Psoralea
The psoralea is a climbing variety of beans commonly found all over China. The seeds of psoralea are large, hard and black in color. And dissimilar to the common variety of beans grow in the gardens; the seeds of psoralea are heady and bitter to taste. These seeds are normally harvested during the fall when they are ripe.
In China and Japan, psoralea is among the key herbs used extensively by herbalists to treat the various skin disorders. Chinese and Japanese herbal medicine practitioners have been using the herb to cure eczema, vitiligo as well as hair loss. Besides its benefits in treating skin disorder, psoralea combats staph (bacteria appearing in clusters) infections and at the same time, invigorates the heart. Psoralea is known as bu gu zhi that literally translated into English denotes ‘tonify bone resin'. The herb is also useful for enhancing bone calcification or adding calcium and this process makes psoralea valuable while treating bone disorders such as osteoporosis and bone fractures.