The efficacy and effects of wormwood, the uses and contraindications of wormwood

Introduction to Mugwort

Artemisia argyi H. Lév. & Vaniot, also known as: Xiaomao, Bingtai, Ecao, Xiangai, Qiai, Aixiao, Aihao, Aihao, Penggao, Ai, moxibustion grass, medical grass, yellow grass, and Airong. It is a perennial herb or slightly semi-shrub-like plant with a strong aroma. The stem is solitary or a few, brown or grayish-yellow-brown, slightly woody at the base, scutellaria at the top, and has a few short branches. The leaves are thick and papery, with short grayish-white soft hairs on the surface, and the base is usually without stipules or very small stipules; the upper leaves and bracts are pinnate-cleft, the head inflorescence is elliptical, the corolla is tubular or goblet-shaped, with glandular dots on the outside, the anthers are narrowly linear, and the style is nearly equal to or slightly longer than the corolla. Achenes are long ovate or oblong. Flowering and fruiting period is September-October. The whole plant is used as medicine, which has the effects of warming the meridians, removing dampness, dispelling cold, stopping bleeding, reducing inflammation, relieving asthma, relieving cough, stabilizing pregnancy, and resisting allergies. The leaves of mugwort are dried and crushed to make "mugwort wool", which is used to make moxa sticks for moxibustion and can also be used as the raw material of "ink pad". It is distributed in Asia and Europe.

The main value of wormwood

Medicinal mugwort is closely related to the lives of the Chinese people. During the Dragon Boat Festival, people always place mugwort at home to "ward off evil spirits". The dried plant body is soaked in water and fumigated to achieve the purpose of disinfection and itching relief. Postpartum women often use mugwort water for bathing or fumigation.

In addition to "white wormwood" and "white mugwort", "Compendium of Materia Medica" also records "Qi mugwort" (produced in Qizhou, now Xinzhou Town, Qichun County, Hubei Province), which can be used as medicine. This is a cultivated variety of mugwort cv. qiai, which is different from the original species (wild species) in that the cultivated plant is tall, 150-250 cm tall, with a strong aroma; the leaves are thick and papery, with dense and thick hairs, the middle leaves are pinnately lobed, and the upper leaves are usually undivided, elliptical or oblong, up to 7-8 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, and the leaves are often rubbed into a cotton-like state; it is used as medicine, warm, bitter, pungent, and slightly sweet.

The whole plant is used as medicine, which has the effects of warming the meridians, removing dampness, dispelling cold, stopping bleeding, reducing inflammation, relieving asthma, relieving cough, stabilizing pregnancy, and resisting allergies. It is recorded in medical books of all dynasties as "the main hemostatic medicine" and is also one of the commonly used gynecological medicines. It is especially good for treating gynecological diseases of deficiency and cold, and also for treating chronic bronchitis and asthma in the elderly. When boiling water for bathing, it can prevent and treat maternal and infant infections during the puerperium, or make medicinal pillows and medicinal vests to prevent and treat chronic bronchitis or asthma in the elderly and stomach pain caused by deficiency and cold. The leaves of wormwood are dried and crushed to obtain "wormwood wool", which is used to make wormwood sticks for moxibustion, and can also be used as the raw material of "ink pad". In addition, the whole plant is used as an insecticide or fumigation smoke for room disinfection and insecticide. The young shoots and seedlings are used as vegetables.

Mugwort is bitter, pungent, and warm in nature, and it enters the spleen, liver, and kidney. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: Mugwort leaves are used as medicine, and they are warm in nature, bitter in taste, non-toxic, pure yang in nature, can pass through the twelve meridians, and have the effects of restoring yang, regulating qi and blood, expelling dampness and cold, stopping bleeding and calming the fetus. It is also commonly used in acupuncture. Therefore, it is also called "medicinal grass". The "herbal bath" that is popular in Taiwan mostly uses mugwort. Regarding the properties of mugwort leaves, "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Mugwort leaves can cure hundreds of diseases." "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "Mugwort leaves are bitter and pungent, warm when raw, hot when cooked, and pure yang in nature. They can restore the yang that is hanging down, pass through the twelve meridians, run through the three yin meridians, regulate qi and blood, expel cold and dampness, warm the uterus... Use it to moxibustion fire, it can penetrate all meridians and eliminate hundreds of diseases." This shows that using mugwort leaves as moxibustion materials has the effects of dredging meridians and activating collaterals, eliminating yin and cold, reducing swelling and dispersing nodules, and restoring yang and rescuing adverse conditions. Modern pharmacology has found that mugwort leaves contain a lot of volatile oils,

