A small palm, the trunk is erect, and resembles an elegant, slender palm tree, armed with innumerable dark-colored, flattened elastic spines, often disposed in oblique rows, with their bases united. The leaves are pinnate, their sheaths in petioles armed as above described; leaflets single, alternate, ensiform, margins remotely armed with stiff, slender bristles, as are also the ribs; 12 to 18 inches long and about 3/4 inch broad. The spadix of the female is hermaphrodite and inserted by means of a short, armed petiole on the mouth of the sheath opposite to the leaf, and is oblong and decompound, resembling a common oblong panicle. Spathes several, one to each of the 4 or 5 primary ramifications of the spadix, lanceolate and leathery; all smooth except the exterior or lower one, which is armed on the outside. Calyx turbinate, ribbed, mouth 3-toothed, by the swelling of the ovary split into 3 portions, and in this manner adhering, together with the corolla, to the ripe berries. Corolla 3-cleft; divisions ovate-lanceolate, twice as long as the calyx, and permanent. Filaments 6, very broad, and inserted into the base of the corolla. Anthers filiform, and seemingly abortive. Ovary oval; style short; stigmas 3-cleft; divisions revolute and glandular on the inside. The berry is round, pointed, and of the size of a cherry.

Astringent, expectorant, sedative, tonic.

King's American Dispensatory

Abietic acid, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, dracorhodin, dracorubin, oleanolic acid (fruit)

As a wash to promote healing and stop bleeding, for chest pains, post-partum bleeding, internal traumas, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, and all kinds of gastric and abdominal pain due to blood stasis.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 248, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.