Produced in Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces and regions south of the Yangtze River. Xihuangcao has the effects of clearing away heat and promoting diuresis, reducing jaundice and removing dampness, cooling blood and dispersing blood stasis, and is used to treat acute jaundice hepatitis, acute cholecystitis, dysentery, enteritis, bruises and pain due to bruises and other diseases. Xihuangcao is widely used clinically in various parts of Guangdong, and a variety of health care products for the prevention and treatment of hepatitis have been developed using it as the main raw material, such as Xihuangcao granules, Xihuangcao tea bags, etc. The market potential is very large.

Common name of Xihuangcao: Xihuangcao

Other names: Xihuangcao (Guangzhou Army's "Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicine Manual")

Synonyms: bear bile grass, blood Fengcao ("Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines" by the Guangzhou Army), Xigoucao, Goat Noodles, Corydalis Corydalis ("Color Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines"), Cortex Rhizoma ("Guangxi Chinese Herbal Medicines"), Artemisia Sifang ("Selected Exhibition·Infectious Diseases") ), fragrant tea vegetables (Jiangxi "Herbal Medicine Handbook").

The source is the dried whole grass of Rabdosia serra (Maxim.) Hara, a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family.

Collected in summer and autumn.

Chemical composition

Contains flavonoid glycosides, phenols, amino acids, and organic acids.

Nature and flavor

① "Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines" of the Guangzhou Army: "Sweet and bitter, cool." ②"Color Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines": "Bitter and cold." [1]

Morphological characteristics

Annual herb.

The main root is cylindrical, unbranched or sparsely branched, with many fibrous roots. The stem is upright, 40-90 cm high, 4-5 mm in diameter at the base, with stripes, branched or unbranched, and the whole plant is covered with white spreading long hairs and dense glandular hairs.

The leaves of Xihuangcao are dense, the lower leaves are stalked, and often wither during the flowering period; the middle leaves and upper leaves are papery, ovate or ovate-oblong, 4-7.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. 5-3 cm, sessile, narrow base, all leaves pinnately deeply lobed, sparsely lobed, lobes usually 4-6 pairs, linear or linear-lanceolate, extremely skewed, apex slightly pointed, entire or sparsely lobed Teeth, the top lobe is large, obovate-lanceolate, sparsely toothed, the veins are obvious on the back, and both sides are covered with long hairs and dense glandular hairs. The flower head is 7-10 mm in diameter, arranged in narrow and short conical inflorescences at the ends of stems and branches; the peduncle is short and densely covered with long hairs and glandular hairs; the involucre is hemispherical and bell-shaped, about 6 mm long and wide About 10 mm 3 involucral bracts with 3-4 layers, green, linear, apex acuminate, with white membranous edges, back covered with dense long hairs and glandular hairs, outer layer shorter, about 3.5 mm long, inner layer 6-7 mm long, longer than the flower disk, the top often turns reddish purple, slightly reflexed outwards. The flowers are yellow, all firm, with most female flowers on the periphery. The corolla is filamentous, 2-2.5 mm long, and the upper part is sparsely hairy. , about half the length of the style; there are about 40 bisexual flowers in the center, the corolla is tubular, 4-4.5 mm long, the eaves are narrow and bell-shaped, with 5 lanceolate lobes, and the upper end of the tube is covered with short microhairs , the receptacle is hemispherical, with an obvious bulge in the center. The holes of bisexual flowers are larger than those of female flowers, with toothed edges. Achenes are oblong, about 1 mm long, flattened, with veined edges, and slightly hairy on both sides; there is one layer of pappus, dirty white, hisriform, slightly longer than the corolla, and the base is connected into a ring.

Pharmacological effects

The active ingredients of xihuangcao are xihuangconin A and urophyllin A, which have anti-cancer activity and have a significant inhibitory effect on human cervical cancer cells.

Nature and flavor

Guangzhou Army's "Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicine": sweet, bitter, cool.

"Color Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines": bitter and cold.

