What Is Potentilla Chinensis
Potentilla Chinensis is also known as Wei Ling Cai, which is a perennial herb belonging to the family Rosaceae. It first appeared in <Jiuhuang Bencao> (Materia Medica for Relief of Famines) in 1,406 AD.
This plant often grows in grasslands, valleys, forest edges, shrubs, or sparse forests at an altitude of 400-3,200 meters. It can be found in China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and the Far East of Russia.
It is an economic and medicinal plant and can be used as animal feed. In Korea, it is used to treat fevers and as a tonic for women. Its roots are rich in tannins and are often made into vegetable tanning agents.
In the spring of each year, people gather Potentilla chinensis, remove their impurities, wash them with water, dry them in the sun, cut them into sections, and make them into Chinese herbal medicines.
Potentilla Chinensis contains quercetin, kaempferol, rhamnetin, isorhamnetin, myricetin, a-catechol, gallic acid, azelaic acid, ursolic acid, β-sitosterol, daucosterol, tannins, monoterpenes, triterpenes, vitamin C, protein, fat, and fiber.
According to <Jiuhuang Bencao>, the medicinal nature of Potentilla Chinensis is relatively cold, with a bitter taste. It has a certain therapeutic effect on the pathological changes of the liver and large intestine meridians.
In traditional Chinese medicine, Potentilla Chinensis is used to clear heat and remove toxins, cool blood and stop diarrhea, treat bacterial dysentery, amoebic dysentery, intestinal flagellosis, uterine bleeding, menorrhea, hematuria, hemorrhoids bleeding, and rheumatic arthritis.
Benefits
- Anti-inflammation, anti-virus, and anti-tumor.
- Anti-oxidation, scavenging DPPH free radicals and ABTS free radicals.
- Killing amoeba protozoa and trichomonas vaginalis.
- Expanding the isolated bronchus and exciting the isolated uterus.
- Reducing the damage of CCL4 to liver tissue and protecting the liver.
- Clearing damp-heat in the large intestine and treating dysentery caused by damp-heat or heat toxins.
- Treating dysentery with bloody purulent stool, tenesmus, chronic diarrhea, and abdominal pain with fever.
- Cooling blood and treating hemorrhoid bleeding, uterine bleeding, menorrhea, hematuria, and hematochezia.
- Removing heat toxins, treating furuncles and carbuncles caused by heat toxins.
- Inhibiting Dysentery Bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis.
- The topical application of its powder can treat traumatic bleeding.
- Studies have found that its decoction can inhibit isolated frog and rabbit hearts.
Combinations
- It can be used in combination with Hai Jin Sha (Spora Lygodii), etc. to treat whooping cough.
- It can be used in combination with Huang Bai (Cortex Phellodendri), Bai Tou Weng (Radix Pulsatillae), Ma Chi Xian (Purslane), etc. to treat chronic diarrhea, tenesmus, and abdominal pain with fever.
- It can be used in combination with Guan Zhong (Dryopteris), Bai Mao Gen (Rhizoma Imperatae), Qian Cao (Radix Rubiae), Xiao Ji (Cirsium Setosum), etc. to treat menorrhagia, hematuria, hematochezia, and uterine bleeding.
Side Effects
- At present, there is no literature report that Potentilla Chinensis has toxic effects, and no data is showing that taking it will cause serious adverse reactions.
- Individual patients taking it may cause mild anorexia or nausea.
Precautions and Warnings
- The dosage of Potentilla Chinensis should be controlled at 9-15g.
- It can be made into decoctions, lotions, or mashed for external use.
- People who are allergic to Potentilla Chinensis should not take it.
- It should not be taken with medicines containing gentamicin, ferrous sulfate, or ferrous fumarate.
- Patients with deficiency-cold in the spleen and stomach should not take it.
- Patients with no damp-heat syndromes should not take it.
- Pregnant women should not take it.