So, let me tell you about this plant, Bian Xu, or as some folks call it, knotweed. Not the scary invasive kind everyone talks about, but the common Polygonum aviculare. My journey with this one was pretty accidental, to be honest, but it’s stuck with me.
A while back, I was dealing with this really annoying skin thing. Just a patch on my arm that would get all red and itchy, especially in the summer when things got humid and sticky. You know how it is. I tried a few creams, the usual stuff, but nothing really seemed to kick it for good. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Anyway, I was helping my aunt clear out some old stuff from her attic, and we came across this old, dusty notebook. Turned out it belonged to my grandmother. She was always into her garden and knew a lot about plants, the old-fashioned way. Flipping through it, I saw a little note about ‘knotgrass’ – that’s what she called Bian Xu. She’d written down that it was good for ‘cooling’ and ‘soothing angry skin’.
My curiosity was piqued, you could say. I figured, what’s the harm in trying? I actually recognized the plant once I looked it up properly; it’s one of those things you see growing in cracks in the pavement or along pathways, pretty tough little weed. So, I gathered some from a clean spot in my backyard – made sure it wasn’t near any busy roads or anything.
My grandmother’s note wasn’t super specific on the ‘how-to’, just mentioned making a ‘wash’. So, I improvised. I washed the plant bits really well, then kind of crushed them up a bit – nothing fancy, just with the back of a spoon – and steeped them in some warm water for about 15-20 minutes, like making a strong tea. Then I let it cool down.
I started by just dabbing this infusion onto that irritated patch of skin with a cotton ball, a couple of times a day. And honestly, I was surprised. It didn’t sting or anything. Actually, it felt quite cooling, just like grandma’s note said. Over the next few days, I swear the itchiness started to go down. It wasn’t an overnight miracle, mind you, but the redness began to fade, and the skin just felt less… angry. It seemed to be helping it heal up without any fuss.
I kept this up for about a week or so. The patch cleared up way better than it had with anything else I’d tried. It felt like the plant was helping to sort of calm everything down and let my skin get back to normal. I even made a slightly stronger brew once and used it as a final rinse for my hair when my scalp was feeling a bit iffy, and that seemed to have a nice soothing effect too.
So, what’s my big takeaway? Well, for me, this little experiment was a good reminder. Sometimes, the answers aren’t in fancy bottles. This common little plant, one that most people probably just walk past or pull out as a weed, actually did something good for me. It’s not like I’m going to start treating everything with herbs from the garden, but it definitely made me appreciate that there’s a lot of old wisdom about plants that’s worth paying attention to. It was a simple, hands-on experience, and that’s the kind of thing that sticks with you, you know?
