Peacock Tail is the name of a traditional Chinese medicine. It consists of the rhizome or the whole plant of Asplenium sarelii Hook., a species of the family Aspleniaceae.It is distributed in Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and other regions. It has the therapeutic effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting the elimination of dampness, stopping bleeding, and promoting tissue regeneration. It is commonly used to treat influenza, red and swollen eyes, tonsillitis, cough, jaundice, enteritis, dysentery, gastrointestinal bleeding, trauma, boils and carbuncles, and burns and scalds.
Peacock Tail
Peacock Tail is the name of a traditional Chinese medicine. It consists of the rhizome or the whole plant of Asplenium sarelii Hook., a species of the family Aspleniaceae.It is distributed in Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and other regions. It has the therapeutic effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting the elimination of dampness, stopping bleeding, and promoting tissue regeneration. It is commonly used to treat influenza, red and swollen eyes, tonsillitis, cough, jaundice, enteritis, dysentery, gastrointestinal bleeding, trauma, boils and carbuncles, and burns and scalds.
Chinese Name : 孔雀尾
Aliases : Also known as: Blood-Stopping Herb, Blue-Flag Grass, Phoenix-Tail Fern, Narrow-Leaved Wild Chicken Tail, Narrow-Leaved Road Chicken, Ground-Creeping Arborvitae, Small Phoenix-Tail Grass, Blood-Retreating Herb, Fragmented-Leaf Golden Flower, Small Spiral Chicken Tail, Dwarf Golden Flower Grass, Dysentery Remedy, Wind-Water Grass, Grass Coptis
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Bitter and slightly sweet in taste; cool in nature. Enters the Gallbladder and Stomach meridians
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
Clears heat and detoxifies; promotes the elimination of dampness; stops bleeding; promotes tissue regeneration.
Indications
Influenza, red and swollen eyes, tonsillitis, cough, jaundice, enteritis, dysentery, gastrointestinal bleeding, trauma, boils and carbuncles, burns and scalds.
Usage and Dosage
Internal use: Decoct 15–30 g. External use: Apply an appropriate amount; decoct in water for washing, or pound and apply as a poultice.
Precautions
Not suitable for individuals with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold.
Relevant Discussions
1. *Compendium of Hunan Medicinal Herbs*: “Stops bleeding and promotes tissue regeneration; reduces inflammation and detoxifies. Treats jaundice, gastrointestinal bleeding, dry cough without phlegm, hypertension, skin ulcers, and burns or scalds.”
2. *Compendium of Chinese Herbal Medicines*: “Clears heat and detoxifies; relieves cough and soothes the throat; drains dampness and reduces swelling; stops bleeding and relieves pain.Mainly used for influenza, the common cold, tonsillitis, mumps, red, swollen, and painful eyes, enteritis, dysentery, and insufficient lactation; for external use, it treats abscesses, boils, toxic sores, contusions, eczema, burns and scalds, and bleeding from cuts.”
3. *Compendium of Medicinal Plants of Zhejiang*: “Treats contusions and hematomas.”
Applications
Related Compatibility
1. For jaundice: 30 g of Central China Iron-horn Fern, 30 g of Stairgrass, 15 g of Artemisia capillaris, 15 g of Artemisia annua, 15 g of Gardenia jasminoides, and 15 g of black beans. Decoct in water and take orally. (From *Hunan Pharmacopoeia*)
2. For dry cough without phlegm: 30 g of the whole plant of Central China Iron-horn Fern. Decoct in water and take orally.(*Hunan Materia Medica*)
3. For hypertension: 12 g of Central China Iron-horn Fern, 6 g of Water Wormwood root, 1 soft-shelled turtle gallbladder, 6 g of Creeping Violet, 3 g of White Peony root, and 6 g of Blood-dispersing Lotus. Decoct in water and take three times daily. (*Hunan Materia Medica*)
4. For insufficient breast milk: 30 g of Peacock’s Tail. Decoct in water, then mix with rice wine and drink. (Compendium of Natural Medicines from the Qinling and Bashan Mountains)
Processing & Preparation
Harvesting & Processing
Can be harvested year-round; remove fibrous roots, wash thoroughly, and use fresh or sun-dry.
Crude Drug Identification
Properties of Crude Drugs
The rhizome is thick and short, densely covered with black, linear-lanceolate or awl-shaped scales. The leaves are pale green and leathery; the petioles are 5–10 cm long and slender; the leaves are three-times pinnately compound, with triangular-oblong leaflets that are broader at the base; the pinnae are ovate; the ultimate segments are linear with 1–2 fine teeth; both surfaces are glabrous.
Botanical Information
Botanical Classification
A plant of the family Dryopteridaceae: Central Chinese Dryopteris.
Morphological Characteristics
The plant grows to a height of 10–23 cm. The rhizome is short and erect, densely covered with scales at the apex; the scales are narrowly lanceolate, 3–3.5 mm long, thickly membranous, blackish-brown, glossy, and with minute teeth along the margins.Leaves are clustered; petioles are 5–10 cm long, 0.5–1 mm thick, pale green, nearly smooth or slightly covered with one or two small, brown, fibrous scales, with shallow, broad longitudinal grooves on the upper surface; leaf blades are elliptic, 5–13 cm long, 2.5–5 cm wide, and three-times pinnately divided;with 8–10 pairs of leaflets spaced 1–1.2 cm apart; the basal leaflets are more widely spaced, opposite, and become alternate toward the apex; they are obliquely spreading and have short petioles (0.5–1.5 mm long);the basal pair is the largest or equal in size to the second pair (occasionally slightly shorter), 1.5–3 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, ovate-triangular, with an acuminate or acute apex, an asymmetrical base—the upper side truncate and parallel to or covering the rachis, the lower side cuneate—and twice pinnately lobed;4–5 pairs of lobules, alternate, the upper pair emerging first, spreading obliquely; the upper lobule on the upper side is larger, 5–11 mm long, 4–7 mm wide, ovate, with an acute apex, the base symmetrically broadly cuneate and extending downward, deeply pinnately lobed to the rachis;There are 5–6 lobes, obliquely ascending, widely spaced, narrowly linear, 1.5–5 mm long, 0.5–2 mm wide; the basal pair is often 2–3-lobed, with 2–3 blunt- or sharp-tipped small teeth at the apex of the minor lobes, and each upper lobe bearing sharp teeth at the apex; the remaining minor lobes are smaller and widely spaced from one another.Veins are prominent on both surfaces; on the upper surface, they are raised. Secondary veins on the lobes are dichotomously or trichotomously branched; on the lobes at the base of the pinnae, they are dichotomously branched twice, slanting upward, and do not reach the leaf margin. Leaves are firm and herbaceous, turning gray-green when dry; the rachis and all order of pinnae are the same color as the petiole, with narrow, linear wings on both sides, and the rachis is markedly raised on both surfaces.Sporangia are nearly elliptical, 1–1.5 mm long, brown; there are 1–2 per lobe, slanting upward, borne on the upper part of the secondary veins, not reaching the leaf margin; indusia are of the same shape, gray-green, membranous, entire, opening toward the midrib, and persistent. Chromosome number 2n = 144.
Distribution Area
Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and other regions.