1. Alias
Silver Hu, Silver Xia Chaihu, Cow Belly Root, Sand Ginseng, White Root.
2. Plant morphology
Perennial herb. The plant is 20-40 centimeters tall and densely covered with glandular or soft hairs. The main root is cylindrical, with a thickness of 1-3 centimeters. The stem is upright, slender, with slightly enlarged nodes, and the internodes are 1-2 centimeters long. It has obvious multiple dichotomous branches from the base and is densely covered with short hairs. Leaves opposite, sessile, lanceolate or linear lanceolate, 0.5-3 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, entire margin. The flower grows singly in the axil of the leaf, with a diameter of about 3 millimeters. The peduncle is about 2 centimeters long, and the sepals are 5, about 4 millimeters long. It is green with white membranous edges and 5 petals. The petals are white and have a full margin, with a top of 2 slits. The stamens are 10, arranged in 2 rows, and the base of the filaments is connected. The flowers are yellow, with an upper ovary and 3 styles. The capsule is nearly spherical, with 6 teeth at the top when mature. The seeds are often 1-2, elliptical, and black brown in color. The flowering period is from June to July.
3. Origin distribution
Born in dry grasslands and crevices on mountain slopes and cliffs. Distributed in Gansu, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other places.
4. Harvesting and processing
When plants germinate during spring and summer or when stems and leaves wither after autumn, they should be harvested. Cultivated products should be harvested in mid September of the third year or mid April of the fourth year after planting, removing residual stems, fibrous roots, and sediment, and dried in the sun.
5. Characteristics of medicinal herbs
It is cylindrical in shape with occasional branches, measuring 15-40 centimeters in length and 0.5-2.5 centimeters in diameter. The surface is light brownish yellow to light brown, with twisted longitudinal wrinkles and root marks, often with hole like or disc-shaped depressions, commonly known as "sand holes". When broken from the sand holes, fine sand can be seen scattered from the brown cracks. The root head is slightly swollen, with dense residue of wart like buds, stems or rhizomes, commonly known as the "pearl disk". Hard and brittle in texture, easy to break, uneven in cross-section, relatively loose, with cracks, thin skin, and radiating yellow and white textures on the wood. Mild aroma, sweet taste. The cultivated product has branches, with twisted lower parts and a diameter of 0.6-1.2 centimeters. The surface is light brownish yellow or light yellow brown, with fine and obvious longitudinal wrinkles, and fine root scars often appearing as point like depressions. There are hardly any sand holes. There are many wart like protrusions on the root head. The texture of the broken surface is relatively tight, with few cracks, slightly powdery, and the radial texture of the wood is not very obvious. The taste is slightly sweet.
6. Sexual Taste Returning to the Classics
Slightly cold in nature, sweet in taste. Return to the liver meridian and stomach meridian.
7. Effect and Function
Clear the heat of deficiency and eliminate the heat of malnutrition. Belonging to the subcategory of astringent drugs, it is a lung astringent intestinal medicine.
8. Clinical application
Dosage: 3-10 grams, decoct in water, or take in pills or powder. Used to treat Yin deficiency fever, bone steaming fatigue fever, and infantile malnutrition fever.
9. Chemical composition
Silver Chaihu root contains components such as spinach sterols, 7-stigmasterol, silver Chaihu cyclic peptide I, stigmasterol, α - spinach sterols glucoside, 7-stigmasterol glucoside, β - sitosterol, α - spinach sterols, β - sitosterol, 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid, etc.
10. Usage taboos
Individuals with external wind cold and blood void heat should avoid taking it.
11. Compatibility prescription
① Treatment of bone steaming and heat exhaustion: 4.5 grams of silver Chaihu, 3 grams each of Huhuanglian, Qinhuai, Biejia (vinegar roasted), Digupi, Qinghao, and Zhimu, and 1.5 grams of licorice. Boil for two minutes in water, boil for eight minutes, and consume from afar. (Clear Bone Powder in "Criteria for Diagnosis and Treatment")
② To treat male and female patients with deficiency, fatigue, and fever, cough or not cough: divide silver Chaihu and sand ginseng into equal parts, take 6 grams each, and decoct in water. (Compendium of Materia Medica)
③ For the treatment of damp heat caused by warm syndrome, with a withered and thin body, misaligned skin, and thin but not moist skin: 6 grams of silver Chaihu and 9 grams of turtle shell. Boil it in water. (Silver Armor Powder in "Warm Disease Pointing Back")
⊙ The content of the article is for clinical reference only. Non TCM professionals are not allowed to test drugs.