This paper belongs to the content of "professional field"
Need a certain foundation of traditional Chinese medicine
Ephedra forsythia red bean soup, strictly speaking, is Ephedra lotus tile (Yao Yao) red bean soup, which is a very good prescription for removing damp heat.
In Treatise on Febrile Diseases, it is used to treat "excess of blood stasis and heat".
Personally used it to treat acne and dermatitis caused by damp heat, and the effect is good.
Generally, doctors who study it carefully know that this prescription has one feature: it contains two rare drugs.
Namely "cheap" and "raw catalpa white skin".
Even the water chestnut, which is generally regarded as the root of forsythia suspensa, is rarely seen in the market now, and it has basically been replaced by forsythia suspensa.
Hisano Takada's name has long been changed.
Raw catalpa bark, that is, catalpa bark, is even less common, and everyone has replaced it with mulberry bark.
However, the compatibility of classical prescriptions is exquisite, and the effect will be very different if only one medicine or even one dose is changed.
The effect of using forsythia instead of forsythia root and mulberry bark instead of catalpa bark is unknown for the time being.
Therefore, in order to ensure the curative effect, some doctors insist on using forsythia root and catalpa bark and resolutely do not use substitutes.
However, today we are going to dig deeper, in fact:
Even water chestnut is not forsythia suspensa, but it is not forsythia suspensa root!
Raw catalpa bark is not mulberry bark, but it is not catalpa bark either!
Here's the story.
Forsythia has been recorded for a long time and appeared in Shennong Herbal Classic.
Looking through the materia medica from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, we will find that the recording characteristics of forsythia suspensa are as follows:
The leaves are long and narrow, with flowers at the top of the stem, fruits like lotus and seeds like millet. There are too many original texts, and those who are interested can inquire for themselves.
It looks like this:
Meow meow meow meow
But our forsythia now looks like this:
Modern forsythia suspensa: the leaves are nearly oval, the whole stem blooms, and the fruit is egg-shaped and flat as wings.
Ancient forsythia: long and narrow leaves, flowers at the top of the stem, lotus-like fruit and millet seeds.
This is obviously not a plant!
What's going on here?
After investigation, it was found that there were major mistakes in the recording of forsythia suspensa.
(In fact, there are many such mistakes in the history of TCM. )
In the Song Dynasty, I don't know what happened. Mr. Kou Zongxuan mistook a plant of Meliaceae (a family and genus different from ancient Fructus Forsythiae) for Fructus Forsythiae and included it in the book.
Since then, mistakes have not only not been discovered, but have been passed down from generation to generation. Hundreds of generations of Chinese medicine practitioners in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties regarded this neem plant as forsythia, and it has not changed until today.
So ancient forsythia suspensa and modern forsythia suspensa are completely different plants.
They also have different effects.
According to statistics, ancient forsythia was mostly used to treat carbuncle, scleroma, swelling and pain.
Modern forsythia suspensa of Oleaceae can treat wind-heat syndrome, seasonal toxicity and head and face sores.
So, what is ancient forsythia now?
The forsythia in Treatise on Febrile Diseases and the medical prescriptions before the Song Dynasty are: Garcinia, Hypericum, Begonia!
Modern names are "Forsythia suspensa" and "Eclipta prostrata". Generally, the whole grass is used as medicine, and some fruits are also used as medicine.
Another medicine, raw catalpa bark, is generally considered as catalpa bark.
This medicine was common in ancient times, but rare in modern times, because Catalpa bungeana was an excellent common tree species in ancient times and was planted in large quantities.
But with the passage of time, it was gradually replaced by other tree species, so it is difficult to buy catalpa bark today.
The doctor had to use mulberry bark instead.
However, it is not appropriate to use catalpa bark directly, because in the Han Dynasty when Zhang Zhongjing lived, the word "catalpa" refers to two modern plants, catalpa bungeana and catalpa.
So, which is the closest to the original appearance of Zhongjing, catalpa bark or catalpa bark?
First of all, "Notes on Materia Medica" records: "There are three kinds of catalpa, which should be used simply but not rotted".
1972, many coffins were unearthed in Mawangdui Han Tomb. The bodies were gone but the coffins were intact. After investigation, it was made of eucalyptus!
Obviously, Catalpa bungeana does not rot, which conforms to the records and is better than Catalpa bungeana.
Secondly, "Zheng Ben Cao" bluntly said that "there are several kinds of catalpa bark, but catalpa is the best, and the rest are unbearable".
Just name the catalpa bungeana, which is better.
Thirdly, according to historical records, Catalpa bungeana is planted in southern Henan and Huaihe River Basin.
The area where Catalpa bungeana was planted completely coincides with the area where Zhongjing was born and lived.
Considering that SF was born after 1700 years, it is more reasonable to use catalpa bungeana.
This evidence is a bit far-fetched and is only for assistance.
Based on the above, I personally think that in Treatise on Febrile Diseases, the raw white skin of catalpa is the bark of Osmunda japonica.
Having said that, some people may ask that these two drugs are simply not available in hospitals. What's the use of talking so much?
No, no, no, what you want to provide at this time is "Universal Taobao", where countless shops are engaged in the business of cold-backed medicinal materials. You can buy real lotus seeds and catalpa white skin from them.
In order to avoid suspicion, I won't list the specific stores (of course, my own store will still be shameless ~ ~)
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