Panax notoginseng is a common medicinal flowering plant
I. Source
It is the plant Panax pseudo-ginseng Wall. of the Araliaceae family. Also known as Tianqi and Jinbuhuan. The root and rhizome are used as medicine. It is a precious Chinese medicinal herb with over 400 years of application history. Panax notoginseng was included in the 1990 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. It was first recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica, which states: "The taste is slightly sweet and bitter, quite similar to the taste of ginseng, ... Jinbuhuan, ... whenever there is injury from beating or blood stasis dripping, chew it up immediately and apply it and it stops, and the bruising disperses immediately, ... people in the south and soldiers use it as a key medicine for incised wounds, and it is said to have miraculous effects." The New Compilation of Materia Medica praised its remarkable medicinal effects even more, saying: "The root of Panax notoginseng is a miraculous medicine for stopping bleeding. Regardless of whether the bleeding is from the upper, middle, or lower body, whenever blood escapes externally, using it alone is also effective, and adding it to blood-tonifying and qi-tonifying medicines makes it even more miraculous. This is because this medicine, when combined with tonics, does not cause the trouble of agitation, and tonics, when combined with this medicine, achieve calm and restful effects." The Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica records: "Ginseng is first for tonifying qi, Panax notoginseng is first for tonifying blood; their taste is the same and their effects are also equal, so people together call them ginseng and Panax notoginseng, and they are the most precious among medicines. ... It comes from the border of the Youjiang chieftain territory, ... the local people there sell it into China." This shows that Panax notoginseng is a very precious medicinal herb. The Jade-Pillow Materia Medica records: "It harmonizes the nutritive qi and stops bleeding, unblocks the vessels and moves stasis, moves stasis blood and astringes new blood. For all postpartum, menstrual, traumatic injury, and carbuncle swelling conditions, all stasis blood is broken; for all vomiting blood, epistaxis, uterine bleeding, knife wounds, and arrow wounds, all new blood is stopped." The Illustrated Investigation of Plant Names and Reality records: "These are all cultivated, not wild flowers. ... The chieftains profit from it and also cultivate it diligently." In 1758, the Kaihua Prefecture Gazetteer (Kaihua is the old name for present-day Wenshan) records: "Flowering Panax notoginseng is sold in the market and sells well throughout the country." In the Qing Dynasty, Panax notoginseng not only changed from wild to artificial cultivation, but also became a best-selling commodity on domestic and foreign markets. It is the main ingredient of Yunnan Baiyao, and the flowers and leaves of the same plant can also be used as medicine and drunk as tea. It is mainly produced in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other provinces (autonomous regions), and is also cultivated there. Introduction and cultivation south of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi succeeded.
II. Plant Characteristics
Perennial herbaceous plant. The stem is erect, 30-100 cm tall, with longitudinal stripes or angular ridges. Underground there is a horizontal fleshy rhizome and roots. Three to five palmately compound leaves are whorled at the top of the stem, with 5-7 leaflets, ovate or lanceolate, with serrated leaf margins, and dense fine bristles along the veins. The umbel inflorescence is solitary at the top of the main flower stalk, bearing many small flowers. The drupe is berry-like, nearly kidney-shaped, green when young and red when ripe, with 1-3 seeds.
III. Ecological Characteristics
It prefers warmth and avoids severe cold. Areas with no severe cold in winter, no extreme heat in summer, and small seasonal temperature differences are suitable for cultivation. After freezing, both roots and seeds suffer frost damage and rot. It prefers half shade and half sun. Terrain, aspect, and slope that are suitable, and places with a water source, are suitable; it avoids direct scorching sunlight. In the Yunnan production area, the annual average temperature is 20.1°C, the average maximum temperature is 34°C, the average minimum temperature is 4°C, and an annual average temperature between 15-17°C is suitable, with annual precipitation of 920.9 mm. Throughout the growing season, it requires very high relative air humidity, with 70%-90% being suitable; below 60%-50% causes severe dry-leaf disease (a physiological disease), causing all leaves to dry up and fall off. In the first year, Panax notoginseng can only grow one palmately compound leaf, and in the second year, three.