Some authors suggest that Glycine soja Siebold and Zucc. is the wild form of the soybean. Crops from it are found in Central and East Asia. Cultivation occurs mainly in China, Brazil, Argentina, and the United States, and less so in Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Canada, and southeastern Europe.
Soy in herbal medicine
In herbal medicine, people use the seeds of the plant (Glycine semen), its proteins (soy lecithin, Lecithinum ex soja) or the oil (Sojae oleum).
Soybean: characteristics of the plant
Soybean is an annual herb that resembles the bush bean with its height up to 90 cm. The plant bears 3-toothed, ovate and entire leaves with long petioles, the leaf veins of the underside are hairy. The erect plant stems are branched and also mostly hairy.
Flowers and pods of the soybean plant.
The flowers are located close to the stem, up to 20 flowers each are arranged in clusters. The short-stalked flowers are small, inconspicuous and purple to whitish.
Further, the plant bears pods about 1 cm wide, pendulous or protruding, gray, blackish brown or purple in color. Like pea pods, the 1-5 seeds contained in the pods can be identified externally by bulges.
Soybeans as a medicine
The drug material consists of the slightly flattened or spherical soybeans, about the size of a pea. These are usually yellow, but can also be white, greenish, blackish brown, brown, or bi-colored. The surface of the seeds is smooth and slightly shiny.
Smell and taste of soybeans.
Soybeans do not smell in uncrushed form, the powder gives off a faint, peculiar odor. Only the powdered beans have flavor; they taste somewhat bitter at first, then nutty and oily.
