed cells, it is poorly permeable to water. Before sowing, soak the seeds in water at an initial temperature of 85-90 degrees for 24 hours, then treat the remaining hard seeds another 1-2 times. Once the seeds swell with absorbed water, they can be sown. Drill-sow with a row spacing of 20-25 cm, cover with 1.5-2 cm of soil, and sow 8-10 kg per mu; seedlings emerge in 7-10 days. During the seedling stage, plant at a reasonable density to prevent the trunk from bending, generally leaving 6-8 seedlings per meter; one-year-old seedlings reach more than 1 m in height. You can also raise seedlings intensively in nutrient pots in early spring and then transplant them to set the final spacing. The Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica) has strong sprouting ability; if you are growing large saplings with a good trunk form, you can cut back the trunk in early spring of the second year and increase the row spacing, and the seedlings will reach 3-4 m in height that year, with a straight, thick and smooth trunk.

2. Root cutting method

In late winter or early spring, cut thick Japanese pagoda tree roots into segments of about 15 cm for cuttings; no shading is needed, just keep the soil moist. After about 1 month the roots will have taken and can be potted up. The survival rate is as high as 90%. The root cutting method not only makes full use of and increases the propagation material for cuttings, but also allows you to create Japanese pagoda tree bonsai according to the different shapes of the roots, greatly raising the ornamental value of potted Japanese pagoda trees. Potted Japanese pagoda trees begin to bloom in October, with a flowering period of about 2 months; after overwintering and leaf drop, change the soil and prune, and the following year they begin to bloom again in May-June, with a flowering period of about 1 month.

3. Stem cutting method

In late winter and early spring, before the leaf buds of the Japanese pagoda tree sprout, cut the branches and trunk into segments about 20 cm long for cuttings. After cutting, be sure to provide shade and keep the soil moist. After about 2 months, the cuttings will have rooted and taken, and can then be potted up one after another. After potting, place them in a cool place for 1-2 weeks, then gradually move them to a spot with plenty of sunlight; afterwards, all management of the potted Japanese pagoda trees grown from cuttings is the same as for the trunk-cut potted method. Because potted Japanese pagoda trees grown from cuttings grow more slowly than those grown by the trunk-cut method, their flowering period is also delayed by one month, that is, they bloom only in early November. During the process of potting Japanese pagoda trees, after more than a year of careful and detailed observation, we found that after transplanting, the roots remaining in the ground can sprout and grow into new plants; when the roots of the Japanese pagoda tree are used as cuttings, their survival rate and growth speed are both higher and faster than those of stem cuttings.

Guangzhou Institute of Landscape Gardening carries out research and development on the ecological functions of green spaces and the selection and breeding of ornamental plant varieties

Achievement code: GK13229

Achievement name: Capacity building for research and development on the ecological functions of urban green spaces and the selection and breeding of ornamental plant varieties in Guangzhou

Completing unit: Guangzhou Institute of Landscape Gardening

Completing personnel: Zhu Chun, Huang Huazhi, Dai Seping, Xiong Yongmei, Lu Li, Ye Zhenhua, He Manmei, Feng Yimin, Chen Hui

Start time: 2007-12-01

End time: 2010-12-01

Organizing appraisal unit: Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Science and Information Technology

Appraisal date: 2012-10-19

Reporting department: Guangzhou Municipal Forestry and Landscape Gardening Bureau

Registration date: 2013-08-14

Achievement summary: 1 Research background

As an important part of urban public utilities, environmental construction and national land greening, urban landscape greening construction is an important element of urban construction and an important component of the urban ecosystem, and it plays a huge role in improving the quality of the urban ecological environment. It can not only improve the climate, regulate temperature, increase humidity, balance carbon-oxygen, weaken the greenhouse effect, purify the air, absorb and filter harmful gases, reduce noise, and defend against sandstorms, floods and other disasters, but also beautify the environment; moreover, it is the main place for urban residents to entertain themselves, sightsee, rest and exercise. The role of urban green spaces in improving the urban environment is already a universally recognized fact and an indisputable theory. With the continuous development of urbanization, population keeps gathering in cities and their numbers keep increasing; the pressures of a large population, scarce land resources and a fragile living environment for residents, especially ecological and environmental problems, are becoming more and more obvious. In the development of environmental construction, people are becoming more and more deeply aware of the importance of urban green space systems in urban construction, attach importance to and carry out large-scale urban greening, and raise it to the standard for measuring a city's level of modernization and degree of civilization; it has become an important task in today's urban ecological environment construction.

Guangzhou, as the central city of South China, has long been known as the "Flower City". In 1966, its urban greening ranked second among large cities nationwide, and in 1993 it was rated as a national advanced city for urban greening. In recent years, the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have proposed the urban development goal of being "suitable for starting businesses, developing and living in", and Mayor Zhang Guangning asked the Municipal Bureau of Municipal Administration and Landscape Gardening to "meticulously build the city, meticulously beautify the city, and meticulously manage the city". Guangzhou has fully implemented image projects such as "a small change every year", "green mountains and green spaces", and "blue sky and clear water". Facing the 2010 Asian Games, Guangzhou urban greening proposed the goal of building a "famous city of Lingnan, ecological Guangzhou, colorful Flower City, green Asian Games". Compared with 2003, in 2006 the green space area in the built-up area increased by a net 7,747 hectares, and the public green space area increased by a net 1,965.05 hectares. In the large-scale construction of urban green spaces, a series of problems such as urban greening models, garden tree species and plant arrangement have become prominent. The government has realized that there are problems in green space construction such as poor biodiversity, monotonous tree species, simple types and structures, single functions, poor stability, easy degradation and high maintenance costs. How should urban greening be planned, built and maintained so that it can both beautify the urban environment and enhance the ecological functions and environmental purification capacity of urban green spaces? How can the ecological security of the urban environment be guaranteed through various monitoring efforts? How should urban ecosystem health be evaluated? Problems such as the ecological processes and mechanisms of near-natural urban ecosystems have long been seriously constrained by the backward scientific research conditions of the landscape gardening industry. Research on these aspects in Guangzhou is even more lagging behind, or might be called a blank, becoming a source of trouble and a bottleneck for high-quality landscape greening construction in Guangzhou.

Therefore, carrying out capacity building for research and development on the ecological functions of urban green spaces and the selection and breeding of ornamental plant varieties in Guangzhou is an urgent and imperative matter, and it is of enormous significance for the landscape gardening industry to implement the scientific outlook on development, create a resource-saving and environment-friendly conservation-oriented landscape, and improve Guangzhou's post-Asian Games landscape greening technology.

2 Main research and development content

1) Carry out a series of studies on the green space system functions of more than 3 road greening models;

2) Carry out a series of studies on more than 3 public green space ecosystems;

3) Analyze the structure and pattern of the blueprint of near-natural communities in Guangzhou and research and formulate key technologies for near-natural community planting models;

4) Carry out a series of studies on and classification of the ecological functions of 35 commonly used ornamental plants;

5) Screen or breed 6-8 characteristic plants, carry out functional determination and promote their application;

6) Screen characteristic plant materials and carry out a series of studies on their ecological functions and apply them to urban greening construction, and carry out ecological research on characteristic plant communities. Analyze the landscape characteristics of characteristic plants applied in garden green spaces, such as landscape appearance, plant type and leaf color, seasonal changes and flowering characteristics.

3 Completion of expected goals and assessment indicators such as achievements

1) Completed monitoring and research on indicators such as temperature reduction, humidity increase, light reduction, dust retention, maximum soil water-holding capacity, carbon fixation and oxygen release per unit area, noise reduction effect and absorption of SO2, NO and NO2 gas content for 3 road green spaces in Guangzhou, and selected the road greening model with multiple tree species, high canopy density and scattered planting of a tree-shrub multi-layered structure, whose ecological and environmental benefits are superior to single-row, neatly planted trees or shrubs or a tree-shrub structure greening model.

2) Completed monitoring and research on indicators such as temperature reduction, humidity increase, light reduction, dust retention, maximum soil water-holding capacity, carbon fixation and oxygen release per unit area, noise reduction effect and absorption of SO2, NO and NO2 gas content for 3 public green spaces in Guangzhou, and selected the greening model with a tree-shrub-herb multi-layered structure, whose ecological and environmental benefits are superior to a shrub-herb model or a single-row tree plus shrub greening model.

3) Completed research on carbon fixation and oxygen release and transpiration heat absorption of 35 commonly used garden plants; completed research on the dust retention capacity of 72 garden plants; completed research on the S and Cl absorption content of 44 plants; completed research on the bactericidal function of 47 garden plants; classified the ecological functions of the above garden plants, and finally selected 8 plants with relatively strong ecological functions, including large-leaved banyan (Ficus macrophylla), small-leaved banyan (Ficus microcarpa), Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica), autumn maple (Bischofia javanica), pointed-leaved elaeocarpus (Elaeocarpus apiculatus), fagraea (Fagraea ceilanica), kapok (Bombax ceiba) and high mountain banyan (Ficus altissima).

4) Completed the screening or breeding of 9 new and superior garden plants, researched and formulated corresponding application forms and related maintenance technical measures during the process of propagation, production and promotion, and ultimately achieved economic benefits of more than 6 million yuan;

5) Completed the preliminary establishment of data collection on indicators such as temperature reduction, humidity increase, light reduction, dust retention, maximum soil water-holding capacity, carbon fixation and oxygen release per unit area, noise reduction effect and absorption of SO2, NO and NO2 gas content for 3 roads and 3 public green space greening models; completed data collection on carbon fixation and oxygen release and transpiration heat absorption of 35 garden plants; completed data collection on dust retention of 72 garden plants; completed data collection on S and Cl absorption content of 44 plants; completed data collection on the bactericidal function of 47 garden plants;

6) Completed research on temperature regulation and humidity increase, light reduction, carbon absorption and oxygen release, dust retention and sterilization, air quality and maximum soil water-holding capacity of green spaces with different degrees of disturbance and different artificial green spaces. For green spaces with different degrees of disturbance, natural green spaces have the best ecological benefits; for different types of artificial green spaces, park green spaces have the best ecological benefits.

7) Completed the analysis of the plant blueprints of Shuixi Village in Luogang District of Guangzhou, the Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area, the Conghua Hot Spring Protection Area, the southern foot of Nankun Mountain in Zengcheng City, and the Maofeng Mountain Forest Park, and summarized that the near-natural communities in Guangzhou are mainly evergreen broad-leaved forests, rich in plant species, and mostly native tree species. The main tree species composition of the coniferous forest is Masson pine.

8) Completed the summary of the planting technical regulations for the demonstration sites. Five years after establishment, studied the plant composition, dominant species, diversity, canopy structure, soil properties and ecological factors of the demonstration sites, evaluated the community ecological benefits of the demonstration sites and compared them with suburban communities. The plant community ecological benefits of the Mingquanju demonstration site are similar to the near-natural community of Baiyun Mountain.

9) Completed mass propagation of key promoted varieties by methods such as sowing, cuttings and tissue culture, producing more than 200,000 seedlings of different specifications in total, and promoted more than 100,000 wild and cultivated varieties such as Callistemon polandii, Callistemon viminalis, Acacia podalyriifolia, Heteropterys glabra, Syzygium buxifolium, Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, Rhaphiolepis indica, Grevillea banksii, Xanthostemon chrysanthus, Melastoma intermedium, Melastoma dodecandrum, Clerodendrum japonicum and Melastoma candidum to Guangzhou, Foshan, Huadu, Qingyuan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China and other regions, applying them in the landscape greening of urban roads, factories, residential communities and institutional compounds. At demonstration sites such as parks, roads, Asian Games venues, pedestrian bridges and the Asian Games City river channel, the theories and plant materials from the above research were used for landscaping, making a huge contribution to the creation of the plant landscape for the Guangzhou Asian Games.

10) Through this research and development capacity-building platform, introduced 3 master's students and trained 2 doctoral students.

11) Published 7 related research papers.

4 Application and promotion situation and existing problems

Through follow-up surveys of the promoted new varieties, we learned about the application effects of these varieties, including plant growth, occurrence of pests and diseases, the impact of site conditions and maintenance levels on their growth, and landscape effects. After several years of cultivation and observation, a group of varieties that adapt to growth in the Guangzhou area and have good ornamental value were selected. For example, Callistemon viminalis, Callistemon polandii, Grevillea banksii, Acacia podalyriifolia, as well as some winter colorful-leaf varieties such as Syzygium buxifolium and Heteropterys glabra and other new varieties, were applied on the Foshan First Ring Road, urban areas of Guangzhou, the Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area and residential communities, achieving good results, attracting the attention of relevant leaders and industry departments, becoming hot selections for recent design and application, and causing a surge in market demand. Up to now, the economic benefits from propagating new and superior variety seedlings have totaled more than 6 million yuan. At the same time, publicity materials about the characteristics and application features of the relevant varieties were compiled, and multiple demonstration sites for new varieties were established in different places. Through these forms, the promotion of new varieties achieved good results. In particular, they played a positive role in creating the "colorful Flower City" urban landscape effect for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. Observation and research on seedlings is long-term and requires continuous application, comparison, analysis and further improvement to achieve the optimal effect, so long-term persistent research on the characteristics of seedlings is needed.

Traditional Chinese medicine around us ---- the effects and benefits of the pagoda tree, pagoda tree flowers, pagoda tree fruit, pagoda tree flower buds and pagoda tree branches

Chinese scholar tree, pagoda tree, pagoda tree stamens, bean pagoda tree, white pagoda tree, fine-leaved pagoda tree, golden medicinal herb, house-guarding tree, domestic pagoda tree, six-year fragrant, Chinese pagoda tree (photo)

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Species name: Chinese scholar tree

Both the Chinese scholar tree and the Chinese arborvitae have become the city trees of Beijing, and the Chinese scholar tree is also the city tree of Dalian City in Liaoning Province and Tai'an City in Shandong Province. Name

English name: Flower of Japanese Pagodatree, Pagodatree Flower Bud

Latin scientific name: Sophora japonica Linn.

