Scutellaria indica is also known as Erwa grass, Dali grass, blueflower teaspoon Huang, and Xiangtian zhan

Scientific name: Scutellaria indica Linn.

Aliases: Erwa grass, Dali grass, blueflower teaspoon Huang

Family and genus: the dried whole plant of the genus Scutellaria in the family Lamiaceae.

Morphological characteristics:

Scutellaria indica is a perennial evergreen herb; stems solitary or several clustered, arising from a short rhizome, 12-28 cm tall, slender, square-columnar, covered with fine soft hairs. Leaves herbaceous to nearly papery, cordate-orbicular to ovate, sometimes elliptic, 1.5-2.6 cm long, apex blunt or rounded, base rounded or somewhat cordate, margin with rounded teeth, both surfaces covered with soft hairs or strigose; petiole 0.4-1.4 cm long or longer.

It flowers in spring and summer; flowers blue-purple, opposite, several arranged in terminal racemes; calyx 2.5 mm long, bell-shaped, bilabiate, the circular scutellum on the back of the posterior lip about 1.5 mm long, enlarging to 3 mm when fruiting; corolla 1.4-1.8 cm long, covered with fine soft hairs, corolla tube abruptly bent forward in a knee-like manner at the base, upper part straight, limb bilabiate, upper lip helmet-shaped, slightly concave at the tip, lower lip lobes larger, ovate, constricted in the middle; stamens 4, didynamous. Nutlets 4, ovate, about 1 mm long, concealed within the enlarged persistent calyx.

It grows on hillsides, grasslands, open fields, roadsides, valleys and forest margins.

It is distributed in our province and in Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, China, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan and other provinces and regions, and is also distributed in India, Indonesia and Japan.

Medicinal material:

Place of production: produced throughout our province.

Harvesting and processing: harvested during the flowering period in spring and summer.

Pull up the whole plant, shake off the mud and sand, wash clean, and dry in the sun.

Characters:

The whole plant is 10-25 cm long. Roots slender. Stems four-columnar, branched. Leaves opposite, petiolate; leaf blades mostly shrunken, when flattened round or ovate, 1-2 cm long, 0.8-1.5 cm wide, greenish-brown, apex blunt, base cordate, margin with blunt teeth, both surfaces densely covered with fine hairs.

Racemes terminal, corolla blue, mostly already fallen. Nutlets transverse, the remaining calyx bell-shaped, with a sac-like scutellum on the back of the calyx tube, appearing "ear-spoon" shaped.

Odor slight, taste slightly bitter and salty. Quality requirements: those with slender and uniform stems and branches, many leaves, greenish-brown color, and "ear-spoon" shaped fruiting branches are preferred. Packaging and storage: bundle and press into handfuls, seal firmly with cattail mats, and store in a dry place.

Processing: remove impurities, cut into sections, and sift out dust and debris.

Nature and flavor: pungent, bitter, slightly cold. Meridian entry: enters the Heart, Liver and Lung meridians.

Functions and indications:

Clears heat and detoxifies, dissipates blood stasis and stops bleeding, dispels wind and relieves pain. Used for liver-heat restlessness, lung-heat panting and cough, blood-heat coughing of blood, vomiting of blood, sore and swollen throat, and wind-fire toothache.

For external use, it treats sores and abscesses, swelling and pain from falls and blows, traumatic bleeding, and venomous snake bites.

Usage and dosage: 6-9 g, decocted in water. For external use, an appropriate amount of the fresh product is pounded and applied to the affected area.