Eyebright profile

Eyebright, scientific name Euphrasia pectinata Tenore, is an annual herb with medicinal properties. Eyebright is erect, unbranched or underbranched, white pilose. Leaves and bracts are sessile, ovate to ovoid.Inflorescences 3-15 cm long, short and dense at first fluorescence, gradually elongating until fruit separation; Corolla of Eyebright is white or lavender, anthers brown. Capsule is long, round, white seeds. 

Eyebright picture

Morphological characteristics of eyebright

Branch

Plants Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) are erect, 10-30(45) cm tall, unbranched or underbranched, white pilose.

Leaf

Leaves and bracts of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) are sessile, ovate to ovoid, 5-20 mm long, basally cuneate, with several slightly obtuse, acute serrates on each side, somewhat setose on both veins and leaf margins, without glandular hairs.

Flowers

The inflorescences of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) are 3 -- 15 cm long, with short and dense flowers at first, gradually elongating to fruit separation. Calyx is tubular, 5-7 mm long, setose, lobes narrowly triangular, acuminate; Corolla of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) is white or lavender, abaxially 5 -- 10 mm long, pubescent outside, dorsal more dense, the rest sparsely, lower lip ca. 1 mm longer than the upper lip, tip of lobes of lower lip distinctly concave; Anthers of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) are brown.

Fruit

Capsule of Eyebright is oblong, 4 -- 8 mm long.Seeds white, 1 mm long.

The distribution area of eyebright

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) is distributed in Xinjiang, Gansu (west), Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi (north of Taigu), and Hebei (north).Europe to Mongolia, Siberia of the Soviet Union.Shady slope grasslands and thickets.

Eyebright's ecological habits

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) occurs in grasslands and thickets on shady slopes. Eyebright was born in the hillside grassland, rarely near the water or sparse forest undergrass, on high grasslands, wet grasslands and forests. 

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) likes warm and humid climate, strong adaptability, cold resistance and heat resistance, the best growth temperature is 25℃-35℃, the climate is warm and humid from spring to summer, the fastest growth is still good when the summer temperature is 38℃-40℃, the seed can be sown 3-4 times a year, 2-3 times. Eyebright, sown in late summer, should only be used as feed for livestock and fish, not as seed.

Because of the short growing period, Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) can be harvested and sown at any time after spring, with an annual yield of 0.75-10,000 kg of grass per mu or 500-1000 kg of seeds per acre.

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) can be grown in dry fields, in paddy fields, bogs, and in the bottom of fish ponds, with the right cultivation techniques for high yields.

How to grow and care for eyebright

Site preparation fertilization

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) has developed roots and requires deep ploughing with full bottom fertilizer, generally 30 cartons of human excrement or 50-80 cartons of livestock dung manure per acre. Generally in the seedling period, after cutting topdressing, topdressing urea 5 kilograms or 1520 per acre of human excrement. Eyebright has tiny, coated seeds that require plenty of water to germinate and grow slowly as seedlings. To plant Eyebright early or in a paddy field, the field needs to be leveled and the clods finely spaced so that the seeds are well watered. The bottom of the fish pond is planted with green, and an enclosure ditch is opened around the bottom of the pond to drain excessive water and facilitate the growth of Eyebright. The fish ponds with uneven bottom had better be leveled first to keep a large area of the bottom uniformly moist, so that the growth of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) is balanced, otherwise the grass in the lower part will be green and the grass in the higher part will be short and yellow, which will affect the fertilizer and feed yield of the whole pond. If it is too late to level off, it can be used to keep the whole pool wet, less low-lying waterlogging, sowing in the high place, and pulling out thin and planting in the low-lying place when the seedlings are 15-20cm long. 

Field management

1. Make up the green seedlings: after sowing, once found the lack of seedlings, Eyebright should be immediately made up.

2. Weeding: Weeding of Eyebright is usually done once during the entire growth period. After weeding of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata), applying top dressing.

3. Irrigation: Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) grows rapidly in the condition of abundant water. Eyebright planted near or near the embankment with convenient water should be properly irrigated, and generally spray embankment is preferable。

4. Harvesting: The growing period of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) is short. Harvest Eyebright once from sowing to seed harvest. It is advisable to harvest fresh grass 10-15 days before the standing, when the plant stem is 70-90 cm high.

Eyebright propagation method

Seed propagation

Seed selection: Seed selection and germination test of Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) should be carried out before sowing. Choose large seeds of Eyebright for sowing, from the germination rate to calculate the correct number of planting per mu of land box.

The sowing time depends on the temperature of the soil slope. Generally, the seed can be sown when the temperature of the soil is above 10℃. Specially for the harvest of seeds sowing period arrangement for the late spring and summer in the middle of 3 times, the whole year can harvest seeds 2 or 3 times.

Seeding method

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) has two methods: direct seeding and soaking seeding, and soaking seeding is the best method. Sowing methods are divided into sowing, sowing and seedling transplanting. Sowing is suitable for fish pond bottom planting, sowing is suitable for dry land, fish pond embankment and embankment surface planting, seedling transplanting regardless of paddy field or early can adapt. Seed Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) at the bottom of a fish pond is more effective, which saves fat and produces high yield. The row spacing of sowing and transplanting is 20 cm, and the plant spacing is 10 cm. The sowing method specially for collecting seeds is 25 cm row spacing and 20 cm plant spacing. General per acre of seed dosage for 1-1.5 kg. The Eyebright seed amount per acre can be increased to 2-2.5 kg by planting Eyebright at the bottom of the pond as a fish breeding plant. Small eyebright seeds are best sown shallowly, preferably covered with a thin layer of soil to minimize seed loss. 

Eyebright main value

Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) extract contains flavonoids for special treatment of puffy eyes and eye strain. Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata) is an eyelid herb that grows in natural grasslands, and its benefits have been documented in the European Pharmacopoeia of the 14th century, when the plant was believed to be effective for all eye diseases. The most famous of the traditional Western herbalism eye tonic remedies is Eyebright ( Euphrasia pectinata). Eyebright has been used in Europe as an eye tonic since the Middle Ages.