"Chinese Pharmacopoeia": Smilax smilax
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Pinyin Tǔ Fú Línɡ
English name RHIZOMA SMILACIS GLABRAE
Source: This product is the dried rhizome of the Liliaceae plant Smilax glabra Roxb. Excavate in summer and autumn, remove fibrous roots, wash and dry; or cut into thin slices while fresh and dry.
Characteristics: This product is slightly cylindrical, slightly flat or irregular, with nodular protrusions and short branches, 5 to 22 cm long and 2 to 5 cm in diameter. The surface is yellow-brown or gray-brown, uneven, with hard fibrous root residues, round bud marks on the tops of branches, and some skins with irregular cracks and residual scale leaves. Hard quality. The slices are oblong or irregular, 1 to 5 mm thick, with irregular edges; the cut surface is off-white to light reddish brown, powdery, with punctate vascular bundles and many small bright spots visible; the texture is slightly tough, and dust will fly when broken. It feels slimy when wet with water. Odorless, slightly sweet and astringent.
Identification: The powder of this product is light brown. There are many starch granules. The single granules are spherical, polygonal or square-shaped, with a diameter of 8-48 μm. The umbilical point is crack-shaped, star-shaped, trident-shaped or dot-shaped. Large grains can be seen in layers; complex granules are composed of 2 to 4 sub-granules. Calcium oxalate needle crystal bundles exist in mucus cells or are scattered. The needle crystals are 40 to 144 μm long and about 5 μm in diameter. The stone cells are oval, square or triangular, with a diameter of 25-128 μm, and fine grooves; there are also dark brown stone cells, long strips, about 50 μm in diameter, with extremely thick walls on three sides and a thin wall on one side. The fibers are bundled or scattered, with a diameter of 22 to 67 μm. Bordered pit ducts and tracheids are common, and most of the bordered pits are elongated into ladder shapes.
Process to remove impurities; if not sliced, soak, wash, moisten, cut into thin slices and dry.
The nature and flavor are sweet, light and flat.
Returns through the liver and stomach meridians.
The main functions are dehumidification, detoxification, and joint relief. It is used for limb spasm and muscle and bone pain caused by damp-heat stranguria, vaginal discharge, carbuncle, scrofula, scabies, syphilis and mercury poisoning.
Usage and dosage: 15~60g.