The difference between Datongcao and Xiaotongcao

In fact, there are many issues that need to be paid attention to in this kind of medicinal material. If you are not clear about it, you may take the wrong medicine for treatment. For example, Datongcao and Xiaotongcao, these two medicinal materials strictly speaking, have many differences. The biggest difference is that the therapeutic effects are different, and the taste is also very different. If it is only used to treat urinary tract infection, you can use Xiaotongcao, and the therapeutic effect is very good.

Tongcao has a long history of being used as medicine and is a commonly used Chinese medicine in clinical practice. However, in actual work, people often use small tongcao as tongcao, or mix tongcao and small tongcao. In fact, Tongcao and Xiaotongcao are two medicines with similar names but different sources.

Tongcao is the dried stem pith of the Araliaceae plant Tongtu wood; Xiaotongcao is the dried stem pith of the Araliaceae plant Himachalpine Juniperus, Chinese Juniperus or Cornaceae plant Green Pod. The cross section of the small tongcao is flat and not hollow; the cross section of the tongcao is flat, hollow or has a translucent film, and solid ones are rare. Xiaotongcao has a slight odor and no taste. Tongcao has a slight odor and a light taste.

The nature and flavor of Xiaotongcao and its meridians are sweet, light and cold. It enters the lung and stomach meridians. Its functions and indications are: clearing heat and promoting diuresis, and promoting lactation. It is used for urinary problems, lack of milk, and urinary tract infection. The dosage is 2.5-4.5g. The nature and flavor of Tongcao and its meridians are sweet, light and slightly cold. It enters the lung and stomach meridians. Its functions and indications are: clearing heat and promoting diuresis, ventilating and promoting lactation. It is used for red urine caused by damp heat, painful gonorrhea, edema, oliguria, and lack of lactation. The dosage is 3.0-5.0g.

However, pharmacological experiments have found that different varieties of Tongcao and Xiaotongcao have good diuretic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects, which provides a certain pharmacological basis for its clinical application. In the study of the chemical composition of Tongcao, it was found that Tongcao and small Tongcao medicinal materials are rich in polysaccharides, and preliminary pharmacological experiments have shown that polysaccharides have certain immune regulating and antioxidant effects.

Small Tongcao, also known as Small Tonghua, is a deciduous shrub or small tree, up to 5m tall. The branches are densely covered with small white lenticels. It grows in hillside forests at an altitude of 500-2900m or in the shade and wet areas at the edge of forests. It is native to China and can grow in the Yangtze River Basin and south of the Qinling Mountains. It likes sunlight, is slightly shade-tolerant, has strong adaptability, and is relatively cold-resistant. It grows best in well-drained sandy soil or light clay loam.

The dried stem pith is round and strip-shaped, 80 to 120 cm long and 8 to 12 mm in diameter. The surface is flat and has no texture, white in color, and has no hollowness in the middle. The texture is light and soft, and it feels slippery when soaked in water. The ones with even strips and white color are better.

3. Characteristics of Tongcao

The aliases of Tongcao include Koutuo, Linan, Huochu, Yishang, Huacao, Baitongcao, etc. It is the stem pith of the Tongtuo wood plant of the Araliaceae family. The shape of Tongcao is cylindrical. The surface is white or light yellow with shallow longitudinal grooves. It is light, soft, slightly elastic, easy to break, with a flat cross section and a silvery-white luster. Odorless and tasteless.

The ingredients of Tongcao are very rich, including ash, fat, protein, crude fiber, polysaccharides and other ingredients. In addition, it also contains a variety of trace metal elements and multiple amino acids. The main functions are diuresis, stranguria and lactation, that is, it is mainly used to treat stranguria caused by damp heat, urinary difficulty and postpartum milk retention.