Chinese aliases: pagoda tree, pagoda tree stamens, bean pagoda tree, white pagoda tree, fine-leaved pagoda tree, golden medicinal herb, house-guarding tree, domestic pagoda tree, six-year fragrant, Chinese pagoda tree

Origin of the name: The pagoda tree has pinnate compound leaves with relatively small leaflets, so its crown is dense. The first-order lateral branches of the pagoda tree are thick and strong, so the crown is cloud-like. The pagoda tree has rhizobia and sufficient nitrogen nutrition, so its leaves are dark, appearing dark green. Seen from a distance, the crown of the pagoda tree is like a mass of dark green thick clouds; dark green is a dim color, and thick clouds likewise bring dimness. The pagoda tree's pods are constricted into a bead-like string, and the constricted areas are very thin. The pods remain on the tree, and in the rainy season of the following year, when rain falls, the constricted areas are soaked by rainwater and break off and fall; the fruit skin is soaked and rots, exposing the seeds, and dyes the ground under the shade of the tree dark green. The pagoda tree is easily harmed by aphids, and the secretions of the aphids fall to the ground and also dye the ground black. Under the pagoda tree shade it is therefore often black, likewise carrying the meaning of dimness. Therefore, the name of the pagoda tree comes from "dimness". The character "huai" (pagoda tree) is similar in pronunciation to the character "hui" (dim), and "huai tree" is "hui tree", indicating a type of tree whose crown is dim. Precisely because of this characteristic of the pagoda tree, people like to enjoy the cool and gather under the pagoda tree shade. In the Han Dynasty, some people therefore believed that "huai means longing; people stand under the pagoda tree missing someone from afar and wishing to discuss matters with that person". This is actually a humanistic explanation of how the pagoda tree got its name, arising only from noticing the phenomenon that people like to enjoy the cool under the pagoda tree shade. Because it is suitable for people to enjoy shade and cool off, the pagoda tree is also a symbol of status. The Rites of Zhou, Autumn Offices records: outside the Zhou Dynasty court, three pagoda trees were planted, and the Three Dukes stood under the pagoda trees when they had an audience with the Son of Heaven. The Three Dukes refer to the Grand Preceptor, Grand Mentor and Grand Guardian, the collective name of the three highest official positions in the Zhou Dynasty. Later generations therefore used the three pagoda trees as a metaphor for the Three Dukes, and it became a symbol of the official positions of the Three Dukes and chief ministers; the pagoda tree thus became a famous cultural tree species in China. Family and genus

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Fabales

Family: Leguminosae, subfamily Fabaceae (papilionoid)

Genus: Sophora

Species: Pagoda tree S. japonicum Origin and distribution

It is found in many countries, especially in Asia; it was originally more concentrated in northern China, from Liaoning in the north to Guangdong and Taiwan, China in the south, and from Shandong in the east to Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan in the west. It commonly grows on the North China Plain and the Loess Plateau at elevations of 1000 m. Morphological characteristics

Deciduous tree, 15-25 m tall, trunk bark dark gray, branchlets green, lenticels obvious. Pinnate compound leaves 15-25 cm long; leaf rachis hairy, enlarged at the base; 9-15 leaflets, ovate-oblong, 2.5-7.5 cm long and 1.5-5 cm wide, apex acuminate with a fine abrupt tip, base broadly cuneate, grayish-white beneath, sparsely covered with short soft hairs. Panicle terminal; calyx bell-shaped with 5 small teeth; corolla milky white, standard petal broadly heart-shaped with a short claw and purple veins, wing petals and keel petals slightly purple at the edges; 10 stamens, unequal in length. Pod fleshy, bead-like, 2.5-5 cm long, hairless, indehiscent; 1-6 seeds, kidney-shaped. Flowering and fruiting period September-December.

Plants of the same family

(1) Dragon-claw pagoda tree: branchlets curved and drooping, crown umbrella-shaped, often planted in gardens.

(2) Purple-flowered pagoda tree: 15-17 leaflets, leaves covered with blue-gray silky short soft hairs; the wing petals and keel petals of the flowers are often purple, and its flowering period is the latest.

(3) Five-leaf pagoda tree: 3-5 leaflets clustered, the terminal leaflet often 3-lobed, the lower part of the lateral leaflets often with large lobes.

(4) Golden-branch pagoda tree: the lower part of the lateral leaflets often has large lobes, the leaf underside is hairy, and the branches are yellow.

Growth habits

Hardy, likes sunlight, slightly tolerant of shade, not tolerant of shade and moisture but drought-resistant, grows poorly in low-lying waterlogged places, deep-rooted, not strict about soil requirements, relatively tolerant of barren soil, and can also grow normally on lime and mildly saline-alkali land (salt content about 0.15%). However, it grows best on moist, fertile, deep, well-drained sandy soil. Tolerant of smoke and dust, and able to adapt to urban street environments. Not many pests and diseases. Long lifespan, strong tolerance to smoke pollution. Garden uses

A characteristic tree species commonly used in Chinese courtyards. It is relatively fast-growing, with hard, elastic wood, straight grain, easy to process and corrosion-resistant; the flower buds can be used as dye, the fruit pulp can be used as medicine, and the seeds can be used as feed. It is also a tree species used for windbreak and sand fixation and for both timber and economic forests, and is a good shade tree and street tree species in urban and rural areas. The dragon-claw pagoda tree is one of the traditional tree species for Chinese courtyard greening and is full of national flavor. The five-leaf pagoda tree has a peculiar leaf shape, just like thousands of green butterflies perched on the tree, which can be called a wonder, and is suitable for solitary planting. Propagation and cultivation

Mainly propagated by sowing, but also by cuttings. Sow in spring. Because the seed coat has a palisade layer of tightly packed cells, it is poorly permeable to water. Before sowing, soak the seeds in water at an initial temperature of 85-90 degrees for 24 hours, then treat the remaining hard seeds another 1-2 times. Once the seeds swell with absorbed water, they can be sown. Drill-sow with a row spacing of 20-25 cm, cover with 1.5-2 cm of soil, and sow 8-10 kg per mu; seedlings emerge in 7-10 days. During the seedling stage, plant at a reasonable density to prevent the trunk from bending, generally leaving 6-8 seedlings per meter; one-year-old seedlings reach more than 1 m in height. You can also raise seedlings intensively in nutrient pots in early spring and then transplant them to set the final spacing. The Chinese scholar tree has strong sprouting ability; if you are growing large saplings with a good trunk form, you can cut back the trunk in early spring of the second year and increase the row spacing, and the seedlings will reach 3-4 m in height that year, with a straight, thick and smooth trunk. Economic uses

An excellent nectar plant; the seeds are pressed for oil for industrial use; the outer fruit skin of the pagoda tree pods can be used to extract syrup; the wood is used for construction or for making farm tools and furniture; it has strong resistance to toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide and chlorine. Medicinal value

Pagoda tree flowers are cool in nature and bitter in taste, and have the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, clearing liver fire and stopping bleeding. They contain substances such as rutin, quercetin, sophoradiol and vitamin A. Rutin can improve the function of capillaries, maintain the normal resistance of capillaries, and prevent bleeding, high blood pressure and diabetes caused by excessive capillary fragility and excessive permeability; taking it can prevent bleeding; pagoda tree fruit can stop bleeding and lower blood pressure.

Cut pagoda tree branches into small sections, decoct until the medicinal liquid turns green, first fumigate and then wash the hemorrhoid area, and it has a good therapeutic effect.

★ Warning

This species is a toxic plant included in the Chinese Plant Atlas Database; its toxicity lies in the flowers, leaves, stem bark and pods being toxic. Poisoning in humans who eat the flowers and leaves causes facial swelling, skin fever and itching. The leaves and pods can also irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa, producing colic and diarrhea. Fruit shell extract can cause breathing difficulties in mice and rats. Flower buds and flowers contain rutin and sterols, and the fruit contains various flavonoids and phenolic components such as robinin and quercetin. Differences between white wax and Chinese scholar tree

White wax: deciduous tree, crown oval, leaflets elliptical to ovate. Ecology: likes light, slightly tolerant of shade, suitable for warm and humid climates, drought-tolerant, cold-tolerant, well-developed root system, fast-growing, tolerant of pruning, long lifespan. Trunk upright and graceful, dense green shade, leaves turning yellow in autumn.

Chinese scholar tree (pagoda tree): Sophora japonica L.

Tree, up to 25 m tall. Bark dark gray, rough and furrowed, branchlets green; buds under the leaf scar. Once-pinnate odd-pinnate compound leaves, 7-17 leaflets, with short petiolules, ovate to lanceolate-ovate, apex pointed, base rounded or broadly cuneate, pale beneath, covered with appressed hairs. Panicle terminal, corolla yellow-white. Flowers pale yellow, pods 2.5-5 cm, yellow-green, hairless. Fruit skin fleshy, containing gum, indehiscent, not falling through winter. Flowering period June-August, fruiting period September-October.

The bark is different, and the leaves are different too.

Generally we often say

that

Pagoda trees include the Chinese scholar tree, black locust, dragon-claw pagoda tree, purple-flowered pagoda tree and others. Among them, the basic differences between the Chinese scholar tree and black locust are: 1. Black locust has stipular spines, while the Chinese scholar tree does not. 2. Black locust blooms in May, while the Chinese scholar tree blooms in July-August. 1. Chinese scholar tree: the pagoda tree belongs to the genus Sophora in the papilionoid family, and the pagoda tree is also directly called the Chinese scholar tree; it is a deciduous tree with a round crown. Branchlets green, lenticels obvious, winter bud scales not obvious. Odd-pinnate compound leaves, alternate, 7-17 leaflets, opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, entire margin. Terminal panicle, flowers papilionaceous, pale yellow-green. Pods constricted between the seeds into a bead-like shape, indehiscent when ripe, fleshy, hanging at the tips of branches, not falling for a long time. Flowering period June-August, fruiting period October. 2. Black locust: black locust is also called false acacia, white black locust and German pagoda tree. It is a deciduous tree in the papilionoid family, up to 25 m tall; bark brown, with longitudinal cracks. Branches have stipular spines; pinnate compound leaves have 7-25 leaflets, alternate, elliptical or ovate, 2-5.5 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, apex round or slightly concave with a small tip, base rounded. Flowers white, with red markings on the calyx tube. Flowering and fruiting period May. Fruit ripens October-November. 3. Dragon-claw pagoda tree: the general characteristics of the dragon-claw pagoda tree are the same as the Chinese scholar tree, except that the branches and leaves droop. 4. Red-flowered pagoda tree: the purple-flowered pagoda tree has the same general characteristics as black locust, except that the flower color is red. 5. Golden-leaf black locust: belongs to the genus Robinia in the papilionoid family, a broad-leaved deciduous tree, more than 25 m tall, trunk bark deeply and longitudinally fissured, odd-pinnate compound leaves, 7-19 leaflets, elliptical, 2-5 cm long, entire margin, apex slightly concave with a small spiny tip; the leaves are golden yellow in spring, turn yellow-green in summer, and turn orange-yellow in autumn, with rich leaf color changes; it blooms in early summer, with white, fragrant flowers in drooping racemes. 6. Bristly black locust: belongs to the genus Robinia in the papilionoid family, a deciduous tree, 2-4 m tall, branches and pedicels densely covered with red bristles, odd-pinnate compound leaves, 7-15 leaflets, nearly round or oblong, 2-5 cm long, racemes with 3-7 flowers, corolla rose-red or pale purple, pods 5-8 cm long, rarely developing, flowering period July, fruit ripening September-October. 7. Fragrant flower pagoda tree: belongs to the genus Cladrastis in the papilionoid family, a deciduous tree, up to 16 m tall, bark brown to gray-brown, smooth, leaves alternate, 7-11 leaflets forming pinnate compound leaves, leaves elliptical, ovate to oblong, 4-12 cm long, apex pointed, base slightly oblique, inflorescences axillary, flowers red, fragrant, flowering periods May and July, the May flowering period lasting 20 days, and the July-August flowering period lasting about 40 days; in the south it blooms continuously in spring, summer and autumn. The corolla is papilionaceous, pink or purple-red, with a small amount of small spines, and the fruiting period is October. 8. Five-leaf pagoda tree: also called butterfly pagoda tree, belongs to the genus Sophora in the papilionoid family, a variety of the Chinese scholar tree; leaflets 3-5 clustered, the terminal leaflet often 3-lobed, the lower part of the lateral leaflets often with large lobes, and the leaf underside is hairy. 9. Golden-branch Chinese scholar tree: also called golden-branch pagoda tree, belongs to the genus Sophora in the papilionoid family, a deciduous tree, crown spherical or obovate, up to 25 m tall, branches golden yellow, odd-pinnate compound leaves, leaflets opposite, entire margin, inflorescence a terminal panicle, flowers yellow-white, flowering period June-September. Pagoda tree flowers in May, like snow, with waves of delicate fragrance, so sweet they make one's heart drunk! In the season when pagoda tree flowers fragrance the air in May, waves of fresh scent refresh the heart and mind, so during the May Day holiday you might as well go to a rural farmhouse to see the pagoda tree flowers: when the pagoda tree flowers are about to bloom, one after another, string after string, cluster after cluster, set off amid fresh green, the white ones are utterly pure and the purple-red ones are charming in every way, making one unable to resist picking a string, holding it in the palm and putting it in the mouth. Strolling along a forest path and resting on a stone bench, waves of fresh fragrance drift with the wind, making one feel relaxed and happy. When the pagoda tree flowers enter full bloom, not only does the fragrance overflow, but people can also pick the pagoda tree flowers with their own hands, eat pagoda tree flower pancakes and enjoy pagoda tree flower banquets. Looking at these pagoda tree flowers about to bloom, don't you feel a little relaxed and happy? Go quickly and enjoy the beauty of nature! This product is the dried flowers and flower buds of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica L. They are harvested when the flowers open or the flower buds form in summer, dried promptly, and the branches, stems and impurities are removed. The former is customarily called "pagoda tree flower" and the latter is customarily called "pagoda tree flower bud". In many areas of China there is the habit of steaming and eating pagoda tree flowers; in fact, pagoda tree flowers are not only edible but also a good medicine. Pagoda tree flowers are cool in nature and bitter in taste, and have the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, clearing liver fire and stopping bleeding. They contain substances such as rutin, quercetin, sophoradiol and vitamin A. Rutin can improve the function of capillaries, maintain the normal resistance of capillaries, and prevent bleeding, high blood pressure and diabetes caused by excessive capillary fragility and excessive permeability; taking it can prevent bleeding. Here are several dietary recipes with pagoda tree flowers: Rhubarb and pagoda tree flower honey drink [Ingredients] 4 g raw rhubarb, 30 g pagoda tree flowers, 15 g honey, 2 g green tea. [Preparation] First sort and clean the raw rhubarb, air-dry or sun-dry it, cut it into slices, put it in a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of water, decoct for 5 minutes, remove the residue, keep the liquid and set aside. Add the pagoda tree flowers and tea leaves to the pot, add an appropriate amount of clean water, bring to a boil, pour in the raw rhubarb decoction, remove from the heat, let it cool slightly, and while still warm, stir in the honey and it is ready. [Usage] Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening. [Effect] Clears heat and cools blood. This dietary recipe is suitable for symptoms such as bloody stools caused by colorectal cancer patients, with bright red blood color, as well as bloody stools after cancer surgery. Purslane and pagoda tree flower porridge [Ingredients] 100 g fresh purslane, 30 g pagoda tree flowers, 100 g japonica rice, 20 g brown sugar. [Preparation] First sort and clean the fresh purslane, blanch it in boiling water until soft, remove it, arrange it neatly, cut it into fine pieces and set aside. Sort and clean the pagoda tree flowers, air-dry or sun-dry them, grind them into a very fine powder and set aside. Wash the japonica rice clean, put it in a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then switch to low heat and simmer into a thin porridge; when the porridge is almost done, stir in the fine pagoda tree flower powder, and add the purslane pieces and brown sugar, then simmer over low heat until it boils, and it is ready. [Usage] Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening. [Effect] Clears heat and detoxifies, cools blood and stops bleeding. This dietary recipe is suitable for the symptom of bloody stools with bright red blood color caused by colorectal cancer patients. Sanguisorba and pagoda tree flower honey drink [Ingredients] 60 g sanguisorba, 30 g pagoda tree flowers, 30 g honey. [Preparation] First wash the dug sanguisorba, or buy it from a Chinese medicine shop, sort it, cut it into slices, put it in a clay pot with an appropriate amount of water, decoct twice for 40 minutes each time, combine the two concentrated decoctions, return them to the clay pot, add the pagoda tree flowers, add clean water as needed, decoct again over high heat for 10 minutes, filter with clean gauze, remove the residue, collect the filtrate in a container, and when it is warm, stir in the honey and mix evenly, and it is ready. [Usage] Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening. [Effect] Clears heat and cools blood, fights cancer and stops bleeding. This dietary recipe is suitable for symptoms such as vaginal bleeding from cervical cancer. Two-earth pagoda tree flower porridge [Ingredients] 30 g each of raw rehmannia, cortex lycii and pagoda tree flowers, 30-60 g japonica rice. [Preparation] Wash the raw rehmannia, cortex lycii and pagoda tree flowers, decoct in water, remove the residue and take the liquid, and cook together with the japonica rice into porridge. [Usage] Once a day, can be taken continuously for 3-5 days. [Effect] Clears heat and stabilizes menstruation. Used for excessive menstruation, with dark red or purple-red menstrual color, sticky texture with clots, waist and abdominal distension and pain. Restlessness and thirst, yellow urine, red tongue quality, yellow coating, slippery and rapid pulse. Steamed fish with pagoda tree flowers [Ingredients] 15 g pagoda tree flowers, 7 scallion whites, 20 g purple-skinned garlic, 500 g crucian carp or carp, appropriate amounts of ginger slices, salt and cooking wine. [Preparation] Wash the fish, remove the scales, gills and internal organs, make 3-5 diagonal cuts on the trunk of the fish, put it in a clay pot, add scallions, ginger, garlic, salt, cooking wine and an appropriate amount of clean water, and steam over low heat for 20 minutes. Then add the washed pagoda tree flowers, add a little monosodium glutamate and sesame oil, and it is ready to eat. [Effect] This dietary recipe focuses on clearing heat and draining dampness, and has a relatively good effect on ordinary psoriasis with damp-heat predominance manifested as red papules covered with multiple layers of silvery-white scales, thirst, constipation and yellow greasy coating. [Characteristics] Pagoda tree flower: this product is shrunken and curled, with petals mostly fallen off. Complete ones have a bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, with 5 shallow lobes at the apex; 5 petals, yellow or yellow-white, 1 petal larger, nearly round, slightly concave at the apex, the remaining 4 petals oblong. 10 stamens, of which 9 are united at the base, filaments slender. Pistil cylindrical, curved. Light in weight. Odorless, slightly bitter in taste. Pagoda tree flower bud: ovate to elliptical, 2-6 mm long, about 2 mm in diameter. There are several longitudinal lines on the lower part of the calyx. Above the calyx are yellow-white unopened petals. Pedicels small. Light in weight, crumbles when rubbed by hand. Odorless, slightly bitter and astringent in taste. [Nature, flavor and meridian entry] Bitter, slightly cold. Enters the liver and large intestine meridians. [Functions and indications] Cools blood and stops bleeding, clears liver fire. Used for bloody stools, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, abnormal uterine bleeding, hematemesis, epistaxis, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness. [Storage] Place in a dry place, protect from moisture and insects. [English name] FLOS SOPHORAE [Aliases] Golden medicine tree, house-guarding tree, bean pagoda tree, pagoda tree flower bud [Source] This product is the dried flowers and flower buds of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica L. They are harvested when the flowers open or the flower buds form in summer, dried promptly, and the branches, stems and impurities are removed. The former is customarily called "pagoda tree flower" and the latter is customarily called "pagoda tree flower bud". [Preparation] Pagoda tree flower: remove impurities and ash. Fried pagoda tree flower: take clean pagoda tree flowers and fry according to the simple frying method (Appendix II D) until the surface is dark yellow. Pagoda tree flower charcoal: take clean pagoda tree flowers and fry according to the charcoal frying method (Appendix II D) until the surface is scorched brown. [Characteristics] Pagoda tree flower: this product is shrunken and curled, with petals mostly fallen off. Complete ones have a bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, with 5 shallow lobes at the apex; 5 petals, yellow or yellow-white, 1 petal larger, nearly round, slightly concave at the apex, the remaining 4 petals oblong. 10 stamens, of which 9 are united at the base, filaments slender. Pistil cylindrical, curved. Light in weight. Odorless, slightly bitter in taste. Pagoda tree flower bud: ovate or elliptical, 2-6 mm long, about 2 mm in diameter. There are several longitudinal lines on the lower part of the calyx. Above the calyx are yellow-white unopened petals. Pedicels small. Light in weight, crumbles when rubbed by hand. Odorless, slightly bitter and astringent in taste.

