English names:
Sweet leek, fragrant-flowered garlic, Chinese chives.
Description:
Bulbous herb, 15-35 cm. high, tufty. Leaves linear, flat, acuminate. Flowers white, in umbel on the top of a trigonal stalk, arising from the bulb. Capsule with black seeds. All parts of the herb are acrid-flavoured.
Flowering period:
July - October.
Distribution:
Cultivated as a culinary and medicinal plant.
Parts used:
The bulbs and leaves are collected throughout the year but autumn and winter are the best harvesting time. The seeds, collected from the ripe fruit, are sun-dried or heat-dried before use.
Chemical composition:
The leaves and bulbs contain sulfur compounds, saponins and bitter substances. The seeds yield saponins and alkaloids.
Therapeutic uses:
The leaves and the bulbs possess antibacterial properties. They are useful for the treatment of haemoptysis, epistaxis, cough, sore throat, asthma, haematometra, dyspepsia, dysentery and oxyuriasis. The usual dose is 20 to 30g per day in the form of a decoction. They are also used in an anti-inflammatory poultice. The seeds are active on spermatorrhoea, haematuria, incontinence, lumbago, arthrodynia and metrorrhoea. The usual dose is 6 to 12g per day in the form of a decoction.
Source: Medicinal plants in Viet Nam (Institute of Materia Medica - HANOI - WHO/WPRO, 1990, 444 p.)
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