Usage and dosage

Oral administration: decoction, 0.5 to 1 tael (2 to 3 taels for fresh).

Functions and Indications

Clear heat and dampness, cool blood and disperse blood stasis. Treat acute hepatitis, acute cholecystitis, dysentery, enteritis, abscess, bruises and bruises. ① "Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines" of the Guangzhou Army: "clears heat, diuresis, and reduces jaundice. Treats acute jaundice hepatitis and acute cholecystitis."

②"Color Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines": "clears the liver and promotes gallbladder, Reducing jaundice and dispelling dampness, cooling blood and dispersing blood stasis. Treats acute hepatitis, bruises and swelling. "

Jaundice hepatitis: Symptoms include jaundice of skin and sclera, aversion to cold, fever, fatigue, poor appetite, liver area. Dull pain, hepatosplenomegaly, yellow urine, red tongue with thin yellow coating, stringy and slippery pulse.

Acute cholecystitis: Symptoms include aversion to cold and fever, pain in the right upper abdomen, involving the right shoulder and back, dry mouth, nausea and vomiting, or accompanied by dry stool, diarrhea, jaundice, etc.

Selection of prescriptions

① Treatment of acute jaundice hepatitis: Xihuangcao mixed with wood sorrel and wire grass, decocted in water and taken.

②Treatment of patients with acute cholecystitis and jaundice: Xihuangcao mixed with Tianjihuang, Artemisia wormwood, chicken bone grass, and plantain, simmer in water and take it.

③ To treat dysentery due to dampness and heat: fresh leaves of Yixi Huangcao, pound the juice and drink it; Erxi Huangcao is mixed with Tianxianglu and wild peony, decoct in water and take it. (①The following prescription is from "Traditional Chinese Medicine")

④Treatment of dysentery and enteritis: fresh Artemisia annua leaves. Wash, make juice and take internally. Five milliliters once a day, two to three milliliters for children. ("Selected Exhibition·Infectious Diseases")

⑤ To treat pruritus: 2 liang of fresh fragrant tea leaves, 1 liang of fresh Shiwei and fresh plantain. Decoction in water.

(Jiangxi "Herbal Medicine Manual") [1]

⑥Treatment of chronic hepatitis and early cirrhosis: 500 grams of field snails and 50 to 100 grams of Xihuangcao. Keep the snails in water for 2 to 3 days to drain away the sludge and waste. Then knock off a little of the tail of the snails and cook it in soup with 50 to 100 grams of Xihuangcao.

Growth habits

Xihuangcao has strong adaptability to the environment and can grow in areas below 1,500 meters above sea level. It often grows wild in streamside wetlands, villages, ditches, and fields. Edge and forest. Xihuangcao is a long-day plant that likes light. Under sufficient sunlight, the seeds will germinate well and the plants will grow robustly. Xihuangcao is afraid of waterlogging and soil hardening, so it is suitable for cultivation in loose, fertile, well-drained sandy loam soil in low-lying areas. Waterlogged soil can easily cause root rot. [2]

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Clinical Application

Recently, there have been many pharmacological research reports on diterpenoids and flavonoids in the genus Camellia genus, and Most of them are the former, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-tumor, liver-protective, smooth muscle and cardiovascular effects, etc. It is particularly worth mentioning that Lu Changan

Xi Huangcao and others conducted experimental studies on the effects of mountain tea extract on HIV-1, which showed that it has certain effects on HIV-1. inhibitory effect. There have been few reports so far on whether further pharmacological research can be conducted on Xihuangcao based on this idea. Liao Xuefen et al. conducted some pharmacological experiments using aqueous extracts of linea-lined tea leaves, narrow-lined line-striped tea leaves, and river yellow grass. The results showed that all three could inhibit xylene-induced ear inflammation in mice and reduce CCl4-induced minor The effect of increasing serum alanine aminotransferase in mice after liver injury, and the extracts of Camellia sinensis and Xihuangcao can antagonize the capillary permeability of the abdominal cavity of mice caused by acetic acid, indicating that all three have anti-inflammatory and hepatotoxic properties. effect. Clinically, Linear Fragrant Tea is widely used as the main raw material of Chinese patent medicines such as Anti-inflammatory and Choleretic Tablets and Compound Dantong Tablets due to its effects of clearing away heat, promoting dampness and reducing yellowing.

