The efficacy and function of Chinese medicine Tongcao

Tongcao is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, but many people are not very clear about this kind of Chinese medicine. They don’t know what it is, and they don’t understand what the effects and functions of Tongcao are. In fact, this kind of Chinese medicine can treat many diseases, and you can carry out targeted treatment according to your symptoms. The most common type of disease treatment is that it can have a certain effect on milk production. If a child has a high fever, this medicine can also be used to treat it.

Medicinal value

Flavor

Sweet; light; slightly cold.

① "Bencao Shiyi": non-toxic.

② "Origins of Medicine": It has a flat nature and a sweet taste.

③ "Bencao Mengquan": The taste is sweet and light, and the smell is flat.

④ "Compendium of Materia Medica": sweet, mild, cold, non-toxic.

Meridians

Enters the lung and stomach meridians.

① "Compendium of Materia Medica": enters the Taiyin Lung and Yangming Stomach Meridians.

② "Leigong Paozhi Yaoxing Jie" says: It enters the lungs, large intestine and small intestine meridians.

③ "Bencao Jingshu": enters the foot Shaoyin, Taiyang, hand Shaoyin, Taiyang.

Effects

Clears dampness and promotes diuresis; promotes lactation. It is mainly used for painful and astringent urination; difficult urination; edema; jaundice; damp-heat disease; short and dark urine; low milk supply after childbirth; amenorrhea; leucorrhea. It is used for red urine due to damp-heat, painful and astringent urine due to gonorrhea, edema, oliguria, and lack of milk. [3]

① "Bencao Gangmu" (Bencao Gangmu): Improves eyesight, reduces fever, induces labor, promotes the flow of the womb, and promotes lactation.

② "Compendium of Materia Medica": It promotes urination and can also detoxify various drugs.

③ "The Origin of Medicine": It can eliminate edema, urinary retention, and treat five types of stranguria. "The Secret of Main Treatments" says that it can drain the lungs.

④ "Bencao Canyao": Treats blurred vision, deafness, nasal congestion and loss of voice.

⑤ "Changsha Yaojie": It can regulate amenorrhea, treat jaundice, eliminate carbuncle, benefit nasal carbuncle, and relieve heartburn.

Dosage

For internal use: decoction, 2-5 grams.

Brewing method

Tongcao: Pick out impurities and cut into slices.

Zhutongcao: Take Tongcao slices, place them in a basin and spray a little water to moisten them slightly, add fine cinnabar powder, sprinkle them evenly, and turn them over from time to time until the outside is evenly covered with cinnabar, take them out and let them dry. (For every 10 jin of Tongcao leaves, use 10 liang of cinnabar)[4]

Microscopy

Cross section of stem pith: all thin-walled cells, elliptical, round or nearly polygonal, with thin walls and occasional wall pores. The cells on the outside are smaller, and some cells contain calcium oxalate clusters with a diameter of 15-64μm.

Tongcao is the stem pith of the Tongtu wood plant of the Araliaceae family. The philadelphus truncatum is an evergreen shrub or small tree that grows in sunny and fertile soil below 2800m above sea level, or in rotating soil during cultivation. It is distributed in the southwest and Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places. In autumn, select plants that are more than 3 years old, cut suitable wood stems, cut them into sections while they are fresh, poke out the pith with a thin wooden stick or round bamboo tube, straighten them gently, dry them in the sun and place them in a dry place.

The pith of the stem of Tongcao is cylindrical, 20 to 40 cm long and 1 to 2.5 cm in diameter. 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. There is a hollow or translucent film in the center. The longitudinal section is arranged in a ladder shape, and solid ones are rare. Odorless and tasteless. The best ones are those that are thick, white, elastic, hollow and have diaphragms.