The efficacy and function of Ligustrum lucidum[picture]

Ligustrum lucidum [picture] is a relatively familiar traditional Chinese medicine. It has many benefits for our body. If we want to consume it correctly in our lives, we need to have some understanding of Ligustrum lucidum [picture]. Let's take a look at it below.

【English name】 FRUCTUS LIGUSTRI LUCIDI

[Other names] Exploding flea, Holly seed [Hebei, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan]

[Source] This product is the dried mature fruit of Ligustrum lucidum Ait., a plant of the Oleaceae family . The fruits are harvested in winter when they are ripe, the branches and leaves are removed, and they are lightly steamed or slightly blanched in boiling water, and then dried; or they can be dried directly.

[Original form] Large evergreen shrub or tree, up to 10 meters high. The trunk is upright, the bark is gray-green, smooth and uncracked, the branches are spreading, smooth and hairless, with obvious lenticels. Leaves are opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate. Small white flowers bloom in summer, with terminal panicles. The flowers are fragrant, dense and almost sessile. The berry-like drupe is oblong, slightly convex on one side, about 1 cm long, and blue-black when ripe.

[Properties] This product is oval, elliptical or kidney-shaped, 6-8.5mm long and 3.5-5.5mm in diameter. The surface is black-purple or gray-black, wrinkled and uneven, with fruit stalk scars at the base or with persistent calyx and short stalks. Light body. The exocarp is thin, the mesocarp is relatively soft and easy to peel off, the endocarp is woody, yellow-brown, with longitudinal ridges, and after breaking open, there is usually one seed, which is kidney-shaped, purple-black, and oily. Odorless, sweet and slightly bitter.

[Identification] Take 0.5 g of the powder of this product, add 20 ml of methanol, heat and reflux for 30 minutes, filter, evaporate the filtrate to dryness, add 1 ml of anhydrous ethanol-chloroform (3:2) mixture to the residue to dissolve it, and use it as the test solution. Take another oleanolic acid reference substance and add ethanol to make a solution containing 1 mg per 1 ml as the reference substance solution. According to the thin layer chromatography method (Appendix Ⅵ B), 3-5 μl of the test solution and 5 μl of the reference solution were respectively spotted on the same silica gel G thin layer plate, and cyclohexane-acetone-ethyl acetate (5:2:1) was used as the developing solvent. The plate was developed, taken out, dried, sprayed with 10% ethanolic sulfuric acid solution, and heated at 110°C until the spots were clearly colored. In the test sample chromatogram, a spot of the same color appears at the corresponding position in the reference sample chromatogram.

[Preparation] Ligustrum lucidum with wine : Select and clean Ligustrum lucidum and mix it with rice wine. Put it into a jar or other container, seal it tightly, and then put it into a pot with water. Steam until the wine is absorbed, take it out and dry it (use 20 kilograms of rice wine for every 100 kilograms).

【Nature and flavor】 Sweet, bitter, cool.

[return through] return the liver and kidney meridians.

【Functions and indications】Nourishes the liver and kidneys, improves eyesight and darkens hair. Used for vertigo, tinnitus, soreness of waist and knees, premature graying of hair, and blurred vision.

【Usage and Dosage】 6-12g.

【Storage】 Store in a dry place.

【Excerpt】 National Compendium of Chinese Herbal Medicines

[Source] "Compendium of Materia Medica"

The effects and functions of Ligustrum lucidum [picture] are varied, and we should choose the appropriate method of consumption according to different physical symptoms. In life, we can learn more about this when we have free time.