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Achyranthes bidentata
Also called Ruderal Chaff Flower, Pig's Knee
Ox knee is a perennial subshrub grown mainly for its medicinal root, which is the source of the Chinese herb Huai niuxi. It is a plant of warm, seasonally dry climates and is grown as a field crop rather than a houseplant.
Achyranthes bidentata Blume (English common name: ox knee, Chinese: 牛膝 niu xi) is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. It occurs in India, Nepal, Korea, China, and Japan. It is the source of the Chinese herbal medicine Huai'niuxi (Chinese: 怀牛膝; pinyin: Huái'niúxī). In Nepal its root juice is used for toothache. Its seeds have been used as a substitute for cereal grains in famine years. The plant is used externally in the treatment of leech bites in Mizoram, India and a decoction as a diuretic.
During the Chinese Liang Dynasty, Achyranthes bidentata was used for its abortion effectiveness. Chinese folk doctors would take the juices of crushed up A. bidentata and insert them into the vagina to induce abortion. This abortive technique was common among folk medicine practitioners in southern China during the Republican period.
Achyranthes arborescens · Achyranthes aspera var. sicula · Devil's horsewhip · Hawai'i chaff flower · Japanese chaff flower · Achyranthes margaretarum · Blunt chaff flower · Maui chaff flower · Achyranthes talbotii · Chaff flower
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Achyranthes bidentata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
