Potanin's lacquer tree, Chinese varnish tree, Potan’s sumac
Synonym(s)
:
Toxicodendron Potaninii, Rhus henryi Diels., Rhus sinica Hort. non Diels.
Family
:
Anacardiaceae
General Info
Description
A decidious tree which grows to a height of 12m and a width of 8m. Leaves serrated and pinnate. Creamy white flowers are borne in pyramidal panicles to 8" long in summer. Fruit, red and hairy.
An excrescence produced on the leaf (gall) is used in the treatment of persistent cough with blood, chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, seminal emission and spontaneous emission, spontaneous sweating, night sweats, edema, metrorrhagia, bloody stool, urorrhoea and bloody sputum. It is used applied externally to burns, bleeding due to traumatic injuries, haemorrhoids and ulcers in the mouth.
Contraindication
Contraindicated in patients with cough due to Wind Cold or dysentery due to Damp Heat.
Reference
Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 554, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.