Flowering

Keywords

牡丹 (Paeonia × suffruticosa)

  • 落叶小灌木，高1－1.5米

桂花

  • 常见于南方

芍药 (Paeonia lactiflora)

  • 多年生草本，高60－80厘米
  • 芍药是蓄根草本，牡丹是灌木木本
  • 在英语和其他欧洲语言中，牡丹和芍药是同一个词
  • 芍药一般可以存活数年，牡丹可以存活30-60年

Cherry blossom (樱花)

Rosa multiflora (蔷薇)

Japanese rose

月季 (Chinese rose)

Impatiens balsamina (凤仙花)

Human use

Different parts of the plant are used as traditional remedies for disease and skin afflictions. Juice from the leaves is used to treat warts and snakebite, and the flower is applied to burns. This species has been used as indigenous traditional medicine in Asia for rheumatism, fractures, and other ailments. In Korean folk medicine, this impatiens species is used as a medicine called bongseonhwa dae (봉선화대) for the treatment of constipation and gastritis. Chinese people used the plant to treat those bitten by snakes or who ingested poisonous fish. Juice from the stalk, pulverised dried stalks, and pastes from the flowers were also used to treat a variety of ailments. Vietnamese wash their hair with an extract of the plant to stimulate hair growth. One in vitro study found extracts of this impatiens species, especially of the seed pod, to be active against antibiotic-resistant strains of Helicobacter pylori. It is also an inhibitor of 5α-reductases, enzymes that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (active form of testosterone), thus reducing action of testosterone in our body.

In Nepal, the balsam leaves are crushed to dye fingernails on the day of Shrawan Sakranti (Shrawan 1). The day is also observed as Luto Faalne Deen (Go Away-Itch Day). Similarly, in China and Korea, the flowers are crushed and mixed with alum to produce an orange dye that can be used to dye fingernails. Unlike common nail varnish, the dye is semi-permanent, requiring dyed nails to grow off over time in order to remove any traces of color.

把脚趾甲和手指甲涂得通红，中国五千年传统文化中有这一套，女孩子采凤仙花瓣加盐捣碎，置于指甲上，包而裹之，约一二小时，其红如醉。(柏楊《女人，天生是尤物》 _ 握之摸之吻之)