The pagoda tree's seed pod is called huajiao (pagoda tree pod)

Main components: contains flavonoids and isoflavonoids, among which is genistein.

Pharmacological effects:

1. Effect on blood sugar: When pagoda tree pod extract was injected into rabbits, 1 hour later the blood sugar level increased significantly and urine sugar appeared at the same time. However, this reaction was temporary; 1 day after injection, the blood sugar level had returned to normal.

2. Antibacterial effect: Pagoda tree pods contain bactericidal substances and have an inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli.

Clinical applications

Clinical reports:

1. Treating urinary tract infections: 500 g pagoda tree pods, add 1500-2000 ml water, boil, remove the pagoda tree pods, evaporate the water from the medicinal liquid and concentrate it into a paste. Take 12 g pagoda tree pod extract, dissolve it in warm boiled water and take it, with the dose reduced for children, 2-3 times a day. 28 cases were treated: 20 cured, 5 improved, 3 ineffective. Shandong Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1988; 7(5): 46

Selected prescriptions: To treat five kinds of intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea: blood before stool is called external hemorrhoids, blood after stool is called internal hemorrhoids, non-retraction of the large intestine is called rectal prolapse, fleshy growths like breasts on all sides of the anus are called raised hemorrhoids, and a hole on the head is called a fistula; all are treated by this: 1 jin of pagoda tree pods (remove branches and stems, fry), 250 g each of sanguisorba, angelica (soaked in wine overnight, roasted), saposhnikovia (remove rhizome), scutellaria and bitter orange (remove pith, fry with bran). Grind the above into powder, make pills with wine paste, the size of firmiana seeds. Take 30 pills each time, with rice water, at any time. (Pagoda Tree Pod Pill from the Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang)

2. Treating bloody dysentery with toxic blood: 4 liang of pagoda tree seeds (washed with wine, fried), 2 liang of white peony root (fried with vinegar), 5 qian of costus root (roasted). Grind together into powder. Take 2 qian every morning, mixed with white soup. (Bencao Huiyan)

3. Treating hematemesis, hemoptysis, vomiting blood, spitting blood, or nasal bleeding, gum bleeding, tongue bleeding, ear bleeding: 8 liang of pagoda tree seeds, 5 liang of dwarf lilyturf (remove core). Use 50 large bowls of clean water, decoct into 15 bowls of juice, and simmer over low heat into a paste. Take 3 large spoonfuls each morning, noon and evening, with white soup. (Bencao Huiyan)

4. Treating inguinal hernia swelling and contraction: 1 liang of pagoda tree seeds (fried). Pound and sieve into powder, make pills with refined honey the size of firmiana seeds. Take 20 pills each time, with warm wine, on an empty stomach. (Pagoda Tree Seed Pill from the Shengji Zonglu)

5. Treating eye heat and dim vision: 2 liang each of pagoda tree seeds and coptis (remove fibrous roots). Pound and sieve into powder, make pills with refined honey the size of firmiana seeds. Take 20 pills with warm thin gruel after each meal, and take again at bedtime at night. (Vision-Improving Pagoda Tree Seed Pill from the Taiping Shenghui Fang)

Many of us know that pagoda tree flowers can not only be eaten but also used as medicine. In fact, pagoda tree leaves and pagoda tree pods can also be used as medicine. So what effects does the pagoda tree pod have? Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the pagoda tree pod enters the liver and large intestine meridians and has the effects of clearing heat, moistening the intestines, cooling blood and stopping bleeding. The heat-clearing effect of the pagoda tree pod is quite remarkable; it can clear fire in the heart, lungs, spleen, liver and large intestine. Therefore, any bleeding symptom caused by heat pathogen, such as bloody diarrhea, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery with toxic blood, blood in urine and bloody strangury, can be treated with it with relatively good results.

In addition, the pagoda tree pod has another effect, which is skincare and blackening the hair. Yan Zhitui was a famous scholar during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and also studied health preservation quite a lot. He wrote in The Family Instructions of Master Yan: "I often took pagoda tree fruit; at over seventy years of age, I could still read fine characters, and my hair and beard were still black", and he suggested that later generations take it more often. The Shennong Bencao Jing also holds that the pagoda tree pod, "taken for a long time, brightens the eyes, boosts qi, keeps the head from turning white, and prolongs life."

Pagoda tree pods can generally be bought at pharmacies, and you can also collect them yourself. After the pagoda tree pods mature, pick them from the tree, wash them, sun-dry them, then place them on a steamer basket and heat-steam them like steaming buns. After steaming, sun-dry them in the sun, then steam again, then sun-dry again. Repeat this nine times, which is the "nine steamings and nine sun-dryings" of traditional Chinese medicine.

After nine steamings and nine sun-dryings, they also need to be stir-fried with honey. That is, put the pagoda tree pods in a pot, stir-fry over low heat until the skin puffs up, then spray honey water into it, and continue stir-frying. When the outer skin is shiny and no longer sticky to the hand, it is considered done. If stir-fried until the surface is scorched black, it can be used as pagoda tree pod charcoal. When frying pagoda tree pods, the ratio of pagoda tree pods to honey is 20:1.

Pagoda tree pods treated by the above method can be used to make tea. You do not need too many each time; taking six or seven pieces is enough. If you find it troublesome, you can also buy ready-made pagoda tree pod tea on the market; drinking it regularly has an excellent effect on lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, and preventing and treating hemorrhoids.

However, it should be noted that the pagoda tree pod is a bitter and cold medicine and is more suitable for people with an excess-heat constitution. If you have a deficiency-cold constitution, it is not suitable for you. In addition, even when taking it, the longest period of use should not exceed two weeks, because the pagoda tree pod also has certain toxic side effects on the body. In addition, pregnant women should not take it either, to avoid the risk of miscarriage.

Nature, flavor and meridian entry of the pagoda tree pod: Bitter, cold. Enters the liver and large intestine meridians.

Functions and indications: Clears heat, moistens the liver, cools blood, stops bleeding. Treats intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea, hemorrhoidal bleeding,

The amazing effects of the pagoda tree

News source: You Bao Publication time: 2011/6/3 11:19:44

The pagoda tree is planted everywhere in China. The Compendium of Materia Medica lists that the flowers, leaves, branches, fruits, root bark and pagoda tree gum can all be used, fully proving that the whole tree is medicine.

Pagoda tree flower, also called "pagoda tree stamens" and "pagoda tree flower bud", is the flower or flower bud (pagoda tree flower bud) of the leguminous plant pagoda tree. It is bitter in taste and slightly cold in nature, and its functions are cooling blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing liver fire. It mainly treats bloody stools, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, abnormal uterine bleeding, hematemesis and epistaxis, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness, etc. Pharmacology has confirmed that it has effects such as maintaining the normal resistance of capillaries, reducing vascular permeability, restoring normal elasticity, dilating coronary arteries, improving myocardial circulation, preventing arteriosclerosis, lowering blood pressure, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects, and has an inhibitory effect on certain bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Pagoda tree pod, also called "pagoda tree fruit", is the fruit of the pagoda tree. It is bitter in taste and cold in nature, and its functions are clearing heat and moistening the liver, cooling blood and stopping bleeding. It mainly treats intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea, hemorrhoidal bleeding, abnormal uterine bleeding, bloody strangury, bloody dysentery, chest and heart restlessness, wind dizziness about to cause falling, and damp itching of genital sores, etc. Pharmacology has confirmed that it has the effects of raising blood sugar and killing Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli.

Pagoda tree branch is the young branch of the pagoda tree. It is bitter in taste and neutral in nature, and its functions are stopping bleeding and relieving pain, and eliminating sores and itching. It mainly treats abnormal uterine bleeding and leukorrhea, red and swollen painful eyes, hemorrhoids and fistulas, scabies, and skin itching, etc.

Pagoda tree white bark is the inner white bark of the bark or root bark of the pagoda tree. It is bitter in taste and neutral in nature, and its functions are dispelling wind and removing dampness, and reducing swelling and relieving pain. It mainly treats external attack by wind pathogen, rigidity of the body, numbness of the skin and muscles, mouth sores and gum disease, intestinal-wind bloody stools, genital itching and pain, sores and abscesses, and scalds, etc.

All four medicines have heat-clearing and bleeding-stopping effects. Pagoda tree flower tends to clear liver fire, pagoda tree pod tends to cool blood and stop bleeding, pagoda tree branch tends to eliminate sores and relieve pain, and pagoda tree white bark tends to dispel wind and remove dampness. They must be distinguished in clinical practice. People with weak spleen and stomach and pregnant women should avoid taking them. (Wu Heng)

Pagoda tree flowers have the effect of restoring blood vessel elasticity and preventing and treating arteriosclerosis

May 30, 2011 07:52 Source: China News of Traditional Chinese Medicine

The pagoda tree is planted everywhere in China. The Compendium of Materia Medica lists that the flowers, leaves, branches, fruits, root bark and pagoda tree gum can all be used, fully proving that the whole tree is medicine.

