Lotus root, an effective TCM herb to stop bleeding

What is lotus root(Ou Jie)?
Lotus plant, or water lilies, is a member in the family nymphaeaceae. It is native to India and later introduced to China. Its rhizomes are enlarged and elongated, and with joints between the sections, which look like chains of sausage or bananas. When the root is cut or broke, it sees some tubular holes and attached silk-like threads. Just like water chestnut, this under-water rhizome is also known for being slightly sweet, crunchy, and delicious. Hence, it can be eaten fresh and cooked. Water lily is a plant with enormous health benefits. All the lotus flowers, leaves, roots, fruits, and seeds can be used medicinally as tonics.

And medicinal lotus node refers to the hairy joints of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. Rhizome. Therefore, other names of this herb include Lotus Rhizome Nodes, Oujie, Nodus Nelumbo Rhizomatis, Nodus Rhizoma Nelumbinis Nuciferae, Nelumbo nucifera rhizome node, lotus root’s joints, lotus tubers node, and so on. And it is mainly produced in Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui in China. Lotus rhizomes are usually dug in autumn and winter. After that, cut the nodes, wash, and dry in the sun. Medicinally it is normally used raw or charred.

Health benefits of lotus root node
As mentioned earlier, this is an effective herb to stop bleeding, especially nosebleed. For that reason, this is a perfect angle to take a look at how it works medicinally. Causes of nosebleed vary from person to person and about half of them fail to find out what causes it. However, clinically 90% of nosebleeds are vascular bleeding due to the broken capillaries on nose. As everyone knows, there are plenty of blood vessels on nose. They are very sensitive, fragile, and easily broken to cause bleeding. From the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine, it can inherently induce astringency because the node is the narrowest place of the whole root, relieve the urgency of the symptom due to the sweet nature, and fuse stopping and promotion simultaneously on medicinal properties as the hollow holes allow going through. According to Ben Cao Hui Yan (Treasury of Words on the Materia Medica), it is an ideal herb for arresting blood while removing blood stasis. Similarly, this reasoning behind the nosebleed makes sense to a variety of other clinical hemorrhagic diseases, such as Hemoptysis, Hematuria, bloody flux, Metrorrhagia, etc.