The efficacy and function of American pokeweed

There are many types of Chinese medicine. When we choose, we need to understand the medicine first. So do you know about the medicinal material American Rhizoma Corydalis? Let us introduce it below.

[Other names] Flowering rhubarb, wild carmine (Hangzhou Medicinal Plant Records), white chicken leg, white chicken leg (Jiangxi Herbal Handbook).

[Source] The roots, leaves and seeds of the American pokeweed of the Phytolacca americana family .

[Original form] Perennial herb, 1.5 to 2 meters high, smooth and hairless all over. The roots are thick, conical and light red. There are many branches, which are round and slightly angular. The young branches are green and the old branches are reddish. Leaves are alternate; leaf blades are ovate-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, 10-14 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, with pointed apex, narrow base, soft texture, pinnately reticulated, and protruding toward the back of the leaf; petiole is 2 cm long, old petiole and main vein are reddish, racemes are terminal or lateral, up to 20 cm long, pedicels are pink; flowers are borne in the axils of scale-like bracts; sepals are 5, imbricately arranged, white or light pink; no petals; stamens are 10, filaments are white; pistils are 10, ovary is superior, ovules are curved, and style is very short. The fruit clusters are drooping, the berries are spherical, red-purple when hot, and the calyx remains. The seeds are about 3 mm long, black and shiny. Flowering period is summer.

【Habitat distribution】 Cultivated plants.

[Chemical composition] The roots contain toxic ingredients: pokeweed toxin, turmeric fennel, and a mitogen was isolated with a molecular weight of 32,000, containing 3.2% monosaccharides, 1.4% amino hexose and an abnormally large amount (19%) of cystine. It also contains fatty oil, including phytosterol, hexadecane, arachidic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, heptadecanoic acid, etc., as well as oleanolic acid and potassium nitrate.

[Pharmacological action] The water-soluble substances contained in saponins in American pokeweed have local irritation effects and can cause vomiting. Its alcohol extract contains resin-like substances, which have a strong inhibitory effect on the central nervous system. 50 mg/kg can cause death in cats. In cats, administration of 5 to 10 ml of fluid extract induces severe vomiting, followed by collapse. 1 ml of fluid extract (minus the alcohol) can inhibit a cat's breathing and circulation, while 4 ml can stop the heart and breathing. The vomiting caused by American pokeweed occurs slowly, starting 1 to 2 hours after taking the medicine and lasting for a long time. There is no severe pain or cramps during vomiting, but there are some anesthetic phenomena such as drowsiness, dizziness and blurred vision. Overdose can cause more severe vomiting and diarrhea, severe prostration, and sometimes convulsions and death. All parts of this plant, especially the roots and immature fruits, are poisonous to humans, cattle, horses, sheep and pigs. Toxic components can be destroyed by boiling. Oral administration, intraperitoneal injection, and intravenous injection of the fruit extract to rats, rabbits, and cats can cause mild poisoning, which is less toxic than the root preparation. Symptoms of poisoning are mild depression. After intravenous injection in rabbits and cats, blood pressure gradually increased, with occasional extrasystoles. The pulse pressure increased due to the decrease in diastolic blood pressure, and the frequency and depth of breathing decreased. Eating berries can cause diarrhea in humans.

[Properties and flavors] Jiangxi "Chinese Herbal Medicine": "It tastes slightly sweet and then bitter. Long-term chewing will numb the tongue and is slightly poisonous."

【Functions and indications】 ① "Hangzhou Medicinal Plants": "Diuretic, used for chronic nephritis, pleurisy, pericardial edema, ascites, beriberi and other general edema; external use can treat unknown swelling and skin parasitic diseases."

【Note】 This product is poisonous and should be used with caution.

[Additional prescription] To treat leucorrhea: 1 to 2 liang of American Rhizoma Coptidis root. Add half a pound of pork and stew. (Jiangxi "Handbook of Herbs")

【Excerpt】 《*Dictionary》

In the above article, we introduced what Chinese pokeweed is and understood its effects and functions. Chinese pokeweed can improve our immunity. It also has a therapeutic effect in health preservation and has many benefits to our body.