Introduction of Hai Jin Sha:Climbing Fern Spore or Spora Lygodii.


Classifications of Herbs:Diuretics and Hydragogues Herbs:Herbs Diuretics.


Spora Lygodii(Climbing Fern Spore).

Spora Lygodii Pin Yin Name: Hǎi Jīn Shā.
 English Name: Climbing Fern Spore.
 Latin Name: Spora Lygodii.
 Property and flavor: cold, sweet, tasteless.

 Brief introduction: The herb Spora Lygodii is the spores of Lygodium japonicum(Thunb.) Sw.(family Ligodiaceae), used to eliminate damp-heat and as a lithagogue for treating bladder damp-heat and urinary calculi. The herb is commonly known as Spora Lygodii, Hǎi Jīn Shā.

 Botanical source: Official herbal classics and other famous herbal classics defined the herb Spora Lygodii(Hai Jin Sha) as the dry ripe spores of the species (1).Lygodium japonicum(Thunb.) Sw. It is a plant of the Lygodium Sw Genus, the Lygodiaceae family of the Polypodiales order. This commonly used species is introduced as:

(1).Lygodium japonicum(Thunb.)Sw.

 Lygodium japonicum Thunb.Sw. Botanical description: It is commonly known as Hǎi Jīn Shā. Plant height is up to 1~4 meters. Leaf axis with two narrow edges, most of the barbs, about 9~11 cm apart, a short spur grows on the leaf axis on both sides, spreading.

 Lygodium japonicum Thunb.Sw. The distance is 3 mm long. End with a tuft of yellow soft hair covering the axillary buds. Sterile barbs pointed triangular, several equal in length and width, about 10~12 cm or narrower, stalk 1.5~1.8 cm long, as much as barb shaft by short gray hair, both sides and a narrow edge, two gyrate pinnately; Primary feather 2~4 pairs, alternate, stalk 4-8 mm long, and rachis both narrowly winged and short-hairy, base-pair ovoid, 4~8 cm long. 3~6 cm wide, primary pinnate; Dicyclic fillets 2~3 pairs, ovate-triangular, shortly stipitate or sessile, alternate, palmately trifid; Final lobes short and wide, central one 2~3 cm long, 6~8 mm wide, base cuneate or cardiac, apex obtuse, apex secondary lobes 2.5~3.5 cm long, 8~10 mm wide, undulate lobed; Primary barbs subpalmately divided or not divided upward, shorter, leaf margin irregularly lobed serrate. Main veins distinct, lateral veins slender, oblique from main veins, 1~2 cycles bifurcated, to serrate. Leaves papery, brown after drying. Slightly short hairs on both sides along midrib and veins.

 Lygodium japonicum Thunb.Sw. Feathers ovate triangular, several equal in length and width, ca. 12~20 cm, or slightly too wide, 2-gyrus pinnate; Primary barbs 4~5 pairs, alternate, about 2-3 cm apart, oblong-lanceolate, 5~10 cm long, base 4~6 cm wide, primary barbs 4 pairs. Ovate-triangular, pinnate and deeply lobed. Sporangium panicles 2~4 mm long, often longer than the central sterile part of the rachis, arranged sparsely, dark brown, glabrous.

 Lygodium japonicum Thunb.Sw. Ecological environment: The plant grows in damp hillside thickets or roadside forest edge. The plant distributes in the east, central and south areas, southwest and northwest of China. It is mainly produced in the lower reaches area of the Yangtze River, the Zhujiang river area, southwest area, northwest, Hong Kong, Taiwan of China. It also distributes in tropical Australia, Ceylon, Java, Luzon Island of the Philippines.

 Characters of herbs: Dry and mature spores, powdery, yellowish-brown or light brown, light in quality, smooth in hand. Place palm in slip by finger crack namely; It floats in the water and then sinks when heated. Easy to fire and burn and send explosion and flash, leaving no ash, dry, yellow and brown, light and smooth, can float in water, no sediment impurities, ignition explosion sound is better.

 Pharmacological actions: ①.diuretic and removing urinary calculus; ②.choleretic effect; ③.inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri and Bacillus typhi.

 Medicinal efficacy: Clear dampness and heat, clear heat and detoxification, treating stranguria and relieve pain, alleviate water retention and treating stranguria. It is indicated for pyretic stranguria, stony stranguria, urolithiasis, bloody stranguria, stranguria marked by chyluria(stranguria due to chyluria), gonorrhea(white turbidity), morbid leukorrhea, urethralgia, urinary tract infection, lithangiuria, swollen and fullness of water dampness, damp-heat jaundice, hepatitis, nephritis and edema, sore throats, mumps, enteritis, damp-heat dysentery, dysentery, hematemesis(vomiting blood), epistaxis(nosebleed, or bleeding from five aperture or subcutaneous tissue), hematuria(bloody urine), traumatic hemorrhage, skin eczema, herpes zoster, etc.

 Administration of Spora Lygodii(Hǎi Jīn Shā): 
Reference: Administration Guide of Spora Lygodii(Hǎi Jīn Shā)
TCM Books: Internally:6~15 grams,better wrapped to decoct(CP),Internally:water decoction, 1.5~8 qian(about 4.5~24 grams),or grinded into fine powder and take(DCTM),Internally:water decoction,5~9 grams,wrapped to decoct,or grinded into fine powder and take,2~3 grams each time(CHMM).

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