Chapter 254: Parasitism
When the three of them were almost at the ditch, Yang Chunyan saw a cat bean plant covered with tender yellow dodder seeds with small white flowers.
Cuscuta is a herbaceous plant of the genus Cuscuta in the family Convolvulaceae. It has lovely tender yellow vines, no leaves, and small white flowers that often grow in clusters.
This plant has no roots or leaves, and can only survive by robbing and absorbing nutrients from its host. It is a typical parasitic plant.
They like to parasitize on beans, and once they encounter a suitable host, they will grow wildly and obtain a large amount of nutrients from the host. Parasites that grow slowly and small will simply be sucked dry of nutrients by the dodder and die.
Cuscuta is also the source plant of the Chinese medicinal material Cuscuta. When its fruit matures, its seeds can be used as medicine. According to the pharmacopoeia, Cuscuta can "tonify the liver and kidney, consolidate essence and reduce urine, stabilize pregnancy, improve eyesight, and stop diarrhea; it can also eliminate wind and remove spots when used externally.
When the three of them arrived at the ditch, Yang Chunyan saw that the saltwort trees had already bloomed.
Rhus chinensis is somewhat similar to lacquer trees. Yang Chunyan remembered that the old people often said that where lacquer trees grow, there are Rhus chinensis trees not far away, but she looked around but didn't find any.
Rhus chinensis is a small deciduous tree or shrub, ranging from two to three meters tall to more than ten meters tall. The twigs are brown, covered with rusty soft hairs, and have small round lenticels.
Rhus chinensis is a plant of the Anacardiaceae family, also known as Gallic because it is the host plant of an aphid called Gallic.
The gall aphids injure the young branches or leaves of Rhus chinensis and parasitize inside them, thus forming galls of various states.
These galls have different shapes, sizes and lengths. Some are like jujubes, and some are like miniature fists or sheep horns. These galls are the rare Chinese medicinal material gallnut. Rhus chinensis is also known as the gallnut tree.
But Rhus chinensis is really related to "salt". In summer, the whole tree will secrete moisture that is like salt.
When the water inside is gone, a layer of white salt frost will form on the surface of the tree trunk. When the fruit is ripe, even the bright red fruit is salty and tastes salty and sour.
In the era of material scarcity, people in the mountains often scraped off the white salt frost on the surface of the Rhus chinensis tree trunks, took it home and boiled it with water to get the salt inside. They also picked the fruits of the Rhus chinensis and took them home to boil water and make salt.
Rhus chinensis has high medicinal value, and all parts can be used as medicine, which has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, dispersing blood stasis and stopping bleeding. It has good curative effect on traumatic injuries, snake bites and lacquer wounds.
The root is used as medicine as "salt bran root", which has the effects of dispelling wind, eliminating dampness, reducing swelling and softening hard masses.
The root bark without the cork is called "salt bran root white bark", which has the effects of removing rheumatism, dispersing blood stasis, clearing away heat and detoxifying.
The flower is used as medicine, called "Salt Bran Wood Flower", which is used to treat nasal carbuncle and carbuncle ulcer. The fruit is used as medicine, called "Salt Bran", which has the effects of promoting body fluid and moistening the lungs, reducing fire and resolving phlegm, astringing sweat and stopping diarrhea.
Its fruit is slightly cold and non-toxic, and can astringe and stop bleeding, moisten the lungs and reduce fire. It is used to treat cough, lung deficiency and other diseases. It is what we call gallnut.
There were a few olive trees not far from the Rhus chinensis. Zhou Huaian picked a few olives and handed them to the two of them. He then said to Yang Chunyan, "Eat a few. Didn't you say your throat was a little uncomfortable?"
This kind of olive is different from that kind of olive. Its scientific name is Phyllanthus emblica. Other names: Phyllanthus emblica, Yunnan olive, etc.
The fruit is bitter at first, but then turns sweet. It is the fruit that best represents the feeling of bitter first and sweet later.
Zhou Yiding also threw one into his mouth. After biting it open, a bitter taste immediately filled his mouth. He chewed it twice and spit out the crumbs. He said to the two men, "You guys dig herbs here. I'll go to the forest to take a look."
Zhou Huaian warned: "Go out for two hours and come back. Remember not to go too far."
"I understand." Zhou Yiding waved his hand, took Dahuang across the ditch, and went to hunt in the woods.
Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian first cut the half flowers, then went to dig Polygonatum sibiricum, and if there was time, they would dig Polygonatum odoratum and Arisaema consanguineum.
Not long after, Zhou Huaian came holding a long rhizome of Polygonatum sibiricum and looked at her in surprise, "Yan'er, take a look, this Polygonatum sibiricum is probably the largest one we have dug up in this period of time."
Yang Chunyan took a look and nodded with a smile, "Can you count its bulbs and see how many years it is?"
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian took the Polygonatum to the ditch to clean it, and counted, "1, 2, 3...15...29, my god, it's 32 years, older than me."
Yang Chunyan laughed and said, "What's so strange about this? Just find something in the forest that's older than you!"
Zhou Huaian curled his lips, "You talk as if I'm no older than you!"
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and said, "That's not necessarily true!"
Zhou Huaian understood immediately, pointed at her and said, "Dreaming doesn't count!"
"Okay, that doesn't count!" Yang Chunyan smiled good-naturedly, "Hurry up and work, don't dawdle there."
"Alas!" Zhou Huaian touched the hunting rifle in his backpack, "I'm working here, but my heart is with Yiding hunting."
“…” Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes and ignored him. She placed the dug Polygonatum sibiricum in the shallow water of the ditch, letting the running water wash away the mud on the Polygonatum sibiricum.
Zhou Huaian also started to work obediently after seeing this. After a while, he started to make small talk again, "Yan'er, Ding Ding Cat has been gone for almost an hour, right?"
"Well! You talked for two hours, and he knew the time by wearing a watch."
"After digging these, there will be about 20 to 30 kilograms, right?"
"Don't dig them all up, leave the ones with the most blooms. When you pick the gallnuts in September and October, come and collect them."
"Galnut?" Zhou Huaian looked around, "Where is it?"
"That's the two Rhus trees in front."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian laughed after seeing it, "There used to be a few over there in the bamboo forest. My grandma used to scrape the salt frost and bring it back to make salt. Later, the village cleared the land and cut down all the trees on the mountain."
“What a pity!”
The two men dug out the Polygonatum odoratum and piled it in the ditch to wash it. Zhou Huaian washed it for a while and felt that a long time had passed and Zhou Yiding still hadn't returned.
He looked at the forest worriedly, wanting to look for it but not feeling comfortable leaving Yang Chunyan here alone, "Yan'er, has Ding Ding Cat encountered any wild animals? Should we go into the forest and look for it?"
Yang Chunyan was a little worried after hearing this, because after she came back, many things were different from before. "The forest is so big, how do you know where he went? What if we go into the forest and he comes out again?"
"That's right! Wait a little longer. If he doesn't come, we'll go in and take a look."
"Uh-huh!"
The two men squatted down and rubbed the Polygonatum with straw handles. When there were only two pieces left, Dahuang rushed out of the woods, followed by Zhou Yiding.
As soon as Zhou Huaian saw him, he said, "What took you so long? If you don't come out, I'll go in to find you."
(End of this chapter)
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