Are azaleas poisonous? A detailed explanation of azaleas' effects and benefits
We know that azaleas can both purify the air and be enjoyed for their ornamental beauty. But some people say azaleas are poisonous. Is that true? Are azaleas poisonous? What are the effects and benefits of azaleas?
Azaleas' effects and benefits:
Azaleas' effects and benefits, part one: Sweet in taste, warm in nature, able to lower blood lipids and lower cholesterol, and to nourish and beautify the skin. Drunk over the long term, it can make the skin delicate and the complexion rosy; it can lower blood lipids, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, nourish and beautify the skin, nourish the skin and harmonise the blood, regulate menstruation, dispel rheumatic dampness, and treat irregular menstruation.
Azaleas' effects and benefits, part two: Azalea tea has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, beautifying and protecting the skin, harmonising the blood, regulating menstruation, dispelling rheumatic dampness, and treating rheumatic pain. Azelaic acid can be extracted from azaleas and made into cosmetics, providing certain beauty benefits.
Characteristics of azaleas
The external characteristics of azaleas
In what ways are the characteristics of azaleas shown in their external appearance? The azalea is a deciduous shrub, with many slender branches, densely covered with shiny brown flat strigose hairs. The leaves are leathery, often clustered at the ends of the branches, ovate, elliptic-ovate, or obovate, or obovate to oblanceolate, with a short acuminate apex, a cuneate or broadly cuneate base, slightly recurved margins, and fine teeth; the upper surface is dark green and sparsely covered with strigose hairs, while the lower surface is pale white and densely covered with brown strigose hairs. Azaleas generally bloom in spring, with 2-6 flowers per cluster; the corolla is funnel-shaped, and the colours include red, pale red, apricot red, snow blue, and white, with abundant and gorgeous flower colours.
The medicinal characteristics of azaleas
Azalea root: sour, sweet, warm. Invigorates the blood, relieves pain, dispels wind, and relieves pain. Used for vomiting blood, epistaxis, irregular menstruation, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, rheumatic pain, and traumatic injuries.
Azalea leaf: sour, neutral. Clears heat and detoxifies, and stops bleeding. Used for carbuncles, swellings, boils and sores, external bleeding from trauma, and urticaria.
Azalea flower: sour, sweet, warm. Invigorates the blood, regulates menstruation, and dispels rheumatic dampness. Used for irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, traumatic injuries, rheumatic pain, vomiting blood, and epistaxis.
The economic characteristics of azaleas
In economic terms, the characteristics of azaleas are that some leaves and flowers can be used as medicine or to extract aromatic oils, some flowers can be eaten, the bark and leaves can be used to make tanning extract, and the wood can be made into handicrafts, and so on. Alpine azaleas have well-developed root systems and are very good plants for soil and water conservation. Azaleas are a good material for flower hedges, and Rhododendron mucronatum can also be pruned and trained into various forms. Azalea specialty gardens are highly distinctive. Even though azaleas always give people a lively and bustling feeling when they bloom in flower season, when it is not flower season, their dark green leaves are also very suitable for planting in courtyards as low walls or barriers.
The cultural characteristics of azaleas
There is also a beautiful and bizarre legend about the azalea. It is said that in ancient times the king of the state of Shu, Duyu, loved his people very much. After abdicating the throne, he lived in seclusion and cultivated the Way, and after he died he transformed into a cuckoo bird, which people then called the azalea bird. Every spring, the azalea bird flies over to wake the common people: "Sow the grain! Sow the grain quickly!" It cried until blood flowed from its beak, and the fresh blood splashed onto the ground, dyeing the azaleas all over the mountains red.
Are azaleas poisonous?
Yellow azaleas contain a toxin, and poisoning causes symptoms such as vomiting, difficulty breathing, and numbness of the limbs. Bright red azaleas are not poisonous, and many children in the mountains pick the mountain red azaleas and eat their red petals (not the stamens).
Azalea leaves and flowers can mainly treat urticaria and bronchitis, and when used externally can reduce swelling and relieve pain. They can treat traumatic injuries, rheumatoid arthritis, resolve phlegm and relieve cough, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, and amenorrhea (contraindicated in pregnant women). There is a kind of yellow azalea, also known as "sheep azalea" [Rhododendron molle] or "nervous yang flower", whose root, flowers, and leaves are pungent in taste, warm in nature, and highly toxic; it has the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, anaesthetising and relieving pain, and invigorating the blood and resolving stasis; it is an anaesthetic and analgesic drug with a certain toxicity, and care should be taken not to use it in excess.
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