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

ABSTRACT

This article systematically sorted out and researched the name， origin， harvesting and other aspects of Rhapontici Radix by referring to ancient materia medica， medical books and prescription books， combined with modern literature， in order to provide a reference basis for the development of the famous classical formulas containing this herb. According to the results of the herbal textual research， it can be seen that all the generations of the materia medica have taken Loulu as the proper name， and there are also aliases such as Luligen， Laowenghua and Jiahao. The mainstream base of Rhapontici Radix recorded in the past dynasties was the present Compositae plant Rhaponticum uniflorum， which is mostly used as medicine with roots. Since the Tang dynasty， the stems and leaves of Siphonostegia chinensis have been used as Rhapontici Radix in the northern region. Until modern times， Qizhou Pharmacognosy began to differentiate it into two categories， Qizhou Loulu and Yuzhou Loulu， according to the commodity circulation at that time， producing area and origin， of which Yuzhou Loulu is the roots of Echinops latifolius， a plant of Compositae family. In ancient times， the quality of Loulu was based on "the one that comes out of Shanzhou is the best". However， in modern times， the quality of Qizhou Loulu is better if the surface is black， neat， sturdy， firm， not broken， and without a withered heart， while the quality of Yuzhou Loulu is better if the branches are thick and long with an earthy-brown surface， solid texture and neat in length. In ancient times， most of the harvesting and processing of Loulu was "harvesting the roots in lunar August and drying them in the shade"， while in modern times， the roots are mostly excavated in the spring and autumn， and dried in the sun. Its ancient method of processing is to mix and steam with licorice， nowadays， it is prepared by removing impurities， washing， moistening thoroughly， cutting into thick slices and drying in the sun， and then taking the raw products as medicine. Based on the research conclusion， it is suggested that when developing and utilizing the famous classical formulas containing Loulu， the background of the formula should be verified， and if the original formula indicated the requirement of processing， it should be processed according to the requirement， but if not， it is recommended to use raw products as medicine.