Sophora Flower: Also known as sophora stamen and sophora bud, it is the flower or flower bud (sophora bud) of the legume plant Sophora japonica. It tastes bitter and is slightly cold in nature. Its functions are to cool the blood and stop bleeding, clear the liver and purge fire. It mainly treats bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, abnormal uterine bleeding, hematemesis and epistaxis, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness, etc. Pharmacology has confirmed that it helps maintain normal capillary resistance, reduces vascular permeability, restores normal elasticity, dilates coronary arteries, improves myocardial circulation, prevents arteriosclerosis, lowers blood pressure, has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects, and inhibits certain bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

Sophora Fruit: Also known as sophora seed, it is the fruit of Sophora japonica. It tastes bitter and is cold in nature. Its functions are to clear heat and moisten the liver, cool the blood and stop bleeding. It mainly treats intestinal wind with bloody diarrhea, hemorrhoidal bleeding, abnormal uterine bleeding, bloody strangury, bloody dysentery, chest and heart vexation, wind dizziness with a sensation of falling, and genital sores with damp itching, etc. Pharmacology has confirmed that it raises blood sugar and kills Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli.

Sophora Twig: It is the young twig of Sophora japonica. It tastes bitter and is neutral in nature. Its functions are to stop bleeding and relieve pain, and eliminate sores and itching. It mainly treats abnormal uterine bleeding and leukorrhea, red swollen painful eyes, anal fistula, scabies, and skin itching, etc.

Sophora White Bark: It is the inner white bark of the trunk bark or root bark of Sophora japonica. It tastes bitter and is neutral in nature. Its functions are to dispel wind and remove dampness, reduce swelling and relieve pain. It mainly treats external contraction of wind pathogen, rigidity of the body, numbness of the skin and muscles, oral ulcers and gum malnutrition, intestinal wind with bloody stool, genital itching and pain, sores and abscesses, and burns, etc.

All four medicines have heat-clearing and bleeding-stopping effects. Sophora flower tends toward clearing the liver and purging fire, sophora fruit tends toward cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, sophora twig tends toward eliminating sores and relieving pain, and sophora white bark tends toward dispelling wind and removing dampness. They must be distinguished in clinical practice. Those with weak spleen and stomach and pregnant women should avoid taking them. (Zhou Xiangqian)

The Benefits and Preparation Methods of Sophora japonica Flowers

Sophora Flower

Encyclopedia Card

Sophora Flower

In the broad sense, sophora flower refers to the flowers and flower buds of the legume plant Sophora japonica L., but generally the opened flowers are called “sophora flower”, also known as “sophora stamen”, while the flower buds are called “sophora bud”.

Chinese scientific name: Huai

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Subfamily: Faboideae

Tribe: Sophoreae

Genus: Styphnolobium

Edit this section - Brief Description

Sophora flowers are multi-flowered, in racemes, with papilionaceous corollas, forming clusters when in full bloom, overlapping and drooping. The small flowers are mostly shrunken and curled, with petals

Sophora flowers of Chinese scholar tree - Plant Source Ecology

mostly scattered. The complete ones have a bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, with 5 shallow lobes at the apex; 5 petals, mostly yellow or yellowish-white, though other colors such as purplish-red also occur (see image), usually 1 petal is larger, nearly round, with a slightly concave apex, and the remaining 4 are oblong; 10 stamens, of which 9 are united at the base, with slender filaments

; pistil cylindrical, curved. This entry mainly introduces the flowers of the legume plant Sophora japonica. For an introduction to the plant Sophora japonica, please see the entry Sophora japonica. For an introduction to the flower buds of Sophora japonica, please see the entry Sophora Bud. For other traditional Chinese medicines related to Sophora japonica, please see Sophora Fruit.

Edit this section - Ornamental Value

Sophora japonica is a deciduous tree, often planted beside houses and roads, widely cultivated throughout China, with the Loess Plateau and North China Plain having the most,

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

generally blooming from April to May each year, with a flowering period of about 10-15 days. Sophora flowers have good ornamental value. When the summer flowering season arrives, strings of pure white sophora flowers cover the branches, and a faint, elegant fragrance fills the air, refreshing the heart. A poem (author unknown) is often mentioned, “In May the sophora grove ripples with jade-like flowers, their rich fragrance intoxicates ten thousand homes; where the blue spring waters drift and fall, the floating scent travels all the way to the horizon.”

Edit this section - History and Culture

In Chinese poetry there are many lines mentioning sophora flowers, mostly used to express a sense of desolation and sorrowful longing. In the Tang Dynasty, Luo Ye once wrote a poem titled "Sophora Flowers," the full text being “Outside the palace gate on the road of the bronze camels, on both sides these were planted most of all. As clear autumn approaches its season, they vie to open their golden stamens toward the passes and rivers. From storied towers, grief is sent drifting on pearl blinds; fine horses cherish the fragrance and shake their jade bridles. Sorrow kills those who follow the plans of rivers and lakes, year after year for you they remain ever rushing about” (from "Complete Tang Poems," Volume 654-9). Others include “The autumn wind curls and curls, sophora flowers half turned to fruit” (Bai Juyi, "Autumn Day"), “At dusk before the house gate, sophora flowers lie an inch deep” (Bai Juyi, "Lying Idly on a Cool Autumn Day"),

The red-flowered Robinia pseudoacacia f. decaisneana is not edible

“Who lived here in years past, the ground covered with sophora flowers and autumn grass growing” (Zi Lan, "Seeking the Old Residence of Official Pei at Taiping Fang"), “Wind dances and sophora flowers fall into the imperial moat, the colors of Mount Zhongnan enter the city's autumn” (Zi Lan, "Early Autumn in Chang'an"). For more poems, please see the extended reading.

In addition, sophora flowers are occasionally mentioned in folk songs, for example a traditional mountain song from the Yibin area of Sichuan, "When Will the Sophora Flowers Bloom," which expresses a young girl's deep devotion to her sweetheart[1], “High on the mountain stands a sophora tree, oh hey / Hands on the railing, gazing for my love to come, oh hey / Mother asks her daughter, what are you gazing at, oh hey / I am gazing at the sophora flowers, when will they bloom, oh hey / Sophora flowers bloom on the mountain in May, oh hey / Through the third month I cannot wait for them, oh hey / Infatuated daughter, what are you gazing at, oh hey / Standing day and night, eyes worn through with gazing, oh hey / Bright sky, sky of three, four, five months / Earth's light is like rain without warmth / In this world of scattered specks of heart / The sophora flowers awaken early / The daughter asks her mother, what are you asking, oh hey / Shy as the sophora flowers, hard to speak, oh hey.” Blooming sophora flowers also often stir people's memories of their hometown and childhood. For example, in Xie Jun's song "Sophora Flower Fragrance" it is sung, “Another year of sophora flower fragrance / Stirring up childhood's pure longing / Childhood playmates without a word of news /

Sophora flowers in Linyi (2010.05.11.)

Making one involuntarily heartsick / Another year of sophora flower fragrance / The beloved one, unknown where they are / In this season of sophora flower fragrance / Thinking again of that tender night / The sophora flower boat of my hometown / That was my childhood / The childhood story / Floating before my eyes again / The sophora flower boat of my love / Fragrance drifting in my heart / My heart filled with love / Sweeter than flowers.”

There is a modern poet Yuan Linyan's five-character regulated verse "Sophora Flowers Bloom"

“In May sophora flowers bloom, like snow, like butterflies hovering.

A faint breeze gathers the waves, string after string floating on the balcony.

Wave after wave of clear fragrance seeps in, as graceful angels come.

I ask you, for what purpose? To return one purity to the world.”

Edit this section - Edible Value

Black locust flowers

The sophora flowers used for food mostly refer to Robinia pseudoacacia, which is not used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Sophora flowers have a delicate, sweet fragrance and are rich in vitamins and various minerals. They also have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and moistening the lungs, lowering blood pressure, and preventing stroke. After being picked, they can be made into soup, mixed dishes, or braised rice, and can also be made into sophora flower cake or used as dumpling filling. The most common everyday preparation is steamed sophora flowers (also known as sophora flower wheat rice). Many regions in China share this custom. The method is very simple: mix washed sophora flowers with flour, then add refined salt, monosodium glutamate, and other seasonings, mix well, and place in a steamer basket until cooked. In addition, sophora flowers can also be added when making porridge or soup. Edible Contraindications

Although sophora flowers are delicious, there are some contraindications when eating them. Because sophora flowers are relatively sweet, people with diabetes should best not eat too many. Flour-steamed sophora flowers are not easy to digest, and people with poor digestive systems, especially middle-aged and elderly people, should not eat them in excess. At the same time, people with allergic constitutions should also eat sophora flowers with caution[2].

Note: All sophora flowers used for medical purposes refer to black sophora, the so-called sophora, not Robinia pseudoacacia. Robinia pseudoacacia is not used in traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore all the following formulas belong to sophora flowers. Special attention is needed! Dietary Therapy Methods

Sophora Flower and Schizonepeta Drink

[Ingredients] Equal parts sophora flower and fried schizonepeta.

[Usage] Decoct in water and drink.

[Effects] This formula uses sophora flower to cool the blood and stop bleeding, with fried schizonepeta to enhance the bleeding-stopping function. Used for bloody stool and hemorrhoidal bleeding.

Sophora Flower and Chrysanthemum Tea

[Ingredients] 6 g sophora flower, 15 g chrysanthemum, 10 g tender mulberry leaf.

[Usage] Soak in boiling water and drink as tea.

[Effects] This formula uses all three to clear the liver and brighten the eyes, while mulberry leaf and chrysanthemum also dispel wind-heat. Used for red eyes due to liver heat or wind-heat.

Rhubarb and Sophora Flower Honey Drink

[Ingredients] 4 grams raw rhubarb, 30 grams sophora flower, 15 grams honey, 2 grams green tea.

[Usage] First sort and clean the raw rhubarb, wash it, air-dry or sun-dry it, cut into slices, place in a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of water, decoct for 5 minutes, remove the residue, keep the liquid, and set aside. Add sophora flower and tea leaves to the pot, add an appropriate amount of clear water, bring to a boil, pour in the raw rhubarb decoction, remove from heat, let cool slightly, and while still warm, stir in the honey and it is done. Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening.

[Effects] Clears heat and cools the blood. This dietary therapy formula is suitable for bloody stool caused by colorectal cancer patients, with bright red blood color, as well as bloody stool after cancer surgery, etc.

Purslane and Sophora Flower Porridge

[Ingredients] 100 grams fresh purslane, 30 grams sophora flower, 100 grams japonica rice, 20 grams brown sugar.

[Usage] First sort and clean the fresh purslane, wash it, blanch it in a pot of boiling water until soft, remove, arrange neatly, chop into fine pieces, and set aside. Sort and clean the sophora flower, wash it, air-dry or sun-dry it, grind into a very fine powder, and set aside. Wash the japonica rice clean, place in a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then switch to low heat and simmer into a thin porridge. When the porridge is almost done, add the fine sophora flower powder and the chopped purslane and brown sugar, then simmer over low heat until it boils, and it is done. Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening.

[Effects] Clears heat and detoxifies, cools the blood and stops bleeding. This dietary therapy formula is suitable for bloody stool caused by colorectal cancer patients, with bright red blood color.

Sanguisorba and Sophora Flower Honey Drink

[Ingredients] 60 grams sanguisorba, 30 grams sophora flower, 30 grams honey.

[Usage] First wash the dug sanguisorba, or purchase it from a Chinese medicine shop, sort and clean it, cut into slices, place in a clay pot with an appropriate amount of water, decoct 2 times, 40 minutes each time, combine the 2 concentrated decoctions, return to the clay pot, add sophora flower, add clear water as needed, decoct again over high heat for 10 minutes, filter with clean gauze, remove the residue, collect the filtered liquid in a container, and when it is warm, stir in the honey and mix evenly, and it is done. Take in 2 divided doses, morning and evening.

[Effects] Clears heat and cools the blood, fights cancer and stops bleeding. This dietary therapy formula is suitable for cervical cancer vaginal bleeding and other symptoms.

Rehmannia and Lycium Bark Sophora Flower Porridge

[Ingredients] 30 grams each of raw rehmannia, lycium bark, and sophora flower, 30-60 grams japonica rice.

[Usage] Wash the raw rehmannia, lycium bark, and sophora flower, decoct in water, remove the residue and take the liquid, and cook together with japonica rice into porridge. Once daily, can be taken continuously for 3-5 days.

[Effects] Clears heat and stabilizes menstruation. Used for excessive menstruation, with deep red or purplish-red menstrual blood, sticky texture with clots, distending pain in the waist and abdomen, vexation and thirst, yellow urine, red tongue body, yellow coating, and slippery rapid pulse.

Steamed Fish with Sophora Flowers

[Ingredients] 15 grams sophora flower, 7 scallion whites, 20 grams purple-skin garlic, 500 grams crucian carp or carp, appropriate amounts of ginger slices, salt, and cooking wine.

[Method] Wash the fish, remove scales, gills, and internal organs, make 3-5 diagonal cuts on the trunk of the fish body, place in a clay pot, add scallion, ginger, garlic, salt, cooking wine, and an appropriate amount of clear water, and steam over gentle heat for 20 minutes. Then add the washed sophora flowers, add a little monosodium glutamate and sesame oil, and it is ready to eat.

[Therapeutic Effects] This dietary therapy formula focuses on clearing heat and promoting diuresis, and has a good effect on patients with psoriasis vulgaris presenting with red papules covered by multiple layers of silvery-white scales, thirst, constipation, yellow greasy coating, and exuberant damp-heat.

Edit this section - Medicinal Value

Processing

Sophora flowers are not only edible but also a fine medicine. They are generally harvested in summer when the flowers open or the flower buds form, and those that are large, compact, yellow-green, and free of stems and leaves are considered best.

Chinese scholar tree flowers

[Processing Methods]

1. Sophora flower: Take the original medicinal material, remove impurities and branch stems, and sift out fragments.

2. Fried sophora flower: Take clean sophora flowers, place in a preheated frying container, heat over gentle heat, fry until dark yellow, remove and let cool.

3. Sophora flower charcoal: Take clean sophora flowers, place in a preheated frying container, heat over medium heat, fry until scorched brown, spray with a little clear water, extinguish all sparks, fry dry, remove and let cool.

[Finished Product Characteristics]

1. Sophora flower: Shrunken and curled, petals mostly scattered, complete ones with bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, petals yellow or yellowish-white. Light in body. Slightly bitter in taste. Flower buds (sophora buds) ovate or elliptical. Calyx yellow-green, with unopened yellowish-white petals above, internally yellowish-brown. Light in texture. Slightly bitter and astringent in taste.

