Herbal textual research of Astragali Complanati Semen / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Astragali Complanati Semen has a long-term history of use as a common Chinese traditional and herbal medicine. Through a herbal textual research on the appellation, origin, efficacy, genuine producing area and counterfeit of Astragali Complanati Semen, the evolution of its appellation underwent three stages of "white terrestris", "Shayuan terrestris", and "Astragali Complanati Semen"; The botanical origin and medicinal part is dried mature seed from Astragalus complanatus of Legume family recorded in the literatures of past dynasties; And the varieties of ancient and modern application are basically the same. Its kidney-nourishing and essence-enriching efficacy has been progressively cleared with clinical application since records began in Bencao Yanyi in the Song dynasty; The genuine producing areas of Astragali Complanati Semen were Shayuan in Shaanxi Province from the Song Dynasty, and gradually moved to Tongguan in Shaanxi Province and Shanxi Province in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the founding of new China, it was mainly distributed in Shaanxi Province and then spread to northern adjacent provinces, in which the Tongguan in Shaanxi Province was preferred. Its counterfeits included Mapiao semon, an unknown counterfeit with a hint of green and Astragalus sinicus seed based on herbal literatures published before 1949, and mainly included the seeds of A. sinicus, Crotalaria pallida, Asfraglus chinensis and Astragalus adsurgens after 1949. Based on a systematic herbal textual research, this article takes a radical reform of Astragali Complanati Semen, so as to provide reference for its further development and utilization.