1.8-cineole (accounting for more than 50%), and others include α-thujone, sesquiterpene alcohol and its esters. Air-dried leaves contain 10.13% minerals, 2.59% fat, 25.85% protein, and vitamins A, B1, B2, C, etc. For moxibustion, the older the moxa leaves, the better, so there is a saying that "a seven-year illness can be cured by three years of moxa" (Mencius).

Mugwort has the effects of regulating menstruation and stopping bleeding, calming the fetus and stopping metrorrhagia, dispelling cold and removing dampness. It can treat irregular menstruation, menstrual pain, abdominal pain, miscarriage, uterine bleeding, and cure rheumatoid arthritis, head wind, and menstrual wind. Because it can cut ice to make it round and can cure all kinds of diseases, it is the most commonly used medicine by doctors. Modern experimental research has shown that mugwort has antibacterial and antiviral effects; antiasthmatic, antitussive and expectorant effects; hemostatic and anticoagulant effects; sedative and anti-allergic effects; liver protection and gallbladder effects, etc. Mugwort can be used as recipes such as "mugwort tea", "mugwort soup" and "mugwort porridge" to enhance the body's resistance to diseases. Mugwort has a special fragrance, which has the effect of repelling mosquitoes and insects. Therefore, the ancients often hung mugwort in front of the door, one to ward off evil spirits, and the other to drive away mosquitoes and insects.

Mugwort is also a good food. Among the traditional foods in southern China, there is a kind of glutinous rice cake made with mugwort as the main ingredient (see mugwort glutinous rice cake). Fresh mugwort and glutinous rice flour are mixed in a ratio of one to two around Qingming Festival, and then stuffed with peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar (mung bean paste is added in some areas), and then steamed. In the Dongjiang River Basin in Guangdong, locals pick fresh mugwort leaves and buds in winter and spring and eat them as vegetables.

Every Spring Festival, the Hakka people in Ganzhou have the custom of collecting mugwort to make Aimi fruit. Aimi fruit is similar in shape to dumplings, but larger in size and filled with stuffing. It is delicious and can be used as a staple food.

dye

It can be used as a natural plant dye. Mugwort dyeing also has functional effects.

Ink Pad

The main raw materials of ink pad are cinnabar, cinnabar, moxa, castor oil, musk, borneol, etc. Moxa must be prepared in advance. Take old moxa leaves and repeatedly dry them, screen them clean, remove impurities, and make them soft and fine like cotton. Only then can it be used. There are two kinds of moxa. The one processed by the above method is coarse moxa, which can get 6 or 7 taels per catty and is suitable for general moxibustion. If it is processed more finely, it will be dried for dozens of days and screened dozens of times, and only 2 or 3 taels per catty will be obtained. It turns into a yellowish brown color and is fine moxa. It can be used for direct moxibustion. It is also the raw material for ink pad. It is used for direct moxibustion. It is good quality and cheap. You can buy it. When you look at the fine moxa with a magnifying glass, it looks like a bunch of small caterpillars, clean and without any impurities. There are famous moxa merchants in Japan that have been passed down for hundreds of years, such as Tokyo's "Kamaya Company". Kamaya brand moxa has a history of more than 300 years. There is also the "Sanhui Trading Company" and so on. Most of their goods come from the moxa doctors in Hunan, China. The Kamaya family produces more than ten tons of moxa a year.

Mugwort Benefits

Bitter, dry, pungent and dispersing, it can regulate qi and blood, warm the meridians, expel cold and dampness, and stop cold pain. It is an important medicine for gynecology. It is used to treat cold pain in the abdomen, irregular menstruation, cold uterus and infertility, such as Ai Fu Nuan Gong Wan. Stir-fried charcoal can stop bleeding, and can be used to treat menorrhagia due to deficiency and cold, metrorrhagia, leukorrhea, and pregnancy and fetal leakage, such as Jiao Ai Tang. This product is pounded into moxa sticks and moxa cones. External moxibustion can dispel cold and stop pain, and warm qi and blood. The decoction can be used for external washing to treat wet sores, scabies, and remove dampness and stop itching.