2. Fried sophora flower: Externally dark yellow, with aroma.

3. Sophora flower charcoal: Externally scorched brown, light in texture, astringent in taste.

[Processing Effects]

1. Sophora flower: Bitter in taste, slightly cold in nature. Enters the liver and large intestine meridians. Has the functions of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing the liver and purging fire. Raw sophora flower has a relatively strong bitter-cold nature and excels at clearing the liver and purging fire, and clearing heat and cooling the blood. It is mostly used for bleeding due to reckless movement of hot blood, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness, and sores and toxic swellings.

2. Fried sophora flower: Its bitter-cold nature is moderated, and it destroys enzyme activity, which helps preserve the active ingredients. Its heat-clearing and blood-cooling effect is weaker than the raw product, and its bleeding-stopping effect is inferior to sophora flower charcoal but stronger than the raw product. It is used for bleeding patients with weak spleen and stomach.

3. Sophora flower charcoal: Its heat-clearing and blood-cooling effect is extremely weak, its astringent nature is enhanced, and it tends toward stopping bleeding. It is used for various bleeding patterns such as hemoptysis, epistaxis, bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, and abnormal uterine bleeding.

When the flowers are open, cloth, mats, plastic film, etc. can be spread under the tree, the flowers knocked down, collected, and sun-dried. However, when used as a street tree, sophora flowers may be contaminated with pesticides, so care is needed when picking. After drying, sophora flowers are light in body, odorless, and slightly bitter in taste. During storage, attention should be paid to placing them in a dry place, preventing moisture, and preventing insects. Main Indications

Medicinal sophora flower

Traditional Chinese medicine considers it bitter in taste and slightly cold in nature, entering the liver and large intestine meridians; it enters the blood and astringes and descends, and is light in body and slightly dispersing; it has the effects of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing the liver and purging fire; it mainly treats intestinal wind with bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, bloody urine, bloody strangury, abnormal uterine bleeding, hematemesis, epistaxis, liver-fire headache, red swollen painful eyes, throat obstruction, loss of voice, and carbuncles and sores. From the perspective of Western medicine, sophora flowers contain rutin (also known as rutoside, Rytub), quercetin, tannins, sophoradiol, vitamin A, and other substances (for details, see the content table below). Rutin can improve capillary function, maintain normal capillary resistance, and prevent bleeding and hypertension and diabetes caused by excessive capillary fragility and permeability. Taking it can prevent bleeding.

Therefore sophora flowers are mostly used as a common medicine for treating bloody stool, used for hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody stool, and bloody dysentery caused by large intestine damp-heat, as well as hematemesis and epistaxis caused by blood heat. It is generally taken as a decoction, 10-15 g, with an appropriate amount for external use. Those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach and yin deficiency with fever but no excess fire should take it with caution[3]. Usage

1. For cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, it is suitable to use fried; for clearing the liver and purging fire, it is suitable to use raw.

2. Sophora flower is mainly used for bloody stool, bloody urine, and hemorrhoidal bleeding, and can also be combined with agrimony and white mulberry root to treat hemoptysis, epistaxis, etc.

3. It can be decocted in water and drunk as tea, and can also be used together with Prunella vulgaris, chrysanthemum, and Scutellaria baicalensis to enhance the effects of clearing the liver, purging fire, and brightening the eyes. Related Pharmacopoeia Discussions

1. "Ri Hua Zi Ben Cao": Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes, kills abdominal parasites and heat, treats skin wind, and intestinal wind with bloody diarrhea, red and white dysentery.

2. "Compendium of Materia Medica": Fried fragrant and chewed frequently, treats loss of voice and throat obstruction, and also treats hematemesis and epistaxis, and abnormal uterine bleeding.

3. "Drug Transformation Meanings": Sophora flower tastes bitter; bitterness can directly descend, and its flavor is thick and sinking. It mainly clears intestinal red bloody stool, hemorrhoidal swelling and pain, and dirty toxin with dripping strangury. This blood-cooling function is uniquely in the large intestine. The large intestine and lung are interior-exterior paired, and it can disperse skin wind-heat, which is to drain the qi of the lung metal.

4. "Medical Initiation Sources": Cools large intestine heat.

5. "Ben Cao Zheng": Cools the large intestine, kills malnutrition worms. Treats carbuncles, sores, and toxic swellings, genital sores with damp itching, hemorrhoidal fistula, resolves syphilitic malignant sores, and latent toxin of chancre.

6. "Medical Forest Compendium": Drains rebellious lung qi, purges heart fire, clears liver fire, and firms kidney water.

7. "Ben Cao Qiu Zhen": Treats large and small intestine bleeding, and tongue epistaxis.

8. "Ben Cao Qiu Yuan": A key medicine for cooling the blood. Treats sudden stomach duct pain and kills roundworms.

9. "Northeast Medicinal Plant Records": Treats diabetic retinitis.

Main Chemical Components (taking purplish-red sophora flowers as an example)

Edit this section - Modern Research

Main Components

Raw sophora flowers mainly contain rutin (Rutin) or its compounds, as well as wax, green pigment, resin, condensed tannins, pigments, protein (or mucilage), amino acids (or peptides), sugars, and vitamin A, etc. Fried sophora flowers are basically the same as raw sophora buds, only some amino acids (or peptides) or sugars are destroyed, and tannin content is slightly increased. From dried flower buds, triterpenoid saponins are obtained; after hydrolysis, betulin, sophoradiol, glucose, and glucuronic acid are obtained. From the flower buds, sophora flower bud principles A, B, and C are also obtained. Principle A is a flavonoid different from rutin, and principles B and C are sterols. Rutin in sophora flowers can be hydrolyzed to quercitrin under the action of acid or enzymes.

Pharmacological Effects:

1. Effects on the cardiovascular system. Sophora flower liquid has a mild excitatory effect on the isolated frog heart and a blocking effect on the cardiac conduction system. Rutin, quercetin, and quercitrin can also increase the contractile amplitude and output of isolated and in situ frog hearts and slow the heart rate. Quercetin can dilate coronary vessels and improve myocardial circulation. Rutin can constrict the blood vessels of toad lower limbs and rabbit ears. Sophora flower liquid and sophora flower tincture have a temporarily significant blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized dogs and cats. Rutin and its preparations have a blood pressure-lowering effect, and quercetin can also lower blood pressure for a short time.

2. Effects on blood lipids. Subcutaneous injection of quercetin 10 mg can effectively reduce cholesterol content in the liver, aorta, and blood of rats with experimental hypercholesterolemia, and increase the stability of cholesterol-protein complexes. It has preventive and therapeutic effects on experimental arteriosclerosis.

3. Effects on capillaries. Rutin and its aglycone quercetin can maintain normal capillary resistance, reduce vascular permeability, and can restore normal elasticity to capillaries that bleed due to increased fragility. Quercetin can enhance the resistance of skin capillaries in guinea pigs and rats and reduce vascular permeability; its stabilizing effect on capillaries is 1/3 stronger than rutin. Continuous large-dose application of rutin and quercetin can prevent rat lung bleeding caused by decompression.

4. Anti-inflammatory effects. Rutin and quercetin can inhibit paw swelling in rats caused by histamine, egg white, 5-hydroxytryptamine, formaldehyde, and polyvinylpyrrolidone, as well as ankle swelling caused by hyaluronidase. Rutin can significantly inhibit traumatic swelling in rats and can prevent the occurrence of conjunctivitis, auricle inflammation, and pulmonary edema. It has only a mild inhibitory effect on conjunctival edema caused by mustard oil in rabbits; if rutin is dissolved in propylene glycol, the anti-inflammatory effect is better. Intravenous injection of rutin can inhibit allergic inflammation of the skin and joints caused by horse serum in rabbits. The sodium salt of rutin sulfate can accelerate the recovery of hindlimb thrombophlebitis caused by turpentine oil injection in dogs.

5. Antispasmodic and anti-ulcer effects. Quercetin can reduce the tension of intestinal and bronchial smooth muscle, and its antispasmodic effect is 5 times stronger than rutin. Rutin can reduce gastric motor function in rats and can relieve small intestinal smooth muscle spasm caused by barium chloride. Subcutaneous injection of rutin 5-10 mg/kg can significantly reduce the number of gastric ulcer lesions caused by pyloric ligation in rats, and its effect on reflex gastric ulcer is stronger than that of khellin. Sophora flower liquid (containing very little rutin) injected into the rabbit intestinal cavity can stimulate the intestinal mucosa and increase exudate.

6. Anti-pathogenic microorganism effects. Sophora flower water infusion (2:5) has varying degrees of inhibitory effects in test tubes on skin pathogenic fungi such as Trichophyton violaceum, Trichophyton schoenleinii, Microsporum audouinii, Microsporum lanosum, and Nocardia asteroides. In test tubes, rutin and quercetin have antibacterial effects on certain bacteria and also show inhibitory effects on viruses.

7. Other effects. Rutin has a protective effect against X-ray irradiation. Sophora japonica contains hemagglutinin, which has a hemagglutinating effect. Large doses of sophora flower tincture can cause inhibition of certain central reflex functions. It is generally believed that rutin cannot be absorbed orally, so it cannot be determined whether oral administration has therapeutic effects. However, some reports point out that it can still be absorbed after oral administration.

Experiments show

Sophora bud charcoal decoction given by gavage to mice can significantly shorten bleeding time and coagulation time. Its bleeding-stopping and coagulation effects may be related to its tannin content, or it may contain other bleeding-stopping and coagulation components. Sophora flower charcoal can shorten the time of traumatic bleeding and reduce the amount of bleeding in rats; sophora flower solution with rutin removed has a significant bleeding-stopping effect on traumatic bleeding in rats; rutin has a significant inhibitory effect on punctate bleeding generated under negative pressure on the skin and experimental pulmonary hemorrhage. Rutin given by gavage to rabbits has a preventive effect on experimental frostbite.

Compatibility and efficacy:

Combination of Sophora japonica flower and gardenia: Sophora japonica flower is bitter in taste and cool in nature; its action is specifically to cool the blood and stop bleeding, and it can clear and drain intestinal heat while also purging excess fire of the liver meridian; gardenia is bitter in taste and cold in nature, clearing heat from both the qi and blood aspects, draining dampness and stopping bleeding; when charred and used as medicine, within its heat-clearing action there is the effect of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding. When the two are used together, gardenia clears lung heat and Sophora japonica flower clears intestinal heat, treating both zang and fu organs together, jointly achieving the effects of clearing heat and draining dampness, cooling the blood and stopping bleeding; if charred and used as medicine, the hemostatic effect is stronger. It is used to treat bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, and abnormal uterine bleeding due to excess fire in the large intestine or accumulated damp-heat [4].

Edit this section: Selected prescriptions

1. To treat bloody stool from the large intestine: Sophora japonica flower and Schizonepeta spike in equal parts. Grind into powder; take one qian bi with wine. ("Experiential Formulas")

2. To treat visceral toxin, alcohol-induced disease, and bloody stool: Sophora japonica flower (half a liang stir-fried, half a liang raw), gardenia fruit one liang (peeled, stir-fried). Grind the above into powder; take two qian each time, mixed with freshly drawn water, taken before meals. ("Effective Good Formulas"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

3. To treat red and white dysentery: Sophora japonica flower (lightly stir-fried) three qian, white peony root (stir-fried) two qian, bitter orange (bran-stir-fried) one qian, licorice five fen. Decoct in water and take. ("Collected Words on Materia Medica")

4. To treat unstoppable vomiting of blood: Sophora japonica flower, any amount. Burn until its nature is preserved, grind fine, add a little musk. Take three qian bi each time, mixed with warm glutinous rice drink. ("Complete Record of Sagely Beneficence"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

5. To treat unstoppable leukorrhea: Sophora japonica flower (stir-fried) and oyster shell (calcined) in equal parts. Grind into powder. Take three qian each time with wine for effect. ("Zhaiyuan Formulas")

6. To treat unstoppable nosebleed: Sophora japonica flower and cuttlefish bone in equal parts. Half raw and half stir-fried, grind into powder, blow into the nose. ("Effective Formulas of the World's Physicians")

7. To treat unstoppable bleeding from the tongue, called tongue bleeding: Sophora japonica flower, sun-dried and ground into powder, applied to the tongue; or stir-fried over fire to remove fire toxicity, then ground into powder and applied [4]. ("Marvelous Effective Good Formulas"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

Excerpts of Sophora japonica flower prescriptions and compatibility efficacy, total 0 replies

1. To treat bloody stool from the large intestine: Sophora japonica flower and Schizonepeta spike in equal parts. Grind into powder; take one qian bi with wine. ("Experiential Formulas")

2. To treat visceral toxin, alcohol-induced disease, and bloody stool: Sophora japonica flower (half a liang stir-fried, half a liang raw), gardenia fruit one liang (peeled, stir-fried). Grind the above into powder; take two qian each time, mixed with freshly drawn water, taken before meals. ("Effective Good Formulas"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

3. To treat red and white dysentery: Sophora japonica flower (lightly stir-fried) three qian, white peony root (stir-fried) two qian, bitter orange (bran-stir-fried) one qian, licorice five fen. Decoct in water and take. ("Collected Words on Materia Medica")

4. To treat unstoppable vomiting of blood: Sophora japonica flower, any amount. Burn until its nature is preserved, grind fine, add a little musk. Take three qian bi each time, mixed with warm glutinous rice drink. ("Complete Record of Sagely Beneficence"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

5. To treat unstoppable leukorrhea: Sophora japonica flower (stir-fried) and oyster shell (calcined) in equal parts. Grind into powder. Take three qian each time with wine for effect. ("Zhaiyuan Formulas")

6. To treat unstoppable nosebleed: Sophora japonica flower and cuttlefish bone in equal parts. Half raw and half stir-fried, grind into powder, blow into the nose. ("Effective Formulas of the World's Physicians")

7. To treat unstoppable bleeding from the tongue, called tongue bleeding: Sophora japonica flower, sun-dried and ground into powder, applied to the tongue; or stir-fried over fire to remove fire toxicity, then ground into powder and applied. ("Marvelous Effective Good Formulas"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

Compatibility and efficacy:

Combination of Sophora japonica flower and gardenia: Sophora japonica flower is bitter in taste and cool in nature; its action is specifically to cool the blood and stop bleeding, and it can clear and drain intestinal heat while also purging excess fire of the liver meridian; gardenia is bitter in taste and cold in nature, clearing heat from both the qi and blood aspects, draining dampness and stopping bleeding; when charred and used as medicine, within its heat-clearing action there is the effect of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding. When the two are used together, gardenia clears lung heat and Sophora japonica flower clears intestinal heat, treating both zang and fu organs together, jointly achieving the effects of clearing heat and draining dampness, cooling the blood and stopping bleeding; if charred and used as medicine, the hemostatic effect is stronger. It is used to treat bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, bloody dysentery, and abnormal uterine bleeding due to excess fire in the large intestine or accumulated damp-heat.