Recently, it has been reported that 300 cases of acute jaundice hepatitis were treated with Xihuangcao, and 68 cases of hepatitis B were treated with preparations made from Xihuangcao, Hedyotis diffusa, Polygonum cuspidatum, and Salvia miltiorrhiza (effective rate 84%). Use Xihuangcao and other medicines to make "Yanzuoning suppository" and so on.

Xihuangcao has the effects of clearing away heat, diluting dampness, reducing jaundice and removing dampness. In fact, Xihuangcao cannot treat chronic hepatitis. If it is acute infectious jaundice-type hepatitis B, it can be used for acute treatment. Even if you have chronic hepatitis B, you still need to go to a regular hospital for targeted treatment, otherwise it may delay the condition and increase the difficulty of cure. The Chinese herb Xihuangcao has a certain effect on hepatitis, but its effect on treating Xiaosanyang is very limited [3].

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Character identification

Xihuangcao

Stems and branches are square-cylindrical, densely pubescent. The leaves are opposite, often broken, and the intact leaves are often shrunken. After unfolding, they are oval or ovate-lanceolate, 4-12cm long, with pubescence on both sides along the veins, and the petiole is 1-1.5cm long. Cymes are pedunculate, composed of 5 to many flowers. Cone inflorescences; bracts and bracteoles are narrowly ovate to strip-shaped, densely pubescent; calyx is bell-shaped and long About 1.5mm, the outer surface of Xihuangcao is densely covered with gray-white pubescence and sandwiched with glandular spots; the calyx teeth are triangular, nearly equal in size, and as long as the calyx tube; the corolla is purple, about 5.5mm long, and the corolla tube is shallowly sac-shaped near the base, The upper lip is 4-lobed and the lower lip is navicular; the stamens and styles do not protrude from the corolla.

Lineated tea leaves

Stems and branches are square-cylindrical, grooved, and pubescent. The leaves are opposite, many wrinkled, and the complete leaves are ovate or oblong-ovate when expanded, 1.5-8.8cm long, with jointed and slightly bristle above, and jointed and bristle below and covered with brown glands; panicle inflorescence Composed of cymes, the bracts are ovate and pubescent; the calyx is about 2mm long, with beaded villous nodes on the outside, covered with reddish-brown spots; the corolla is white with purple spots; the stamens and style extend out of the corolla .

Microscopic identification

Leaf surface view

Xihuangcao. Non-glandular hairs are few, conical, short, composed of 1-3 cells, the base cells are mostly enlarged, the apex is pointed, the warts are dense and obvious, the lower surface has obvious wavy lines at the veins, the hairs are dense, and they are nearly flat and creeping. They grow in a shape or diagonally, and sometimes the top cells are mainly curved; the glandular scales are slightly flat and saucer-shaped, with four ridges.

Line pattern fragrant tea dishes. There are many non-glandular hairs, wide cone shape and slightly flattened, composed of 1-5 cells, the top is slightly triangular, slightly curved forward and downward, there are dense point-like protrusions on the surface, the width of the cells near the base can be 110-150μ, and the surface has longitudinal Or a wavy texture with radiating protrusions.

Identification of Xihuangcao and Maoyanberry

1. The plant forms of Xihuangcao and Maoyanberry are easy to identify. The plant of Maoyanberry is long and thin, like As soft and beautiful as dragon whiskers. Xihuangcao has obvious saw teeth and is very textured.

2． Xihuangcao is earthy yellow with large leaves and thick stems. Maoyanberry is green-yellow, with long stems and small leaves. 3. Xihuangcao belongs to the labial tea category and is a linear tea vegetable. The rockberry belongs to the family Vitaceae.