Mugwort has been used to prevent plague for thousands of years. Chinese herbal medicine can be obtained locally, and modern medical pharmacological research shows that mugwort is a broad-spectrum antibacterial and antiviral drug. It has inhibitory and killing effects on many viruses and bacteria, and has a certain preventive and therapeutic effect on respiratory diseases. Mugwort fumigation is a simple and easy method of epidemic prevention.

The magical effects of mugwort

Moxibustion

Moxibustion, according to traditional Chinese medicine, has the effects of warming yang and replenishing qi, relaxing meridians and unblocking collaterals, removing blood stasis and dispersing nodules, and replenishing the middle and benefiting qi. Summer is the season when yang energy is the most prosperous among the four seasons. At this time, warming and replenishing yang energy, with the help of heaven and earth, is the most effective. Moxibustion therapy is to light moxa sticks made of wormwood, and fumigate the acupuncture points that need to be treated on the body, so that the medicinal gas and fire temperature of the wormwood leaves can penetrate the muscles, bones and meridians, thereby achieving the purpose of treating the disease. However, pay attention to the following taboos when doing moxibustion: Do not wash your hands or take a bath with cold water within half an hour after warm moxibustion, and do not drink cold or ice water. Instead, drink more warm boiled water than usual to help the body excrete toxins.

Moxibustion is not suitable within one hour after a meal; it is not suitable for people who are menstruating, have a high fever, are very hungry or full, are overly tired, or have redness and swelling on the body.

wash

Mugwort has health-care effects such as disinfection, warding off filth, and killing insects, so bathing with mugwort is good for the body. There are no special requirements for the preparation of mugwort water. If it is used for bathing, rinse the mugwort first to wash off the dust, then put it in a pot and boil it. After 5 to 10 minutes of boiling, pick up the mugwort and pour the water into the bathtub. The volatile oil contained in mugwort has obvious antitussive, expectorant and anti-allergic effects. Therefore, fumigating and washing the feet with mugwort decoction has an antitussive effect. Generally speaking, there are no adverse reactions to the external use of mugwort, and the possibility of poisoning is small, but it should not be too concentrated. Generally, mugwort is taken from

20 to 30 grams is appropriate, but it should not be used for a long time. Stop when the cough stops.

wipe

In the season when mosquitoes are rampant, relying on pesticides and electric mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes will inevitably pose health risks. You can use mugwort. Soak an appropriate amount of mugwort in camellia oil and place it in a glass bottle for a month. After the components of the mugwort are precipitated into the oil, it will emit a rich mugwort fragrance. Then filter the soaked oil, add lavender, mint, lemongrass and other essential oils, and put it into a roller bottle. It will be the most environmentally friendly mosquito repellent weapon you can carry with you.

eat

Ancient Chinese people had the habit of eating mugwort leaves. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that mugwort leaves are very effective traditional Chinese medicine with many functions. Mugwort leaves are warm in nature and belong to the liver, spleen, and kidney meridians. They have the effects of warming the meridians to stop bleeding, dispelling cold and relieving pain. Women who have problems such as menstrual irregularities due to deficiency and cold, excessive menstrual bleeding, and abdominal pain can eat mugwort leaves appropriately. Mugwort leaves contain ingredients such as eucalyptol and thujone, which have cough, asthma, antibacterial and anti-allergic effects. Mugwort leaves naturally have a fresh smell and are suitable for mixing with various ingredients. For example, stir-frying tofu with mugwort leaves, making dumplings, or wrapping them in flour and steaming them are all recipes that can maximize the light fragrance of mugwort leaves. Mugwort leaves are stewed with meat to replenish qi and blood, strengthen the spleen and calm the mind. Foods made from mugwort leaves are suitable for most people, but those with yin deficiency and blood heat should be taken with caution.

Taboos of using mugwort

Patients with yin deficiency and blood heat should be cautious in using moxa leaves. Bitter wine and angelica root can be used as adjuvants. Patients with yin deficiency and excessive fire, dry blood and heat, and those with chronic blood loss diseases should not use moxa leaves.