Edit this section: Nutritional knowledge

Introduction to Sophora japonica flower knowledge:

Sophora japonica flower is the flower and flower bud of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica. Sophora japonica is a deciduous tree, often planted beside houses and roadsides, and widely cultivated throughout the country.

Harvest when the flowers open or the flower buds form in summer, dry promptly, and remove branches, stems, and impurities. It is also possible, when the flowers are open, to spread cloth, mats, plastic film, etc. under the tree, knock the flowers down, collect them, and dry them in the sun.

The opened flowers of Sophora japonica are commonly called “Sophora japonica flower”, and the flower buds are commonly called “Sophora japonica rice”.

1. Sophora japonica flowers are mostly shrunken and curled, with petals mostly fallen off. The complete ones have a bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, with 5 shallow lobes at the tip; 5 petals, yellow or yellowish-white, 1 piece larger and nearly round with a slightly concave tip, the remaining 4 pieces oblong; 10 stamens, of which 9 are united at the base, with slender filaments; the pistil is cylindrical and curved.

Those that are large, compact, yellow-green in color, and free of stems and leaves are considered best.

2. Sophora japonica rice is oval or elliptical, 2 to 6 mm long, 2 to 3 mm in diameter. There are several longitudinal lines on the lower part of the calyx. Above the calyx are yellowish-white unopened petals, and the pedicel is small. Light in body, slight in odor, slightly bitter and astringent in taste.

Supplementary information on Sophora japonica flower:

According to different processing methods, it is divided into Sophora japonica flower, stir-fried Sophora japonica flower, charred Sophora japonica flower, and vinegar-processed Sophora japonica flower. After processing, store in a dry container; the vinegar-processed Sophora japonica flower should be sealed and placed in a cool, dry place, protected from insects.

People suitable for Sophora japonica flower:

Those with spleen-stomach deficiency cold and yin deficiency fever without excess fire should take it cautiously.

Dietary therapeutic effects of Sophora japonica flower:

Sophora japonica flower is bitter in taste and slightly cold in nature, entering the liver and large intestine meridians

It enters the blood, astringes and descends, is light in body and slightly dispersing; it has the effects of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing liver fire

It mainly treats intestinal-wind bloody stool, hemorrhoidal blood, bloody dysentery, urinary blood, strangury with blood, abnormal uterine bleeding, vomiting of blood, nosebleed, liver-fire headache, red and swollen eyes with pain, throat impediment, loss of voice, and carbuncles, abscesses, sores, and ulcers.

Guidance on preparing Sophora japonica flower: 1. For cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, it is suitable to use stir-fried; for clearing liver fire, it is suitable to use raw.

2. Sophora japonica flower is mainly used for bloody stool, urinary blood, and hemorrhoidal blood, and can also be combined with agrimony and cogongrass rhizome to treat coughing blood, nosebleed, etc.

3. It can be decocted in water and taken as tea, or used together with Prunella vulgaris, chrysanthemum, and Scutellaria baicalensis to enhance the effects of clearing liver fire and improving eyesight.

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Sophora japonica flower photo collection (19 photos)

Sophora japonica flower picture appreciation (20 photos)

Efficacy and effects of Sophora japonica flower:

It is the dried flower buds and flowers of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica L. Produced in all regions of the country, with more in the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain. When the flowers have not yet opened in summer, the flower buds are harvested, called “Sophora japonica rice”; when the flowers are open, they are harvested, called “Sophora japonica flower”. After harvesting, remove the branches, stems, and impurities of the inflorescence, dry promptly, and use raw, stir-fried, or charred.

[Medicinal nature] Bitter, slightly cold. Enters the liver and large intestine meridians.

[Efficacy] Cools the blood and stops bleeding, clears liver fire.

[Applications]

1. Blood-heat bleeding patterns. This product is cold and cool in nature, and its function is to cool the blood and stop bleeding, so it can be used to treat various bleeding patterns caused by reckless movement of blood due to blood heat. Because it is bitter, descending, and downward-moving, and is good at clearing and draining the fire-heat of the large intestine to stop bleeding, it is most suitable for hemorrhoidal blood, bloody stool, etc. caused by blood heat in the lower part. To treat recent and chronic hemorrhoidal blood, it is often combined with Coptis chinensis and Sanguisorba officinalis, such as Yu Huai Zang Lian Wan ("Cheng Fang Bian Du"); to treat bloody stool with severe blood heat, it is often combined with gardenia, such as Sophora Japonica Flower Powder ("Effective Good Formulas").

2. Red eyes and headache. This product is bitter in taste and cold in nature, and is good at clearing and draining liver fire. For all patterns such as red eyes, distending headache, and dizziness caused by upward flaming of liver fire, a single ingredient can be decocted in water and taken as tea, or it can be combined with Prunella vulgaris, chrysanthemum, etc.

[Usage and dosage] Decoct and take, 10-15 g. Appropriate amount for external use. For stopping bleeding, it is mostly used charred; for clearing heat and draining fire, it is suitable to use raw.

[Precautions for use] Use cautiously in those with spleen-stomach deficiency cold and yin deficiency fever without excess fire.

[Differential medication] Both Sanguisorba officinalis and Sophora japonica flower can cool the blood and stop bleeding, and are used to treat various bleeding patterns due to reckless movement of blood from blood heat. Because their nature is downward-moving, they are suitable for treating lower-part bleeding patterns. However, Sanguisorba officinalis, while cooling the blood, also has an astringent effect, so all lower-part blood-heat bleeding, such as bloody stool, hemorrhoidal blood, abnormal uterine bleeding, and bloody dysentery, are all suitable; Sophora japonica flower has no astringent nature, and its hemostatic action lies in the large intestine, so it is best for treating bloody stool and hemorrhoidal blood.

[Abstracts from ancient texts]

1. "Rihua Zi Materia Medica": “Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes, kills abdominal and visceral worms and heat, treats skin wind, and intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea, red and white dysentery.”

2. "Drug Product Transformation and Meaning": “Sophora japonica flower is bitter in taste; bitterness can directly descend, and its flavor is thick and sinking. It mainly clears intestinal red bloody stool, swollen and painful hemorrhoids, and dripping visceral toxin. This is the function of cooling the blood, uniquely in the large intestine. The large intestine and lung are interior-exterior paired, and it can disperse skin wind-heat, which is to drain the qi of lung metal.”

[Modern research]

1. Chemical composition: This product is rich in rutin (Rytub), quercetin (Quercetin), tannins, etc.

2. Pharmacological effects: The water infusion of Sophora japonica flower can significantly shorten bleeding and coagulation time, and after being made into charcoal it more strongly promotes coagulation; its decoction has the effect of reducing myocardial oxygen consumption and protecting heart function. It also has varying degrees of inhibitory effects on skin fungi such as Trichophyton violaceum, Trichophyton schoenleinii, Microsporum audouinii, Microsporum lanosum, and Nocardia asteroides.

[Selected formulas]

① To treat bloody stool from the large intestine: Sophora japonica flower and Schizonepeta spike in equal parts. Grind into powder; take one qian bi with wine. ("Experiential Formulas")

② To treat visceral toxin, alcohol-induced disease, and bloody stool: Sophora japonica flower (half a liang stir-fried, half a liang raw), gardenia fruit one liang (peeled, stir-fried). Grind the above into powder. Take two qian each time, mixed with freshly drawn water. Take before meals. ("Effective Good Formulas"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

③ To treat sudden-heat bloody stool: One raw pig intestine, washed, drained, stuffed full with stir-fried Sophora japonica flower powder and tied firmly, stir-fried with rice vinegar, boiled until soft in a pot, pounded, made into pills the size of a bullet, and sun-dried. Take one pill each time on an empty stomach, dissolved in wine decocted with angelica. ("Yonglei Qianfang")

④ To treat bleeding from various hemorrhoids: Sophora japonica flower two liang, Sanguisorba officinalis and Atractylodes lancea one liang five qian each, licorice one liang. Lightly stir-fry all, grind into fine powder, and take two qian before each meal in the morning and evening. For qi hemorrhoids (those who bleed due to damage to central qi from overexertion), take mixed with ginseng decoction; for alcohol hemorrhoids (those who bleed due to excessive accumulated toxin from alcohol), take mixed with tangerine peel and kudzu decoction; for worm hemorrhoids (those who bleed due to itching and internal worm movement), take mixed with black plum decoction; for pulse hemorrhoids (those who bleed in spurts like a thread from the hemorrhoid opening due to injury from exertion), take mixed with donkey-hide gelatin decoction. ("Du Family Copied Formulas")

⑤ To treat urinary blood in urine: Sophora japonica flower (stir-fried) and turmeric (roasted) one liang each. Grind into powder. Take two qian each time with light fermented soybean decoction. ("Secret Treasures from the Box")

⑥ To treat strangury with blood: Sophora japonica flower burned, remove fire toxicity, pound into powder. Take one qian each time, taken with water and wine. ("Materia Medica of Southern Yunnan")

⑦ To treat abnormal uterine bleeding: Aged Sophora japonica flower one liang, soot from cooking pot half a liang. Grind into powder. Take three or four qian each time, mixed with warm wine; if unconscious and unresponsive, take with wine quenched by a red-hot weighing hammer. ("Gathering of Good Friends"Sophora Japonica Flower Powder)

⑧ To treat unstoppable leukorrhea: Sophora japonica flower (stir-fried) and oyster shell (calcined) in equal parts. Grind into powder. Take three qian each time with wine for effect. ("Zhaiyuan Formulas")

⑨ To treat unstoppable nosebleed: Sophora japonica flower and cuttlefish bone in equal parts. Half raw and half stir-fried, grind into powder, blow into the nose. ("Effective Formulas of the World's Physicians")

⑩ To treat unstoppable vomiting of blood: Sophora japonica flower, any amount. Burn until its nature is preserved, grind fine, add a little musk. Take three qian bi each time, mixed with warm glutinous rice drink. ("Complete Record of Sagely Beneficence"Sophora Japonica Flower Fragrance Powder)

Supplementary medicine: Sophora japonica fruit Huaijiao

It is the mature fruit of Sophora japonica, originally called Sophora fruit. Its nature, flavor, efficacy, and indications are similar to Sophora japonica flower, but its hemostatic effect is weaker than Sophora japonica flower, while its power to clear, descend, and drain heat is stronger, and it can also moisten the intestines. It is mainly used for hemorrhoidal blood and bloody stool, and is especially often used for swollen, painful, and bleeding hemorrhoids, often combined with Sanguisorba officinalis, Scutellaria baicalensis, angelica, etc., such as Huaijiao Wan ("Formulas of the Imperial Pharmacy"). Decoct and take, 6-12 g, or make into pills or powders. Use cautiously in pregnant women.

This article comes from Xiangshitan

Sophora japonica tree flower, also called Sophora japonica flower, is often picked by people, cleaned, and used in cooking, becoming a purely natural green woody vegetable. They are not only delicious but also highly nutritious, and are called “fine vegetables on the tree”. They are mainly distributed in Anhui, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and other provinces in the Yangtze River basin. Sophora japonica is a deciduous tree, often planted beside houses and roadsides, and commonly cultivated throughout China, with more in the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain. It generally blooms from April to May each year, and the flowering period is generally about 10-15 days. Sophora japonica flower has good ornamental value. When the midsummer flowering season arrives, strings of pure white Sophora japonica flowers adorn the branches, and a faint, simple, elegant fragrance fills the air, refreshing the heart. A poem (author unknown) is often mentioned: “In May the Sophora forest ripples with jade flowers, richly fragrant and intoxicating ten thousand homes; where spring waters and green waves drift and fall, floating fragrance travels all the way to the horizon.”

Nutritional value of Sophora japonica tree flower:

Sophora japonica tree flower tastes fragrant and sweet, is rich in vitamins and various minerals, and also has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and moistening the lungs, lowering blood pressure, and preventing stroke. After picking, it can be used to make soup, mixed dishes, and braised rice, and can also be made into Sophora japonica flower cake or dumplings. In daily life, the most common is steamed Sophora japonica flower (also called Sophora japonica flower wheat rice). Many regions in China have this custom. The method is very simple: wash the Sophora japonica flowers, add flour and mix well, then add refined salt, monosodium glutamate, and other seasonings, mix well, put into a steamer basket, and steam until cooked. In addition, Sophora japonica tree flowers can also be added when making porridge or soup.

Dietary therapeutic effects and actions of Sophora japonica tree flower:

1. Sophora japonica flower: Bitter in taste, slightly cold in nature. Enters the liver and large intestine meridians. It has the functions of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing liver fire. Raw Sophora japonica flower has a stronger bitter-cold nature and is good at clearing liver fire, clearing heat and cooling the blood. It is mostly used for reckless movement of blood due to blood heat, liver-heat red eyes, headache and dizziness, and swollen and painful sores and toxins.

2. Stir-fried Sophora japonica flower: Its bitter-cold nature is moderated, and it destroys enzyme activity, which helps preserve active ingredients. Its heat-clearing and blood-cooling action is weaker than the raw product, and its hemostatic action is inferior to charred Sophora japonica flower but stronger than the raw product. It is used for bleeding patients with weak spleen and stomach.

Method for making cold-dressed Sophora japonica tree flower:

Main ingredient: Canned Sophora japonica tree flower 300 g.

Auxiliary ingredients: Scallion 15 g, soy sauce 5 g, sesame oil 5 g, white sugar 5 g, refined salt 1 g, monosodium glutamate 1 g.

Production method:

(1) Put the Sophora japonica tree flowers into a bowl, add an appropriate amount of boiling water, blanch briefly, remove, and drain.

(2) Wash the scallion, cut into minced pieces, mix well with soy sauce, white sugar, and refined salt, then pour in hot sesame oil to make a sauce.

(3) Put the sauce and Sophora japonica tree flowers together in a bowl and mix well.

Characteristics of cold-dressed Sophora japonica tree flower: Fresh and emerald green, tender to the bite.

