Chinese Lizard Tail (Saururus chinensis) grows to four feet in height and will flower in the fall, from August to September. It has strong stems, and is a strong visual presence in the garden. The plant is beautiful and reminds one of a slightly different version of a Peace Lily. It is a perennial with hermaphrodite flowering (a flower that has both male and female parts). Hermaphroditic flowers, also known as perfect flowers, can reproduce on their own. Propagation can net the water gardener even more plants for no extra cash to place around the pond. This is a relatively easy propagation plant, just divide in the spring for healthy transplants to put in other areas of the water garden. This is also a good way to have multiple smaller water gardens throughout a landscape.
How to Plant and Grow
Saururus chinensis likes a loamy soil (but is fine in sandy or heavy soil) and can be cold tolerant. Make sure that the soil is tested to see what type it is before planting. It likes to be in acidic or neutral soils. Showing its ability to withstand some cold, the plant is hardy to an USDA hardiness zone of 6. It can be a marginal plant as it is good for continuously wet, even flood like conditions. Light shade or no shade conditions are fine for this plant; there won’t be much of a fuss at all.
Old Folk Remedy
Chinese Lizard Tail has been used in a wide variety of differing folk remedies. The root of the plant has been used to rid the body of parasites. The flowers have been used as a laxative, a diuretic, and an antimalarial. The leaves can be made into a poultice that is used on boils and abscesses, and the entire plant has been featured in ways to purify and detox a body, as a fever reducer, and as an anti-inflammatory. Skin infections and rashes, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and urinary tract issues such as inflammation, irritation, and infections have all been treated with Chinese Lizard Tail in natural healing and folklore medicinal herbal treatments. It has even been tested by extracting ethanol from the plant as a treatment for asthma.
Scientific Classification of Saururus chinensis
- Kingdom Plantae – Plants
- Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
- Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
- Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
- Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
- Subclass Magnoliidae
- Order Piperales
- Family Saururaceae – Lizard's-tail family
- Genus Saururus L. – saururus
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