The efficacy and function of Artemisia

In daily life, people are not only very familiar with various foods, but also come into contact with a lot of medicines in daily life. Among them, Artemisia annua is a relatively common Chinese medicinal material. Given that there are still many people who don’t know much about Artemisia annua, let’s take a detailed look at it below.

[Other names] Fan (The Book of Songs), Paohao (Mao Shi Zhuan), Youhu, Fanmu, Pangbo (Xia Xiaozheng Zhuan), White Artemisia (Seng Shen Ji Fang), Penghao (Kaibao Bencao).

[Source] It is the whole herb of Artemisia annua of the Asteraceae family.

[Original form] Biennial herb, 50 to 150 cm tall. The stems are white-haired and much-branched. Simple leaves are in ears; petiolate; deeply pinnate-lobed or completely lobed 2 to 3 times, with terminal segments broadly linear, linear or nearly lanceolate, often obtuse at apex, green above with fewer hairs, gray-green below with dense white hairs; leaves on upper part of stem are pinnate-lobed or unlobed; nearly sessile. The inflorescence capitula is hemispherical, 5 to 7 mm in diameter, with stalks, drooping, and arranged in a panicle; the bracts are densely covered with white hairs, the outermost ones are linear, gray-yellow-green; the florets are all tubular, yellow, with glandular dots on the surface, all strong, and the receptacle is hairy, and the hairs are almost as long as the florets. Achenes are small, narrowly obovate, with longitudinal stripes, yellowish brown, and less than 1 mm long. Flowering period is from August to September. The fruiting period is from September to October.

【Habitat distribution】Grows by rivers, grasslands and wastelands. Distributed in Northeast China, North China, Gansu, Shaanxi and other places.

[Chemical composition] The green part of this plant contains a sesquiterpene artemisinin, while the above-ground part contains artemisinin, artemisinin lactone and artemisinin.

[Pharmacological action] The sesquiterpene r-lactone isolated from it has an inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, etc. in vitro.

【Nature and flavor】 Sweet, neutral.

【Functions and indications】 Treats wind-cold-dampness arthralgia, jaundice, febrile dysentery, scabies and malignant ulcers.

[Usage and Dosage] For oral use: decoct in water or mash into juice.

[Additional prescription] To treat leprosy and sores all over the body and face: boil ten bundles of white mugwort as big as a liter, extract the juice, add koji and rice, just like brewing wine, wait until it is cooked and drink it slowly. (from Monk Shen Ji Fang)

[Clinical Application] Treatment of acute bacterial dysentery : Take 2 liang of fresh Artemisia annua or 1 liang of dried Artemisia annua and decoct in water. Take it in 2 to 3 times, 1 dose per day, 5 to 7 days as a course of treatment; or make it into powder or tablets for oral administration. A total of 100 cases were treated, 70 were significantly effective (clinically cured within 3 days), 23 were effective (clinically cured within 4 to 7 days), and the cure rate was 93%. According to observations of some cases, after taking the medicine, the body temperature returned to normal in an average of 1.35 days, the bowel movement returned to normal in 2.12 days, the abdominal pain disappeared in 1.55 days, and the tenesmus disappeared in 1.68 days; the average time for stool microscopy to return to normal and for bacteria to turn negative was 3.02 days and 5.65 days respectively. The efficacy seems to be higher than that of Coptis chinensis, Furazolidone, and Synthromycin. The efficacy of granules and tablets seems to be worse than that of decoctions.

【Excerpt】 《*Dictionary》

【Source】 From 1. Ben Jing.

Through the introduction in the above article, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of Artemisia annua. I hope everyone can follow the doctor's advice when taking it, and at the same time pay attention to exercise to enhance their own resistance.