Sophora japonica tree flowers are relatively sweet. The turn of spring and summer is the season when Sophora japonica flowers bloom. There are many ways to eat Sophora japonica flowers: 1. Pan-fried Sophora japonica flower: Collect black locust flowers that have not yet fully opened during full bloom. Clean them, blanch with boiling water, and rinse (to remove Sophora toxicity). Drain most of the water from the Sophora japonica flowers. Crack one egg, beat it, add Sichuan pepper powder and refined salt, stir evenly, pour into the basin holding the Sophora japonica flowers, and stir evenly. Sprinkle flour evenly into the basin and stir with the Sophora japonica flowers into a thick paste. Add a small amount of peanut oil to a flat pan and heat. Pour the prepared Sophora japonica flower paste into the pan, spread evenly, and pan-fry. When the lower layer can be moved, flip it over and fry the other side. Turn the heat low and fry both sides repeatedly until both sides are deep yellow and the inside is cooked, then serve directly on a plate. 2. Sophora japonica flower egg soup: Heat a soup pot, sauté scallion and Sichuan pepper in oil, add water, dried small shrimp, and refined salt, and bring to a boil. Put the prepared Sophora japonica flowers into the pot. Crack 2 eggs, add 3 or 4 drops of water, beat them, and when the Sophora japonica flower soup in the pot boils, immediately pour the egg liquid evenly into the pot, push it apart with a ladle, and bring to a boil. 3. Sophora japonica flower porridge: Dried Sophora japonica flower 30 g or fresh product 50 g, japonica rice 50 g, cook porridge and take. Suitable for patients with diabetes complicated by hypertension or stroke. Sophora japonica flower can dilate coronary arteries, can prevent and treat arteriosclerosis, and regular consumption has a stroke-preventive effect. 4. Chrysanthemum-Sophora green tea drink: Chrysanthemum, Sophora japonica flower, and green tea 3 g each, brew in boiling water and drink. Suitable for patients with diabetes accompanied by hypertension. 5. Sophora japonica flower tea: Pick the flower buds growing on the Sophora japonica tree, dry them, soak them in boiling water, and drink as tea several times a day. It has a unique therapeutic effect on hypertensive patients. At the same time, Sophora japonica flower also has effects such as contracting blood vessels and stopping bleeding.

Feng Guo Wu Hen Shao Bao, because Sophora japonica tree flower has medicinal values such as invigorating blood, lowering blood pressure, and lowering lipids, introduces a folk proven formula to everyone, with a cure rate for treating hemorrhoids reaching 90%. Pick Sophora japonica tree flowers and dry them, take 2 g daily and add a small amount of green tea to soak in water and drink, 1 month is one course of treatment. Cure in 3 months. Black locust is also called “foreign locust”; its flowers are white and very fragrant. This flower has certain nutritional and medicinal value and can treat intestinal-wind bloody stool, coughing blood, etc. It is best to blanch black locust flowers with boiling water first, then stir-fry, and they should not be eaten in large quantities. Moreover, some Sophora japonica tree flowers can cause allergies or even poisoning after eating, so Sophora japonica tree flowers should be eaten cautiously.

Sophora japonica tree flower stir-fried with eggs

Ingredients: Fresh Sophora japonica tree flowers, eggs

Method: Wash the Sophora japonica tree flowers, blanch, and drain; beat the eggs and add a little salt, set aside; heat oil in a wok to 80% hot, sauté minced garlic, add the Sophora japonica tree flowers and stir-fry, then immediately add the beaten egg liquid and stir-fry, and drizzle with sesame oil before removing from the wok.

Sophora japonica rice

[Family and genus] It is the flower or flower bud of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica.

[Aliases] Huai flower, Sophora japonica rice.

[Nature, flavor, and meridians] Cold and cool in nature, sweet and neutral in taste; enters the liver and large intestine meridians.

[Harvesting and processing] Harvest when the flower buds form in summer, dry promptly, and remove branches, stems, and impurities.

[Characteristics] Flower buds oval or elliptical, 2-6 mm long, about 2 mm in diameter. Calyx yellow-green, with several longitudinal lines on the lower part. Above the calyx are yellowish-white unopened petals. Pedicel small. Light in body, crumbles when rubbed by hand. Odorless, slightly bitter and astringent in taste.

[Chemical composition] Contains rutin, saponins, sterols.

[Nature and flavor] Slightly cold in nature, bitter in taste.

[Functions and indications] Cools the blood and stops bleeding, clears liver fire. Used for bloody stool, hemorrhoidal blood, bloody dysentery, abnormal uterine bleeding, vomiting of blood, nosebleed, liver-heat red eyes, headache and dizziness. Dosage 4.5-9 g.

[Notes] The flower (Sophora japonica flower) cools the blood and stops bleeding; the fruit (Sophora japonica fruit) clears heat and drains fire.

[Efficacy and indications] Cools the blood and stops bleeding, clears liver fire and lowers fire. Mainly treats intestinal-wind bloody stool, hemorrhoidal blood, urinary blood, strangury with blood, abnormal uterine bleeding, vomiting of blood, red and white dysentery, red eyes, sores and toxins, hypertension, and other conditions.

[Nutritional components] Every 100 g of fresh product contains water 78 g, protein 3.1 g, fat 0.7 g, carbohydrates 15 g, calcium 8.3 mg, phosphorus 69 mg, iron 3.6 mg, carotene 0.04 mg, vitamin B1 0.04 mg, vitamin B2 0.18 mg, nicotinic acid 6.6 mg, vitamin C 66 mg. In addition, it also contains substances such as rutin and sophorin.

[Dietary therapeutic effects]

1. Cools the blood and stops bleeding. Sophora japonica flower is mainly used for bleeding conditions that belong to blood heat. It can be combined with Sanguisorba officinalis to treat lower-part bleeding such as bloody stool, urinary blood, and hemorrhoidal blood, and combined with agrimony and cogongrass rhizome to treat upper-part bleeding such as coughing blood and nosebleed.

2. Lowers blood pressure and prevents stroke. The rutin contained in Sophora japonica flower is a vitamin that enhances capillary resistance, can strengthen the elasticity of blood vessel walls, improve capillary toughness, has the effect of preventing cerebral blood vessel rupture in hypertensive patients, and can prevent stroke; Sophora japonica flower liquid has a significant blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized dogs.

[Health-care recipes]

1. Sophora japonica flower wine: Sophora japonica flower 100 g, baijiu 750 mL, appropriate amount of white sugar. Pick Sophora japonica flower buds that are about to open, put them into gauze, put them together with baijiu into a container, add an appropriate amount of white sugar, seal, and drink after 2 months. Drink 30-50 mL each time, once a day. This wine is mellow, sweet, and fragrant, and has the effects of lowering blood pressure, preventing stroke, strengthening the stomach and promoting digestion, and eliminating fatigue. It is suitable for cardiovascular disorders in the elderly and conditions such as spleen deficiency with poor appetite, bodily fatigue and drowsiness, and obesity.

2. Sophora japonica flower drink: Aged Sophora japonica flower 10 g, japonica rice 30 g, appropriate amount of brown sugar. First cook the rice to obtain rice soup, grind the Sophora japonica flower into powder and mix into the rice soup, add an appropriate amount of brown sugar, and take. This drink is fragrant, sweet, and palatable, and has the effects of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing liver fire and lowering fire. It is suitable for conditions such as bloody stool, red eyes, and hemorrhoidal blood caused by internal disturbance of wind-heat.

3. Chrysanthemum-Sophora tea: Chrysanthemum, Sophora japonica flower, and green tea 3 g each. Wash the chrysanthemum and Sophora japonica flower, drain the water, put them together with the tea leaves into a cup, brew in boiling water for a moment, and then drink. This tea is fragrant and aromatic, and has the effects of clearing the liver and dispersing wind, lowering fire and improving eyesight, and relieving thirst and restlessness. It has a certain effect as an auxiliary treatment for hypertension, and is also suitable for conditions such as red eyes, blurred vision, wasting-thirst, and irritability with heat.

[Precautions] Sophora japonica flower is cold and cool in nature, and those with insufficient yang qi and spleen-stomach deficiency cold should eat it cautiously.

[Selected literature records]

"Rihua Zi Materia Medica": “Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes.”

"Daming Materia Medica": “Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes, kills abdominal worms and skin wind-heat, intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea, red and white dysentery; all taken stir-fried and ground.”

"Compendium of Materia Medica": “Stir-fried until fragrant and chewed frequently, treats loss of voice and throat impediment. It also treats vomiting of blood, blood in smoke, and abnormal uterine bleeding with dripping.”

[Cultural appreciation]

Tang dynasty, Weng Chengzan. "Inscription on Sophora": “Adorned in the rain, yellow in the gaze, drawing cicada voices to send off the setting sun. Remembering former years following the accounting official, horse hooves were busy for you all day.”

Jin dynasty, Zhao Bingwen. "Jade Hall Sophora japonica Flower": “The jade hall's shade closes coldly on the window gauze; after rain, silver mud draws seal-script snails. Camp grass and hollyhock are both unseen; bee sounds fill the garden gathering Sophora japonica flowers.”

Qing dynasty, Ye Shenxiang. "Recalling Qin E: Sophora japonica Flower": “Wind drifts fragrance; after rain the whole courtyard is yellow with Sophora japonica flowers. Sophora japonica flowers yellow; former years were hard, busy three times. The mother-in-law's vitality is joyfully strong; coolness returns to tall trees, prolonging autumn light. Prolonging autumn light; the guest swallow leaves the nest, chirping at evening and crying finely.”

Historical legends: According to the "Rites of Zhou", “facing three huai trees, the three excellencies take their positions.” This means that when having an audience with the Son of Heaven, the three excellencies stood facing three Sophora japonica trees. In the Tang dynasty there was also the saying “when Sophora japonica flowers yellow, the examination candidates are busy.” Wu Cheng's commentary says: The word huai means to cherish; it cherishes people coming here; Wang Anshi explained: Huai is yellow, and one cherishes its beauty in the heart, so the three excellencies took their positions there; "Chunqiu Wumingbao" says: The word huai means to return. In ancient times, Sophora japonica trees were planted and litigation was heard beneath them, causing feelings to return to truth. Black locust belongs to toxic plants and generally cannot be used as medicine. Its stem bark, leaves, pods, and seeds are all strongly toxic, among which the inner layer of the stem bark is the most toxic. Poisoning symptoms after taking it are: fever, swollen tongue, lower limb edema, vomiting, drowsiness, constipation, sluggishness, dilated pupils, convulsions, difficulty breathing, and irregular heartbeat, etc. The main parts of Chinese scholartree used as medicine are Sophora japonica flower, Sophora japonica fruit, and Sophora japonica branches; all three have good blood pressure-lowering effects:

Sophora flower tastes bitter and has a slightly cold medicinal nature. It functions to cool the blood and stop bleeding, and to clear liver heat and purge fire. It is mostly used for reckless bleeding due to blood heat, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness, and sores and swellings.

Sophora fruit tastes bitter and has a cold medicinal nature. It has the effects of clearing heat and moistening the liver, and cooling the blood and stopping bleeding. It is used for bloody stool due to intestinal wind, bleeding hemorrhoids, abnormal uterine bleeding, bloody strangury, bloody dysentery, chest and heart oppression, wind dizziness with a sensation of falling, and damp itchy genital sores.

Sophora branches taste bitter and have a neutral medicinal nature. They have the effects of dissipating blood stasis and stopping bleeding, clearing heat and drying dampness, and dispelling wind and killing parasites. They are used for abnormal uterine bleeding, red and white vaginal discharge, hemorrhoids, damp itchy scrotum, heart pain, red eyes, and scabies.

A detailed introduction to the preparation methods and nutritional knowledge of sophora sprouts

Click to browse sophora sprout recipes (2 sophora sprout preparation methods in total)

Aliases: dragon tooth vegetable, thorny old package, bird's no-roost

Introduction to sophora sprout knowledge:

Dragon tooth vegetable, also known as sophora wood, is commonly called sophora sprout, thorny old package, or bird's no-roost. It is the tender tip of tree sprouts, often picked by people, cleaned, and cooked, becoming a purely natural green woody vegetable. They are not only delicious but also highly nutritious, and are called the "fine vegetable on the tree."

It is mainly distributed in Anhui, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces in the Yangtze River basin.

Nutritional analysis of sophora sprouts:

Dragon tooth vegetable contains 22 trace elements, among which the content of minerals essential to the human body such as calcium, manganese, iron, titanium, nickel, cobalt, and germanium is higher than that of ginseng, and especially the content of germanium is much higher than that of ginseng.

Dietary therapeutic effects of sophora sprouts:

Dragon tooth vegetable tastes slightly bitter and has a cold nature, and has the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, and promoting blood circulation and relieving pain.

Some time ago, my feet were unfortunately sprained. A monk helped find mugwort leaves and instructed me on how to wash them so my feet could recover. The method was also very simple, but during the few days I stayed at home, my father asked an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor about the effects of mugwort leaves, and then he recommended a folk remedy. Now I will tell everyone the folk remedy, hoping it will help some people.

In the eyes of many people, mugwort leaves are only known to ward off evil and repel mosquitoes. Little do they know that its effects are great. Everyone might as well search online.

Mugwort leaves can be used for bathing and can maintain a pleasant fragrance for a long time. Mugwort leaves combined with salt can treat sprained feet.

The bark of bitter sophora tree can be fried with eggs and eaten, and is very effective in treating cough in children. Those whose cough does not get better for a long time can try this method.

Mugwort leaves + bitter sophora branches + salt Very effective in treating various types of athlete's foot Boil the mugwort leaves and bitter sophora branches in a pot for 25 minutes. Remember not to add cold water. Soak a towel in the boiling water, then take it out and apply it to the feet, once a day, for two weeks.

Yesterday, in front of the stop sign of the Beima Road Dental Hospital, the reporter saw an old man bending over and using a pick to dig a tree pit. The reporter stepped forward and learned that the old man's surname is Jiang and he is already 76 years old this year. Digging tree roots was to go home and treat his wife's illness. Grandpa Jiang told the reporter that what he was digging was sophora tree roots. Sophora tree root is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. It has the effects of clearing heat and purging fire, and promoting diuresis and reducing jaundice. It is used to treat damp-heat jaundice, edema and other conditions. Grandpa Jiang also often goes up the mountain to dig some white cogongrass, which is what we commonly call thatch. In traditional Chinese medicine, its root is used as medicine, and it can clear heat and promote urination, and cool the blood and stop bleeding. Put sophora tree root, white cogongrass, Sichuan pepper and others into water and boil, then wipe the swollen area with hot water. This has a very good effect on treating edema in the elderly.

Sophora buds

Help edit encyclopedia entry

Sophora buds, also called sophora flowers

In a broad sense, sophora buds are the dried flower buds and flowers of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica L. They are produced in all regions of China, with more in the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain. When the flowers have not yet opened in summer, the flower buds are collected and are called "sophora buds"; when the flowers open and are collected, they are called "sophora flowers". After collection, the branches, stems and impurities of the inflorescence are removed, and they are dried promptly, and used raw, stir-fried, or stir-fried until charred.