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Brewing steps

Required utensils: teapot for boiling water, porcelain cup for making tea, filter, tea container , cups and saucers.

Xihuangcao

Step one: Boil water, fill it with water and boil. This process takes about 13 minutes.

During the process of boiling water, put the tea leaves into a porcelain cup that has been used to eliminate the poison of Xihuangcao. You need about one-third of the capacity of the porcelain cup.

Step 2: After the water boils, pour the boiling water into the porcelain cup, cover it with a lid, wash the tea leaves first, open a slit with your hands and pour out the water used to wash the tea leaves, rinse it several times, and cover it. Cover and soak for about 5 seconds.

Step 3: Immediately pour the tea into a container with a filter after burning the poison, and do so quickly.

Step 4: Pour the brewed tea in the container into a clean cup, so that you can drink the bitter-sweet Xihuangcao. By analogy, generally put the tea leaves once and steep for more than seven times. The longer the tea leaves are, the longer the brewing time is. The first and second times are 3 seconds, the third, fourth and fifth times are 5-8 seconds, and the sixth time is 12 seconds. . . Generally, it should not take more than 25 seconds, and try to drink it all in one night, so that the effect of Xihuangcao can be exerted.

Cultural heritage

Guangzhou Army's "Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines": clears away heat, removes dampness, and reduces yellowing.

"Color Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines": Clears the liver and promotes gallbladder, reduces jaundice and removes dampness, cools blood and disperses blood stasis.

Historical background

Xihuangcao is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that has been gradually recognized by people in recent decades. The earliest book in China to record its medicinal value and usage is the internal information "Jieyang County Commonly Used Herbal Medicines" compiled and printed in 1962, but its botanical diagram and scientific name are not recorded in it. The later published "Handbook of Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicines" identified the traditional Chinese medicine Xihuangxihuangcaocha grassland plant as Camellia sinensis, a member of the family Lamiaceae. However, because there are many species of Camellia genus, and their shapes are easily confused, so in addition to the original plants of Xihuangcao used clinically as medicine, there are also plants of the same genus, including Camellia genus and Camellia striata. Wenxiang tea dishes, etc. Since the 1970s, domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of work on the chemical composition, pharmacological effects, and clinical research of Xihuangcao, and have made certain progress. Studies have confirmed that the main functions of Xihuang leather are to clear away heat, promote dampness and reduce jaundice, cool blood, detoxify and disperse blood stasis. It can be used for damp-heat jaundice, damp-heat diarrhea, bruises and bruises, etc. The aqueous extract of Xihuangcao has hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory functions, and has been used in the treatment of acute icteric hepatitis and acute cholecystitis with jaundice in recent years. In addition, some components in Xihuangcao have been proven to have a significant inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus through in vitro antibacterial tests. Liannan Yao Autonomous County in Guangdong Province is located in the Smoky Mountains. It has unique medicinal resources, and Xihuangcao is one of the county's local medicinal materials. Xihuang Bazhen tea is made from Xihuang leather as the main raw material, combined with another local characteristic medicinal material, Tengpo tea, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, mulberry leaves, wolfberry, hawthorn, etc. It is a traditional health drink for the local people. It can really improve the body's immunity and protect the body. The effect of liver and spleen. At present, the production of this product has been listed as a poverty alleviation project for the Yao impoverished areas in Liannan by Guangdong Province and Guangzhou Municipal Government. Chemistry leaves and stems contain diterpenoid compounds: corycins A, B, and D, as well as theanthin A, 2α-hydroxyursolic acid, ursolic acid, and β-sitosterol. glycosides. β-sitosterol, oleanolic acid, α-, α-dihydroxyursolic acid, β-sitosterol-D-glucoside and striatum acid. Saxanthin and 1,14-dihydroxy-7,20; 19,20 dihydroxy-(1α, 4α, 7α, 14β, 20β) kaurene-15-one, 5-hydroxy-4-methoxy Flavonoid-7-glucoside.