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何首烏 Heshouwu
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Chinese Name |
何首烏 |
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Chinese Pinyin |
Heshouwu |
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English Name |
Tuber Fleeceflower Root |
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Latin Pharmaceutical Name |
Polygoni Multiflori Radix |
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Category |
Roots and rhizomes |
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Origin |
The dried tubular root of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb.(Polygonaceae) |
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Production Regions |
Primarily produced in Shaanxi, southern Gansu, and the eastern, central, southern and southwestern regions of China. |
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Macroscopic Features |
Lumps or irregular fusiform. Externally reddish-brown, wrinkled, with shallow grooves, and long transverse raised lenticels and thin scars of root. Heavy, firm texture, difficult to break. Fractured surface is pale yellowish-brown or pale reddish-brown, powdery; cortex has 4~11 abnormal vascular bundles, with a cloudy brocade pattern, central xylem is relatively large, sometimes with a woody center. faint odor; slightly bitter and sweet and astringent. |
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Quality Requirements |
Superior medicinal material has heavy, firm texture. |
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Properties |
Bitter, sweet, astringent. |
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Functions |
Resolves toxin, disperses swelling-abscesses, stops malaria, moistens intestines, frees stools. Apply to sores and abscesses, scrofula, wind rash and pruritus, deficiency due to chronic malaria, constipation induced by dryness of the intestine. |
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Processed Form |
Zhi he shou wu: Irregular wrinkled lumps, externally black-brown or brown, uneven surface. Firm texture, fractured surface is horny, brown or black. faint odor; slightly sweet and astringent taste. Property is bitter, sweet, astringent; slightly warm; belongs to liver, heart and kidney channels. |
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Technical Terms |
'Cloudy brocade pattern’: This refers to numerous abnormal vascular bundles on the cortex of the tuberous root’s horizontally cut surface, which form a pattern similar to the shape of clouds, also called ‘cloud lines (yun wen)’. |
| Link |
 Medicinal Plant Images Database
Phytochemical Image Database
Chinese Medicine Specimen Database
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Permanent URL：https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/cmed/mmid/detail.php?pid=B00130 |
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