Chinese scientific name: Sophora buds

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms

Class: Dicotyledons

Family: Fabaceae

Subfamily: Faboideae

Tribe: Sophoreae

Genus: Sophora

Species: Sophora japonica

Edit this section basic information

Sophora buds

Sophora buds

Flos Sophorae Immaturus

(English) Japanese Pagodatree Flower-bud

[Aliases] White sophora, sophora flower, sophora flower buds, sophora seeds (traditional Chinese medicine uses the flower and bud of sophora in the same way).

[Source] It is the flower bud of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica.

Cultivated throughout the country.

[Collection and processing] Collected in summer when the flower buds form, dried promptly, and the branches, stems and impurities are removed.

[Characteristics] The flower buds are ovate or elliptical, 2-6mm long and about 2mm in diameter. The calyx is yellow-green, with several longitudinal lines on the lower part. Above the calyx are yellow-white unopened petals. The pedicel is small. The body is light and breaks when rubbed by hand. Odorless, taste slightly bitter and astringent.

[Nature and taste] Slightly cold in nature, bitter in taste.

[Functions and indications] Cool the blood and stop bleeding, clear liver heat and purge fire. Used for bloody stool, bleeding hemorrhoids, bloody dysentery, abnormal uterine bleeding, vomiting blood, epistaxis, red eyes due to liver heat, headache and dizziness. Dosage 4.5-9g.

[Notes] The flower (sophora flower) cools the blood and stops bleeding; the fruit (sophora fruit) clears heat and purges fire.

Dye use: Sophora buds are also a natural plant dye, and can be used not only as a food coloring but also as a dye for textiles.

Edit this section plant morphology

Deciduous tree, 15-25m tall. Pinnate compound leaves alternate; leaf axis hairy, base enlarged; leaflets 9-15, ovate-oblong, 2.5-7.5cm long, 1.5-5cm wide, apex pointed, base broadly cuneate, grayish-white beneath, sparsely pubescent. Panicle terminal; calyx bell-shaped, with 5 small teeth; corolla milky white, its standard petal broadly heart-shaped, with a short claw, and purple veins, wing petals and keel petals slightly purple at the edges; stamens 10, free, unequal in length. Pod fleshy, bead-like, 2.5-5cm long, hairless, indehiscent. Seeds 1-6, kidney-shaped. Flowering period July-September, fruiting period September-October.

Purple-red sophora flowers

Edit this section chemical composition

Dried sophora flower buds contain rutin, triterpenoid saponins (0.4%), betulin, sophoradiol, glucose, and glucuronic acid. Sophora flower buds also contain sophora flower bud A (14%), sophora flower bud B (1.25%) and sophora flower bud C (0.35%). A is a flavonoid compound different from rutin (formerly called dai, now mostly called gan), and B and C are sterol compounds.

Petals

Edit this section literature discussion

1. "Rihua Zi Bencao": Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes, kills abdominal parasites and heat, treats skin wind, and intestinal wind with bloody stool, red and white dysentery.

2. "Yixue Qiyuan": Cools the heat of the large intestine.

3. "Gangmu": Stir-fried until fragrant and chewed frequently, treats loss of voice and throat obstruction. Also treats vomiting blood, epistaxis, and abnormal uterine bleeding.

4. "Bencao Zheng": Cools the large intestine, kills gan parasites. Treats carbuncles, sores and toxins, damp itchy genital sores, hemorrhoids and fistulas, resolves syphilitic malignant sores, and latent toxins of chancre.

5. "Yilin Zuanyao": Drains reversed lung qi, purges heart fire, clears liver fire, and strengthens kidney water.

6. "Bencao Qiuzhen": Treats blood in urine and stool, and tongue epistaxis.

7. "Bencao Qiuyuan": An important medicine for cooling the blood. Treats sudden stomach pain and kills roundworms.

8. "Dongbei Yaozhi Zhi": Treats diabetic retinitis.

Edit this section pharmacological effects

1. Anti-inflammatory effect: Rutin contained in this product administered intraperitoneally to rats has a clear inhibitory effect on the inflammatory process caused by implanted wool balls.

2. Vitamin P-like effect: Rutin has the effects of maintaining vascular resistance, reducing its permeability, and reducing fragility. It has a lipid-removing effect on fatty liver, and the lipid-removing effect is more obvious when used together with glutathione.

3. Antiviral effect: At a concentration of 200ug/ml, it has the greatest inhibitory effect on vesicular stomatitis virus.

4. Aldose reductase inhibitory effect: At a rutin concentration of 10-5mol/L, the inhibition rate is 95%. This effect is beneficial for the treatment of diabetic cataracts.

5. Expectorant and antitussive effects: Quercetin contained in this product has a certain antiasthmatic effect. In addition, it also has effects such as lowering blood pressure, enhancing capillary resistance, reducing capillary fragility, lowering blood lipids, dilating coronary arteries, and increasing coronary blood flow.

Chinese sophora flowers

Edit this section medicinal material identification

Character identification

1. Sophora flowers are mostly shrunken and curled, with petals mostly scattered. Complete ones have a bell-shaped calyx, yellow-green, with 5 shallow lobes at the apex; 5 petals, yellow or yellow-white, 1 piece larger, nearly round, slightly concave at the apex, the remaining 4 pieces oblong; stamens 10, of which 9 are united at the base, filaments slender; pistil cylindrical, curved. Those with large size, compactness, yellow-green color, and no stems or leaves are preferred.

2. Sophora buds are ovate or elliptical, 2-6mm long, 2-3mm in diameter. The lower part of the calyx has several longitudinal lines. Above the calyx are yellow-white unopened petals. The pedicel is small. The body is light, the odor is faint, and the taste is slightly bitter and astringent.

Sophora flower honey

Microscopic identification

Powder characteristics: yellow-green.

① Pollen grains nearly spherical or obtuse triangular, diameter spherical or obtuse triangular, diameter 14-22μm, with 3 germinal pores.

② Non-glandular hairs l-6 cells, 64-709μm long, 7-23μm in diameter, wall 9μm thick, with irregular cuticular striations, some with tiny verrucous protrusions visible.

③ Surface view of sepal epidermal cells polygonal, with non-glandular hairs and hair shedding traces visible; stomata anomocytic, with 4-8 subsidiary cells. In addition, corolla epidermal cells, pollen sac inner wall cells and calcium oxalate prismatic crystals can be seen.

Physicochemical identification

Take 0.2g of this product, add 5ml of ethanol, warm in a water bath for 5min, and filter. Take 2ml of the filtrate, add a little magnesium powder, mix well, and add several drops of hydrochloric acid, then a cherry-red color appears. (Check flavonoids)

Edit this section clinical application

1. Treatment of psoriasis: Take sophora flowers, stir-fry until yellow, and grind into fine powder. Take 1 qian each time, twice a day, and take with warm boiled water after meals. Sophora flowers can also be made into honey pills for oral use, with the same dosage as above. In clinical observation of 53 cases, 6 cases were cured, 22 cases showed significant improvement, 19 cases improved, and 6 cases were ineffective. This medicine has certain side effects for people with gastrointestinal diseases, and adding vitamin B1 and B6 while taking it can relieve them. Some patients also have diarrhea at first, which disappears on its own after a few days, so medication should start from a small dose and increase to the full dose after 2-3 days.

2. Treatment of cervical lymph node tuberculosis: Take 2 parts sophora buds and 1 part glutinous rice, stir-fry until yellow and grind into powder, and take 2 spoonfuls (about 10g) on an empty stomach every morning. Sugar is prohibited during medication. In clinical treatment of more than 30 cases, all were cured.

3. Treatment of summer boils: Use 1-2 liang of dried sophora flower buds, add 1500ml of water and decoct the juice, then dip cotton in it and wash the affected area. The medicinal juice can be reheated repeatedly, and washed 2-3 times a day. At the same time, mash the medicinal residue into a paste and apply it to the affected area. Generally, after 1-2 days of medication, the local swelling subsides and it heals.

4. Note allergic reactions: One case of a child was reported who developed an allergic reaction after holding sophora flowers in the mouth, with fever, flushing of the skin on the face, neck and limbs, dense papules of varying sizes on the surface, which did not fade under pressure, itching and stinging, and round raised white blisters about 0.5cm in diameter and sheet-like erosions on the cheeks and anterior neck area, with a small amount of exudate; patch test positive. Initial treatment with diphenhydramine was ineffective, and later hydrocortisone was given and the patient gradually recovered.

Sophora buds are dried flower buds, non-toxic, and can be directly soaked in water and drunk after drying in the sun. This medicine is slightly cold, and people with yang deficiency constitution had best not drink it.

Treatment of chronic bronchitis, with anti-inflammatory effects, vitamin P-like effects, effects of maintaining vascular resistance, reducing permeability, and reducing fragility, lipid-removing effect on fatty liver, antiviral effect and aldose reductase inhibitory effect.

Sophora bud effects

November 18, 2008 Tuesday 08:19 PM

[Family and genus] It is the flower or flower bud of the leguminous plant Sophora japonica.

[Aliases] Huai flower, sophora buds.

[Nature, taste and meridian entry] Cold and cool in nature, sweet and neutral in taste; enters the liver and large intestine meridians.

[Effects and indications] Cool the blood and stop bleeding, clear liver heat and lower fire. Mainly treats intestinal wind with bloody stool, bleeding hemorrhoids, blood in urine, bloody strangury, abnormal uterine bleeding, vomiting blood, red and white dysentery, red eyes, sores and toxins, hypertension and other conditions.

[Nutritional components] Every 100 grams of fresh product contains 78 grams of water, 3.1 grams of protein, 0.7 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 8.3 milligrams of calcium, 69 milligrams of phosphorus, 3.6 milligrams of iron, 0.04 milligrams of carotene, 0.04 milligrams of vitamin B1, 0.18 milligrams of vitamin B2, 6.6 milligrams of nicotinic acid, and 66 milligrams of vitamin C. In addition, it also contains rutin, sophora flower element and other substances.

[Dietary therapeutic effects]

1. Cooling the blood and stopping bleeding: Sophora flowers are mainly used for bleeding conditions that belong to blood heat, and can be combined with Sanguisorba officinalis to treat lower bleeding such as bloody stool, blood in urine, and bleeding hemorrhoids, and combined with Agrimonia pilosa and Imperata cylindrica root to treat upper bleeding such as hemoptysis and epistaxis.

2. Lowering blood pressure and preventing stroke: The rutin contained in sophora flowers is a vitamin that enhances capillary resistance, can enhance the elasticity of blood vessel walls, improve capillary toughness, and has the effect of preventing cerebral blood vessel rupture in hypertensive patients, and can prevent stroke; sophora flower liquid has a significant blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized dogs.

[Health recipes]

1. Sophora flower wine: 100 grams of sophora flowers, 750 milliliters of white liquor, and an appropriate amount of white sugar. Pick sophora flower buds that are about to open, put them in gauze, place them together with the white liquor in a container, add an appropriate amount of white sugar, seal it, and it can be drunk after 2 months. Drink 30-50 milliliters each time, once a day. This wine is sweet, mellow and fragrant, and has the effects of lowering blood pressure, preventing stroke, strengthening the stomach and promoting digestion, and eliminating fatigue. It is suitable for cardiovascular diseases in the elderly as well as poor appetite due to spleen deficiency, fatigue and drowsiness, and obesity.

2. Sophora flower drink: 10 grams of aged sophora flowers, 30 grams of japonica rice, and an appropriate amount of brown sugar. First cook the rice and take the rice soup, grind the sophora flowers into powder and mix into the rice soup, add an appropriate amount of brown sugar and take it. This drink is fragrant, sweet and palatable, and has the effects of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding, and clearing liver heat and lowering fire. It is suitable for bloody stool, red eyes, bleeding hemorrhoids and other conditions caused by internal disturbance of wind-heat.

3. Chrysanthemum sophora tea: 3 grams each of chrysanthemum, sophora flowers, and green tea. Wash the chrysanthemum and sophora flowers, drain the water, put them together with the tea leaves into a cup, brew with boiling water for a while, and then drink. This tea is fragrant and aromatic, and has the effects of clearing the liver and dispersing wind, lowering fire and improving eyesight, quenching thirst and relieving restlessness. It has a certain effect as an auxiliary treatment for hypertension, and is also suitable for red eyes, blurred vision, diabetes-like thirst, and restless heat and other conditions.

[Precautions] Sophora flowers are cold and cool in nature, and those with insufficient yang qi and deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach should eat them cautiously.

[Selected literature]

"Rihua Zi Bencao": "Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, and red eyes."

"Daming Bencao": "Treats five types of hemorrhoids, heart pain, red eyes, kills abdominal parasites and skin wind-heat, intestinal wind with bloody stool, red and white dysentery, and should be stir-fried and ground for administration."

"Bencao Gangmu": "Stir-fried until fragrant and chewed frequently, treats loss of voice and throat obstruction. Also treats vomiting blood, bloody urine, and abnormal uterine bleeding."

[Cultural appreciation]

Tang dynasty, Weng Chengzan. "Inscribing Sophora": "Adorned in the rain, yellow in the view, luring cicada sounds to send off the setting sun. Remembering that in those years I followed the accounting official, the horse's hooves were busy for you all day."

Jin dynasty, Zhao Bingwen. "Jade Hall Sophora Flowers": "The jade hall shades together with the cold window gauze, after rain the silver mud attracts seal-script snails. Camp grass and hollyhock are both unseen, bee sounds fill the garden gathering sophora flowers."

Qing dynasty, Ye Shenxiang. "Recalling Qin E. Sophora Flowers": "Fragrance drifts in the wind, after rain the whole courtyard is yellow with sophora flowers. Sophora flowers yellow, in former years toiling hard, thrice busy. The mother-in-law's vitality is joyous and especially strong, cool returns to the tall tree prolonging autumn light. Prolonging autumn light, leaving the nest the guest swallow, chirping at evening the singing wren."

Historical legend: According to the "Rites of Zhou", "facing three sophora trees, the three ducal positions are there." It means that when having an audience with the Son of Heaven, the three ducal ministers stood facing three sophora trees. In the Tang dynasty there was also the saying "when sophora flowers are yellow, the examination candidates are busy." Wu Cheng noted: The word sophora means cherishing, cherishing people coming here; Wang Anshi explained: Sophora yellow, inwardly cherishing its beauty, therefore the three ducal positions are there; "Chunqiu Wumingbao" says: The word sophora means returning. In ancient times sophora trees were planted, and lawsuits were heard beneath them, causing feelings to return to truth.

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