Xiang Ri Gui Jing Sui

Xiang Ri Gui Jing Sui is the dried pith from the stems of the common sunflower, Helianthus annuus L. (Asteraceae). The parent plant is a robust annual herb 1-3 m tall, with a coarse, erect, often unbranched stem 3-6 cm thick clothed in stiff hairs. The large alternate leaves are ovate to cordate, 10-30 cm long, with serrate margins and rough surfaces. The terminal solitary capitulum 10-40 cm across bears yellow ray florets surrounding a flat brown disc that ripens hundreds of achenes (sunflower seeds). After harvest, the soft, white, spongy pith is extracted from the dried stalk and used in Chinese folk medicine to promote urination, relieve dysuria, and treat urinary stones and edema. Native to the Americas, sunflower was introduced to China in the sixteenth century.