Why do wormwood and calamus kill bacteria?

Every year on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), a bunch of wormwood and calamus are hung at the door, or they are used to burn the smoke house, which is said to ward off evil spirits and diseases. This folk custom has been passed down in our country for a long time.

Now it seems that just hanging this bunch of grass at the door or smoking the house on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival certainly does not have the power to eliminate disasters and diseases, but it tells us a knowledge: wormwood and calamus do have the ability to kill bacteria and some diseases.

Wormwood is a plant of the Asteraceae family, and the back of the leaves is covered with grayish-white hairs; Calamus is a perennial aquatic herb of the Araceae family. The stems and leaves of wormwood and calamus contain some volatile aromatic oils, the main chemical components are phellylene, -asarether, etc., after fumigation, it volatilizes into the air, and has a strong lethality to the bacteria that permeate the air, such as diphtheria, typhoid, tuberculosis bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, etc. In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the weather warms up, and germs begin to multiply actively.

At this time, it is also the season when wormwood and calamus are more effective. It makes sense to use them for fumigation and sterilization.

The products left by the ancestors are absolutely reasonable, although there is no science in any era, but people can also realize things similar to science

Mugwort and calamus have a substance called aromatic essential oil, which can kill bacteria and remove odors, so many festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Double Ninth Festival in ancient China are what we now call the health festival.

First, the role of calamus: to ward off evil spirits, deworming, ornamental, medicinal.

1. Ward off evil spirits and get rid of diseases.

Folk believe that calamus has the effect of warding off evil spirits, during the Dragon Boat Festival to hang calamus on the door, along the habit of each other, then become the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. Every time during the Dragon Boat Festival, people in the south of the Yangtze River hang iris and mugwort leaves on the doors and windows. calamus wine to ward off evil plagues; On summer and autumn nights, the custom of burning calamus and mugwort leaves to repel mosquitoes and insects has been maintained to this day.

2. Deworming. Calamus is also an excellent "green pesticide". After smashing 500 grams of calamus rhizomes, add kilograms of water and boil for two hours, and the original solution obtained by filtration is mixed with 3-6 kilograms of water, which can effectively control insect pests such as rice planthoppers, rice leafhoppers, rice borers, aphids, and red spiders.

3. Watching. Calamus is a commonly used aquatic plant in landscaping, and its rich varieties and high ornamental value have been fully used in landscaping. The calamus leaves are green, dignified and beautiful, with fragrance, suitable for the shore of the waterscape and the greening of the water body, and can also be potted for ornamentation or as a scenery.

Leaves and inflorescences can also be used as flower arrangement materials.

The garden is planted on the shore of the lake and pond, or dotted in the courtyard waterscape and the corner of the waterfront rockery, which has good ornamental value.

4. Medicinal. The whole plant is aromatic, which can be used as a spice or mosquito repellent; Stems and leaves can be used as medicine.

Second, the role of wormwood: medicinal, economical, edible.

1. Medicinal. The whole herb is used as medicine, which has the functions of warming menstruation, dispelling dampness, dissipating cold, stopping bleeding, reducing inflammation, relieving asthma, relieving cough, stabilizing the fetus, and anti-allergic loss. The medical records of the past dynasties are recorded as "hemostasis medicine", and it is one of the most commonly used medicines, especially for the treatment of deficiency and cold, and the treatment of chronic bronchitis and asthma in the elderly, when boiling water and bathing, it can prevent and treat maternal and infant infection diseases in the puerperium, or pharmaceutical pillows and medicine vests, and prevent and treat chronic bronchitis or asthma and cold and stomach pain in the elderly.

2. Economy. Mugwort leaves are dried and mashed to obtain "moxa wool", which is used to make moxa sticks for moxibustion, and can be used as raw materials for "printing mud". In addition, the whole herb is used as an insecticidal pesticide or fumigated smoke as a room disinfection and insecticide.

Mugwort is dried and crushed into mugwort powder, which is a high-quality feed additive for livestock and poultry. Jujube can also be used as a natural plant dye.

3. Eat. Shoots and seedlings are used as vegetables.

Wormwood is the kind of plant that everyone hangs on the door during the Dragon Boat Festival. Ignited to repel mosquitoes.