Astragalus and Red Astragalus are not the same medicine. First of all, the source is different, astragalus and red astragalus are plants of the same family and different genus. Astragalus, also known as Huangqi, is derived from the dried root of the leguminous plant Astragalus mongolia or Astragalus membranaceus. The red astragalus, also known as red skin astragalus, comes from the dried root of the legume Astragalus multiflora. Secondly, the appearance of traits are different.
The difference in appearance is mainly manifested in the color of the outer skin of the root, astragalus outer surface light brownish yellow or light brown, while the outer surface of the red astragalus grayish reddish brown. Furthermore, the origin is different. Astragalus main origin is more, such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Gansu, Hebei, etc., while the red astragalus is only produced in Gansu. Because of these differences, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition) treats it as 2 kinds of herbs, namely Astragalus and Astragalus.
However, the two can be used equivalently in clinical applications. They can be used for the treatment of qi deficiency and weakness, loose stools with little food, sagging of qi, prolonged diarrhea and prolapse of the anus, hemorrhage and leakage of blood in the stool, sweating from the surface of the deficiency, edema with deficiency of qi, internal heat and thirst, atrophy and yellowing with deficiency of blood, paralysis, paralyzing pain and numbness, carbuncle and gangrene difficult to be ulcerated, and long time ulceration without convergence and other diseases.
Historically, red astragalus has also been used as another commodity specification of astragalus, mixed. But because of the red astragalus origin limitations, production is relatively scarce, thus the price is more expensive than astragalus, the use is not as common as astragalus. China's Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and some parts of Southeast Asia, still have the habit of medicinal use of red astragalus, that red astragalus is a good variety of astragalus.