How to distinguish true and false chicken bone grass

Chicken bone grass is the product of the dried Guangzhou acacia plant. It has medicinal value in traditional Chinese medicine. Chicken bone grass is cold in nature and slightly bitter in taste. It has significant effects on clearing heat, detoxifying, and relieving pain. Because it is convenient to use as medicine, many friends often buy chicken bone grass themselves, but due to poor identification ability, they often buy fake chicken bone grass. Let us learn how to distinguish real and fake chicken bone grass.

[Original morphology] Guangdong Acacia is a climbing shrub, up to 1m long; the twigs and petioles are covered with coarse hairs. The taproot is thick and can be up to 60cm long. The stem is thin, dark red-purple, and the young parts are densely covered with yellow-brown hairs. Even-pinnate compound leaves; leaflets 7-12 pairs, obovate or oblong, 5-12mm long, 3-5mm wide, truncated at the apex with a small awn, shallowly cordate at the base, sparsely covered with coarse hairs above, closely attached to the coarse hairs beneath, with veins raised on both sides; stipules in pairs. The racemes are short and axillary; the flowers are about 6 mm long; the calyx is bell-shaped; the corolla is prominent and light red; there are 9 stamens, which are connate into a tube, closely attached to the standard petal and separated at the top; the ovary is nearly sessile and the style is short. The pods are oblong, flat, sparsely hairy, and contain 4-5 seeds. The seeds are oblong, flat, brown-black, with a distinct caruncle, waxy yellow, a hole in the middle, an oblong ring on the edge, and a brown needle-like navel close to the pod edge. The flowering period is August, and the fruiting period is September-October.

【Properties】

Identification of properties: This product is a whole herb with roots, mostly twisted into bundles. The root is cylindrical or conical, branched, of varying length and thickness, with a diameter of 3-15mm; the surface is gray-brown with fine longitudinal lines; and the texture is hard. Rhizome short, tuberous. The stems are clustered, vine-like, up to 1m long and 1.5-2.5mm in diameter; the surface is gray-brown, the twigs are brown-red, sparsely covered with hairs; the leaves are even-pinnate, with oblong leaflets, 8-12mm long, and covered with hairs on the lower surface. It has a faint smell and a slightly bitter taste. The best ones are those with thick roots, complete stems and leaves.

Microscopic identification of stem cross section: The cork layer cells are filled with yellow-brown substances. Narrow cortex. The pericycle is composed of stone cells and fibers. The cells around the fibers contain prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate, forming crystal fibers. The phloem of the vascular bundle is cap-shaped; the diameter of the vessels is 15-75μm, and the wood rays and wood parenchyma cells contain starch granules and a few prisms. Myeloid cells are round. Leaf surface observation: the antipodal wall of the upper epidermal cells is wavy; the non-glandular hairs are single-celled; there are crystal fibers along the veins. The stomata of the lower epidermis are parallel axis type, occasionally indefinite type; there are many non-glandular hairs. Powder characteristics: gray-green.

Through the article's introduction to the original form of chicken bone grass and its complete properties after drying, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of how to distinguish the authenticity of chicken bone grass. In addition to being used as medicine, chicken bone grass can also be used as food therapy. Drinking chicken bone grass tea can effectively treat liver diseases. The specific dosage needs to be consulted with a doctor before taking it.