What is the best Polygonum multiflorum?

Many people like to use Polygonum multiflorum to darken their hair, and believe that this medicine can make hair darker. In fact, Polygonum multiflorum has many functions, such as beauty, it can reduce the age of skin aging, its anti-aging ability is extremely strong, and it is good for kidney function, blood sugar, etc. However, many Polygonum multiflorum sold in the society are fake drugs, or unprocessed raw Polygonum multiflorum, which reduces the medicinal properties and is prone to drug toxicity. So which Polygonum multiflorum is good? Patients can judge from the following aspects.

【Properties identification】

The tubers are fusiform or lumpy, usually slightly curved. 5-15cm long, 4-10cm in diameter. The surface is reddish brown or reddish brown, uneven, with irregular longitudinal grooves and dense wrinkles, as well as long horizontal lenticels and fine root marks. It is hard and not easy to break. The cut surface is light yellow-brown or light reddish-brown, powdery, and the cortex has circular, heteromorphic vascular bundles arranged in a ring, forming a "brocade pattern". The central wood is larger, and some are heartwood. It has a faint smell and tastes slightly bitter and sweet. The best ones are those with heavy weight, firm texture and sufficient powderiness.

【Microscopic identification】

Cross section of the tuber: The cork layer is composed of several rows of cells filled with reddish-brown substances, and the lenticels are visible. The phloem is relatively wide, with scattered heteromorphic vascular bundles, namely compound vascular bundles, and the other is single vascular bundles, both of which are exo-vascular type. The cambium is ring-shaped, with fewer xylem vessels, surrounded by tracheids and a few wood fibers. The center of the tuberous root is the primary xylem. The thin-walled cells contain starch granules and calcium oxalate clusters.

Powder characteristics: brown.

① There are numerous starch grains, each of which is spherical, helmet-shaped or triangular-conical, with a diameter of 4-50μm. The hilum is in the shape of a herringbone, star, arc or dot, and the stratification is not obvious. The diameter of the composite particles is 6-51μm, and they are composed of 2-9 sub-particles.

② There are many clusters of calcium oxalate crystals, with a diameter of about 80μm. Occasionally, clusters are seen coexisting with larger square-like crystals.

③ The diameter of the marginated pit vessels is 17-178μm; there are also small reticulated vessels.

【Physical and chemical identification】

(1) Take about 0.1 g of the powder, add 10 ml of sodium hydroxide solution (1→10), boil for 3 min, cool and filter. Take the filtrate, add hydrochloric acid to make it acidic, then add an equal amount of ether, shake, the ether layer should appear yellow. Take 4 ml of the ether layer, add 2 ml of ammonia test solution, shake, and the ammonia layer will turn red. (Check for Anthraquinone Compounds)

(2) Take about 0.2 g of the powder, add 5 ml of ethanol, boil in a water bath for 3 min, shake continuously, filter while hot, and let cool. Take 2 drops of the filtrate, evaporate it to dryness in an evaporating dish, and add 1 drop of saturated chloroform solution of antimony trichloride while it is still hot, and it will turn purple-red. (Check sterols)

(3) Thin layer chromatography Take 5 g of raw Polygonum multiflorum powder (40 mesh), extract it with 95% ethanol under reflux, recover the ethanol, and make a 1.5:1 extract for spotting. Rhamnosin and Rhamnosin methyl ether were used as reference substances. The samples were spotted on silica gel G-CMC (silica gel G300 mesh or above) plates and developed with chloroform-methanol (80:20) at a development distance of 10 cm. Take out and dry. Under visible light, the same color spots will appear in the chromatogram of the test sample at the corresponding positions in the chromatogram of the reference sample; and the same fluorescent spots will appear under ultraviolet light.

Which Polygonum multiflorum is good? When purchasing, you should observe the shape and appearance of Polygonum multiflorum. If it is a processed medicinal material, you should observe its texture. For powdered medicinal materials, you should pay more attention to the judgment. After reading the above article, we can comprehensively judge the nature of Polygonum multiflorum. When the patient cannot judge, he should judge based on the price, color of Polygonum multiflorum, etc. Do not buy problematic Polygonum multiflorum, or go directly to the hospital's Chinese medicine pharmacy to buy it.