What is the difference between Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendron Bark? A detailed guide to identifying traditional Chinese medicines
Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendron Bark are both traditional Chinese medicines, but they are two different traditional Chinese medicines. In traditional Chinese medicine, the two are often combined to treat certain diseases, and many people cannot tell them apart. So, what are the differences between Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendron Bark? Here is an introduction for everyone.
1. What is Anemarrhenae Rhizoma?
1. Anemarrhenae Rhizoma, also called Chimu, Lianmu, Yeliao, Dishen and Maozhimu, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Anemarrhena in the family Liliaceae, tribe Anthericeae; the rhizome is 0.5-1.5 cm thick, the leaves are slender and lanceolate, the flowers are pink, light purple to white, and the capsule is narrowly elliptical and contains many black seeds.
2. Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is cultivated in various places in China, with the main producing area in Hebei. It grows on hillsides, grasslands or roadsides below 1450 m above sea level in relatively dry or sunny places. Its dried rhizome is a famous traditional Chinese medicine. It is bitter and cold in nature, and has the effects of nourishing yin and reducing fire, moistening dryness and lubricating the intestines, and promoting urination and defecation.
3. Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is a heat-clearing and fire-purging medicine. It mainly treats warm-heat disease, high fever with vexation and thirst, cough and asthma, dry cough, constipation, steaming bone tidal fever, restlessness and insomnia due to deficiency, and wasting-thirst with strangury and turbidity; because it is cold in nature and moist in quality, it has an intestine-lubricating effect, so those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach and loose stools should not take it.
2. What is Phellodendron Bark?
1. Phellodendron Bark, also called Chuanhuangbai, is the dried bark of the tree plant Phellodendron chinense of the genus Phellodendron in the family Rutaceae. It is in plate-like or shallow trough-like pieces, the outer surface is yellowish brown or yellow-brown, flat or with longitudinal groove lines, the inner surface is dark yellow or light brown with fine dense longitudinal ridge lines, and the fracture is fibrous and deep yellow.
2. Phellodendron Bark is mainly produced in Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Yunnan and other places. Its dried bark is a traditional Chinese medicine, with a slight odor, cold in nature, extremely bitter in taste, and sticky when chewed. It has the effects of clearing heat and drying dampness, purging fire and eliminating steaming, and detoxifying and healing sores.
3. Anemarrhenae Rhizoma can be used to treat damp-heat diarrhea and dysentery, jaundice with dark urine, vaginal discharge and genital itching, painful and rough heat strangury, beriberi with flaccidity and weakness, steaming bone consumptive fever, night sweats, spermatorrhea, sores and swellings with toxin, and eczema and damp sores; because it is bitter and cold and injures the stomach, those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach should not use it.
3. Differences between the traditional Chinese medicines Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendron Bark
Difference 1: different families and genera: Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is a perennial herbaceous plant of the kingdom Plantae, phylum Angiospermae, class Monocotyledoneae, order Liliales, family Liliaceae, genus Anemarrhena; Phellodendron Bark is the dried bark of the tree plant Phellodendron chinense of the kingdom Plantae, class Angiospermae, order Sapindales, family Rutaceae, genus Phellodendron.
Difference 2: different appearance: Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is a rhizome, with slender lanceolate leaves and pink, light purple to white flowers; Phellodendron Bark is the dried bark of Phellodendron chinense, in plate-like or shallow trough-like pieces, with the outer surface yellowish brown or yellow-brown, the inner surface dark yellow or light brown, and the fracture deep yellow.
Difference 3: different harvest times: Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is dug in spring and autumn, the fibrous roots and sand and mud are removed, and it is sun-dried, or the outer skin is removed and it is sun-dried, sliced for medicinal use, and used raw or stir-fried with salt water; Phellodendron Bark is harvested in July, impurities are removed, clear water is sprayed on it, it is moistened thoroughly, cut into shreds, dried, and used externally.
Difference 4: different effects: Anemarrhenae Rhizoma is cold in nature and bitter in taste, and has the effects of nourishing yin and reducing fire, moistening dryness and lubricating the intestines, and promoting urination and defecation, but it is cold in nature and moist in quality and has an intestine-lubricating effect, so those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach and loose stools should not take it; Phellodendron Bark is cold in nature and bitter in taste, and has the effects of clearing heat and drying dampness, purging fire and eliminating steaming, and detoxifying and healing sores, but it is bitter and cold and injures the stomach, so those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach should not use it.
The above is an introduction to the differences between Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendron Bark. We hope it is useful to everyone.