Silver grass treats malaria, snake bites...

Oriental medicine believes that silver grass has a spicy taste and neutral properties; it has the effect of dispelling wind, inducing sweating, diuresis, cough suppression, swelling reduction and pain relief.

Silver grass has the scientific name Kyllinga nemoralis (Forst, et Forst.f.) Dandy ex Hutch, et Dalz. (K. monocephala Rottb), belongs to the Cyperaceae family. It is a plant species in India, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Myanmar, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Africa, America...

In our country, the plant grows wild along the roads, on moist soil from Lao Cai, Son La, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Thua Thien - Hue, Lam Dong, all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, Tien Giang. The whole plant can be harvested all year round. Wash, use fresh or dry for later use.

It is a perennial herb, 7-20cm high; rhizomes creep. Leaves are usually shorter than stems. Flowers in summer. The inflorescence is nearly globose, 4-8mm in diameter; 1-3 narrow cylindrical flowers; 3-4 leaf-shaped bracts, spreading, up to 10cm long, leaflet with 1 flower. The fruit is an obovate, flat, yellowish-white, slightly dotted achene.

The part used as medicine is the whole plant Herba Kyllingae Nemoralis. All parts of the plant have a slightly fragrant smell, but the most fragrant is the root. Oriental medicine believes that the grass has a spicy taste, neutral properties; has the effect of dispelling wind, relieving the exterior, inducing sweating, diuretic, cough suppressant, reducing swelling and pain relief.

Used to treat colds, drink to cause sweating, whooping cough, bronchitis, sore throat, malaria, rectal dysentery, diarrhea, bruises. Used externally to treat snake bites, boils, itchy skin, worms. Use 10-30g or more, in decoction form. For external use, crush the fresh plant and apply it locally or boil it in water to wash the painful area. Also used as animal feed.

For reference and application, below are some ways to treat diseases using the silver grass plant.

Treatment of whooping cough, tracheitis, cough:Use 60g of silver grass, boil in water and divide into 2 doses to drink during the day.

Malaria: Use 60g of silver grass, boil in water, drink 4 hours before fever symptoms appear.

Urinating chyle:Use 50g of silver grass and longan pulp each, boil in water to drink.

Used to prevent and treat snake bites, boils, and skin infections.Dosage: 30 - 60g, decoction form.

For external use, crush the plant and apply or boil water to wash.In Malaysia, the rhizome is used as a poultice to treat sore feet.

According to Vietnam Agriculture - NT