What are the uses of the Japanese pagoda tree? A comprehensive analysis of its value

The Japanese pagoda tree has dense branches and leaves, forming a canopy of green shade, making it suitable as a shade tree. In northern China it is mostly used as a street tree, and it is also very suitable for planting in parks, around buildings, in residential neighborhoods and on lawns. The dragon-claw pagoda tree (Sophora japonica var. pendula) is suitable for paired planting or row planting in front of doors, or as a specimen planting beside pavilions, terraces and rockeries, and can also be used for greening industrial and mining areas. In summer and autumn its flowers can be enjoyed, and it is an excellent honey-source plant. The wood is highly elastic and resistant to water and moisture. It can be used for construction, ships, railway sleepers, vehicles and carving. The seed kernel contains starch and can be used for brewing wine or as a paste material and feed. The bark, branches and leaves, flower buds, flowers and seeds can all be used as medicine.

Economic uses of the Japanese pagoda tree

The Japanese pagoda tree has high economic value. Its wood is resistant to water and moisture, elastic and of excellent quality. Its flowers can be used as medicine and can also be made into pigments. Its seeds can be pressed for oil to make soap. The Japanese pagoda tree is a symbol of good fortune, happiness and beauty, and is a tree species that the urban and rural people of Tianshui City have loved to plant since ancient times.

1. An excellent honey-source plant.

2. The seeds are pressed for oil for industrial use.

3. The outer fruit skin of the pagoda tree pods can be used to extract caramel, etc.

4. The wood is used for construction or for making farm tools and furniture.

5. It has strong resistance to toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide and chlorine.

Medicinal value of the Japanese pagoda tree

1. Pagoda tree leaves

Pagoda tree leaves taste bitter, are neutral in nature and non-toxic. Main indications: tree bark, root white bark.

① Apoplexy with a stiff body that can still move. Cut the pagoda tree bark (the yellow-white kind) into fine pieces, add six sheng of wine or water, boil down to two sheng, and take it in divided doses.

② Wind-toothache. Take a handful of white pagoda tree bark, cut it fine, add one sheng of fermented milk and boil, remove the residue, add a little salt, and use it as a gargle.

③ Earwig-induced malignant sores. Soak white pagoda tree bark in vinegar for half a day, then wash the affected area. Pagoda tree leaves:

④ Intestinal-wind hemorrhoids. Take one jin of pagoda tree leaves, steam them, dry them in the sun, grind them into powder, and decoct them as a tea substitute. Long-term use can also improve eyesight.

⑤ Nasal congestion. Boil pagoda tree leaves in water, boiling five sheng down to three sheng, add scallion and fermented soybean, and mix well to make a decoction for drinking.

2. Pagoda tree branches

① Wind-heat toothache. Burn pagoda tree branches and cauterize the painful area.

② Uterine bleeding and leukorrhea. Burn pagoda tree branches to ash, take one spoonful per dose before meals, swallowed with wine. Take twice a day.

③ Genital sores with damp itching. Decoct pagoda tree branches in water and wash with the hot liquid.

3. Pagoda tree flowers

① Persistent nosebleeds. Take equal parts of pagoda tree flowers and cuttlefish bone, half raw and half fried, grind into powder, and blow into the nose.

② Persistent vomiting of blood. Burn pagoda tree flowers until their nature is preserved, add a little musk, grind evenly, and take three qian with glutinous rice soup.

③ Hemoptysis and spitting of blood. Fry pagoda tree flowers and grind them fine, take three qian per dose with glutinous rice soup. After taking the medicine, one must lie still for one or two hours.

④ Blood in the urine. Take one liang each of fried pagoda tree flowers and roasted turmeric, grind together into powder. Take two qian per dose with light fermented soybean soup. It works immediately.

⑤ Bloody diarrhea. Take equal parts of pagoda tree flowers and schizonepeta spikes, grind into powder, and take one spoonful with wine. Another formula: take three qian of cypress leaves and six qian of pagoda tree flowers, decoct in water and take daily. Another formula: take equal parts of pagoda tree flowers and bitter orange, fry while preserving their nature, grind into powder, and take two qian with water.

⑥ Abnormal uterine bleeding in women. Burn pagoda tree flowers while preserving their nature. Grind into powder. Take two or three qian per dose before meals, swallowed with warm wine.

⑦ Apoplexy with loss of voice. Fry pagoda tree flowers, and after the third watch, lie face up and chew and swallow them.

⑧ Carbuncles and deep-rooted boils on the back (whenever suffering from heat toxin, with blurred vision, dizziness, dry mouth, sweet taste in the mouth, palpitations, heat in the back, numbness of the limbs, and a red halo appearing on the back). Take a pile of pagoda tree flowers, fry them until brown, soak them in a bowl of good wine, drink the wine while hot; once sweat appears, one recovers. If it has not subsided, fry another dose and take it. One will certainly recover.

⑨ Nail-like sores and swollen toxin. Slightly fry pagoda tree flowers, add two liang of walnut kernels, place in a bowl of wine and boil repeatedly, then take hot. For sores that have not yet formed, two or three doses; for sores that have already formed, one or two doses, and results can be seen.

⑩ Persistent leukorrhea. Take equal parts of fried pagoda tree flowers and calcined oyster shell, grind into powder. Take three qian per dose with wine.

4. Pagoda tree fruit

① Intestinal-wind bloody diarrhea. Take one liang of pagoda tree pods (stems removed, fried), and half a liang each of Sanguisorba officinalis, angelica (roasted in wine), Saposhnikovia divaricata, Scutellaria baicalensis and bitter orange (bran-fried), grind together into powder, add wine and paste to make pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take fifty pills per dose with rice soup. This formula is called "Pagoda Tree Pod Pill".

② Rectal prolapse. Take equal parts of pagoda tree fruit and pagoda tree flowers, fry into powder, dip in sheep blood and roast until cooked, then eat (one may also use pig kidney, peeled and dipped in the powder, roasted until cooked and eaten), and swallow with wine.

③ Internal and external hemorrhoids. Take half the amount of pagoda tree pods, pound them into juice, pound into juice, dry in the sun, concentrate, take ground beetle powder, and decoct together into pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take ten pills per dose with water. When making the pills, they can also be made into suppository sticks and inserted into the anus. Ground bitter ginseng powder can be used instead of ground beetle powder.

④ Heat in the eyes with dim vision. Take two liang each of pagoda tree pods and Coptis chinensis, grind together into powder, add honey to make pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take twenty pills per dose with rice-water. Twice a day.

⑤ Severe heat with chest oppression. Burn pagoda tree pods into powder and take one spoonful with wine.