Herbal Textual Research on Pruni Semen in Famous Classical Formulas / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

This article has systematically sorted out and verified the name， origin， producing area， quality evaluation， harvesting and processing of Pruni Semen by consulting ancient materia medica， medical books， prescription books and modern literature， in order to provide a basis for the development of famous classical formulas containing Pruni Semen. The results showed that Pruni Semen， as a medicinal material， has been widely used in medical literature of past dynasties since it was collected in Shennong Bencaojing， and also included under the names such as Yuhe， Yuzi and Yuli， and aliases such as Jueli， Queli and Chexiali. The primordial plants mentioned in the past dynasties involve about 12 species of Rosaceae， but with Prunus humilis， P. japonica and P. glandulosa as mainstream varieties used in the past dynasties， while the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that the basal plants are P. humilis， P. japonica and P. pedunculata. Most of the ancient records for the origin of Pruni Semen are found everywhere in high mountains， valleys and hills， modern literature records that its origin varies according to its base， for example， P. humilis and P. japonica are mainly produced in Hebei， eastern Inner Mongolia， Liaoning， Shandong and other regions of China， and P. pedunculata is mainly produced in Inner Mongolia. Modern literature summarizes its quality as faint yellow， full and fulfilling， neat and not broken， and non-oiling， and the small Pruni Semen is better than the big Pruni Semen. The ancient processing methods of Pruni Semen mainly include blanching and peeling， blanching and peeling followed by frying， and blanching and peeling followed by pounding， with the common feature of blanching and peeling. The successive editions of Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulate that it should be pounded when used. Based on the results of the herbal textual research and the writing time of Bianzhenglu， and combined with the market survey of Pruni Semen， it is suggested that P. humilis or P. japonica should be used as the origin of Pruni Semen in Sanpiantang， and it is harvested when the fruits are ripe， the kernels are collected by removing the stones， and processed by blanching， peeling and pounding consulting the decoction method in the current edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia.