The translation of the provided text is as follows:
“Many people are familiar with the Kapok tree, knowing it as a common and beautiful ornamental plant in nature. Especially during its flowering period, it produces bright red flowers, making it one of the most beautiful sights in nature. Besides its beautiful appearance, this plant also has high medicinal value, as its flowers can be dried and used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Kapok Tree
Common aliases: Hero Tree Flower, Red Kapok Flower
Plant source: The flower of the Kapok tree, a plant in the Bombacaceae family
Identification features: A large tree, reaching up to 25 meters in height. The trunk and branches have short, large, conical thorns, and the branches are flat and extended. The leaves are palmately compound, with 5-7 leaflets, each with a petiole, and thin and leathery. The leaf blades are rectangular to elliptic-rectangular, with entire margins and are smooth on both sides. The flowers are bright red, blooming before the leaves, clustered near the top of the branches. The sepals are thick and leathery, smooth on the outside and covered with silky hairs on the inside, splitting into broad and blunt lobes. The 5 petals are red, turning pale yellow, fleshy, rectangular, and more or less covered with star-shaped soft hairs. The fruit is large and rectangular, woody, with woolly hairs inside the carpels. The seeds are mostly ovoid. The flowering period is in March, and the fruiting period is in May. It grows in open fields, along rivers, ditches, village outskirts, or is cultivated. It is mainly produced in Guangdong, Guangxi, and other places.
Harvesting and processing: Harvest the flowers when they are in full bloom in spring, then sun-dry or oven-dry them. Used when fresh.
Nature, flavor, and efficacy: Sweet, slightly cold. Clears heat, detoxifies, promotes urination, stops diarrhea, and arrests bleeding. For internal use: 15-30 grams, decocted in water. For external use: appropriate amount, pounded for application or used as a powder.
The Efficacy and Functions of the Kapok Tree Flower
1. Beautifying the Environment
Beautifying the environment and providing ornamental value is the most important function of the Kapok tree flower. Due to its beautiful appearance and long flowering period, vibrant color, and rich fragrance, planting it in gardens or courtyards can beautify the surroundings and provide a sight to behold during its flowering period.
2. Disease Prevention and Resistance
After being used in medicine, the Kapok tree flower can prevent and resist diseases. It can clear heat, detoxify, and invigorate the mind. Making it into a pillow can improve sleep quality, while using it to make soup after drying can provide the body with rich nutrients, enhancing the body’s disease resistance. Regular consumption of Kapok tree flowers can prevent various ailments such as dysentery, diarrhea, and sore throat.
Medicinal Value of the Kapok Tree Flower
1. Treating Dysentery
Dysentery is a common disease in humans, causing not only diarrhea but also significant abdominal pain, and in severe cases, nausea and vomiting. In such cases, the dried Kapok tree flower can be used for treatment. For treatment, take 15 grams each of Kapok tree flower, honeysuckle, and Polygonum aviculare, wash them with clean water, then directly boil them in water and consume the resulting liquid.
2. Treating Cancer
Cancer is a common and malignant disease that can endanger human life. However, the dried roots of the Kapok tree, when used in medicine, are commonly used to treat this disease. In particular, the dried roots of the Kapok tree can eliminate cancer cells in the human body and prevent the cancerous transformation of cells, quickly improving conditions such as lung cancer and colorectal cancer, and preventing the spread of cancer.
Selected Prescriptions:
1. Dysentery: 15 grams each of Kapok tree flower, honeysuckle, and Polygonum aviculare, decocted in water for consumption.
2. Rheumatoid Arthritis: 15-30 grams of Kapok tree root, decocted in water or soaked in alcohol for consumption.
3. Hemoptysis or Hematemesis: 14 Kapok tree flowers, with lean pork for hematemesis, and an appropriate amount of rock sugar for hemoptysis, stewed together for consumption.
4. Itching in the Scrotum: Decoction of Kapok stem bark for washing the affected area.
5. Bruises: Fresh Kapok tree root bark soaked in alcohol for external application or pounded and applied externally.
Note: Kapok tree bark refers to the bark of the Kapok tree. It has a pungent flavor and is slightly cold. It clears heat, promotes urination, activates blood circulation, and reduces swelling. For internal use: 15-30 grams, decocted in water for consumption, or ground into powder for external use; an appropriate amount, decocted in water for washing.”