Heshouwu
(Tuber of Multiflower Knotweed)

The herb Heshouwu literally means "Mr He's black hair" in Chinese. There's an interesting story about this herb:



In 812, a 56-year-old man by the name of He was pruning his trees when two plants a few metres apart suddenly caught his attentions. He thought it was very strange that the vines of these plants were crossing each other not unlike a man and a woman embracing each other in love.

"There’s got to be a good reason for these plants to be doing this kind of thing," he thought. He then dug out the roots of the plats and brought them home to cook and eat as food.

He had been so weak since childhood that he had never married. However, after consuming the roots for seven days, he began to have a desire for marriage.

After consuming the roots for a few months, he began to look like a young man. At that point, he got married and then fathered a baby boy. Both the father and the son lived to over 130 years of age. The Chines have called tuber of multi-flower knotweed “He’s black hair” ever since.

From the point of view of modern medicine, the effects of tuber of multi-flower knot-weed are similar to those of an adrenocortical hormone. In a medical experiment, two groups of animals were placed in a -5 ºC refrigerator for 17½ hours; before being placed in the refrigerator, one group was fed the herb for 2 weeks. The results showed that 32.3 percent of the animals in the group fed the herb died compared with the 67.7 percent death rate in the group. In another experiment on the treatment of chronic tracheitis, one group of patients was treated by a standard herbal formula while another group was treated by the same herbal formula plus tuber of multi-flower knotweed. The second group showed obviously better results, with both local symptoms and fear of wind and cold, cold sensations in the back and shortness of breath considerably improved.

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