Balanophora harlandii Hook. f.

Balanophora harlandii Hook. f.

Latin Name: Balanophora harlandii Hook. f.; Family Balanophoraceae

Synonym name: Balanophora esquirolii H. Léveillé; Balanophora harlandii var. mutinoides (Hayata) F. W. Xing; Balanophora henryi Hemsley; Balanophora kawakamii Valeton; Balanophora kudoi Yamamoto; Balanophora lancangensis Y. Y. Qian; Balanophora minor Hemsley; Balanophora mutinoides Hayata.

English Name: Plants dioecious. Rhizome yellowish to brownish, branched or unbranched, surface scabrous; branches flat spheroid or subglobose, 2.5-5 cm in diam. Scapes red (especially in females) to yellow, 2-5.5 cm. Leaves 6-12, yellow to reddish, usually clustered on base of scape, decussate, subopposite, or spiraled, scaly, oblong-ovate, 2.5-4.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm. Male inflorescences subspheroid to ovoid-ellipsoid, 1.8-2.5 × 1.5-2 cm. Bracts truncate with expanded liplike margin, fused side by side into a hexagonal alveolus. Male flowers: pedicellate, inserted basally in alveolus, 3-merous, 1.5-3 mm in diam. Perianth lobes broadly deltoid. Synandria subdiscoid; anthers 3, transversely dehiscent. Female inflorescence ovoid to ellipsoid. Spadicles obovoid, shortly stiped; cuticular ridges of apical cells labyrinthlike. Female flowers: only on main axis of inflorescences. Fl. Sep-Nov.

Distribution: Growing in moist and humus soil in shady forests. Distributed in Taiwan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Southwest Hunan, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Hainan, Northwest Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, North Shaanxi and West Henan.

Part Used: entire plant. Chinese name: Gexun.

Harvest & Processing: Excavated in autumn and winter, removed soil, foreign matters and dried in shade, or used fresh.

Properties & Actions: Taste bitter, harsh, and cold in nature. Cooling the blood to stop bleeding, clearing heat and detoxifying.

Indications & Usage: Used for cough and empsyxis, profuse uterine bleeding, discharging fresh blood in stools, hemorrhoids and swelling pain, syphilis, furunculosis, infantile phalloncus. Internal: decocting, 9-15g. External: appropriate amount, triturated for application; or powdered for application.

Examples:

1. Cough with lung heat, coughing up blood: Japanese balanophora herb, stargrass, false wintergreen, white cogongrass 9-15g each. Decoct in water and swallow.

2. Discharging fresh blood stool: Japanese balanophora herb, unpleasant swallowwort herb, fortune windmillpalm root 9-15g each. Decoct in water and swallow.

3. Syphilis: Japanese balanophora herb and borneo camphor (a little), grind into powder, and smear onto the affected lesions.

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