PLANTAGO MAJOR

PLANTAGO MAJOR.—車前 (Ch‘ê-ch‘ien), 34. This, the common plantain, is as much of a pest in China as it is in other lands. It grows at the roadside and in dooryards, and is exceedingly prolific, springing from both seeds and roots and killing out all other grass. Formerly the plant and the seeds were eaten, and in rare cases this is still done. The seeds, 35, are mucilaginous, and have a sweetish, cooling taste. They are considered to be quieting, diuretic, antirheumatic, and tonic. The drug is good for wasting diseases in male and female, promotes the secretion of the semen, and therefore conduces to fertility. It nourishes the liver, assists in difficult labor, and cures summer diarrhœa. The plant and the root are used as astringents in wounds, nosebleed, hematuria, and other hemorrhages, as a diuretic, in seminal emissions, and in gravel.