This herb is the rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC., or Atractylodes(DC.) koidz (family Compositae), produced mainly in Jiangsu and Hubei provinces and Inner Mongolia of China.It is dug in spring or autumn and dried.
Action: To remove damp and invigorate the function of the spleen,to disple windcold,and to improve eyesight.for treatment of yeast infection and dries dampness and flatulence; strengthens the digestion; expels wind-dampness; for diarrhea with vomiting; edema with fullness of the abdomen; induces sweating in patients unable to sweat; headaches, body aches, solar plexus pain, and pain in extremities due to wind-cold-dampness, and edema in lower limbs; headache of women due to deficiency, improves night vision and diminishing vision.
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Basic Instruction
Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu) and Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu)...
Botanical Info of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu) and Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
Botanical Info of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu):
Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae:Atractylodes Rhizome(Rhizoma Atractylodis)
English:Swordlike Atractylodes Rhizome,Rhizoma Atractylodis,Atractylodes,Atractylodes Lanceae Rhizoma,Black Atractylodes,Red Atractylodes.
Chinese Name:Cangzhu
Taste: Pungent and bitter
Properties:appetite stimulant, diuretic, diaphoretic, stomachic
Botanical Source: Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC.(Cang Zhu) or Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz.(Bei Cang Zhu)
Plant Part Used: Dry rhizome.Atractylodes Rhizome is the dried rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC.or Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz .(Fam.Compositae).Dug up in spring and autumn with fibrous roots removed.
Botanical Info of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
Botanical name: Atractylodes macrocephala.
Pharmaceutical name: Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae.
Chinese Name:Bai Zhu.
Properties: bitter, sweet, warm. Channels entered: Spleen, Stomach
Botanical Source: Atractylodes refers mainly to Atractylodes macrocephala (macro = big; cephala = head; so, big-headed atractylodes) known in Chinese as baizhu.
Note:cang means gray or black, but the character has changed over time and originally meant red; the interior of the rhizome, the part used, has a reddish color; zhu is the general term for this type of plant, a species of Atractylodes. The material is distinguished from Bai Zhu, Atractylodes macrocephalla, where bai means white and refers to the white color of the rhizome; both herbs transform damp, but Bai Zhu is also a qi tonic)
This herb is the rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC., or Atractylodes(DC.) koidz (family Compositae), produced mainly in Jiangsu and Hubei provinces and Inner Mongolia of China.It is dug in spring or autumn and dried. The herb is sliced after being soaked with water. The herb slices are stir-baked to yellowish color, together with water in which rice has been washed.
Atractylodes refers mainly to Atractylodes macrocephala (macro = big; cephala = head; so, big-headed atractylodes) known in Chinese as baizhu. Less frequently used is Atractylodes lancea (lancea = lance-like, so lance-leaved atractylodes) or its less-desirable (somewhat weaker) substitutes, such as A. chinensis, A. japonicum, and A. ovata, known in Chinese as cangzhu (see plant photos below). The basic term zhu was the only one used when atractylodes was first recorded in the ancient Shennong Bencao Jing (ca. 100 A.D.); the division between these two related herb materials first occurred in the Mingyi Bielu (ca. 500 A.D.). At that time, the tuber-like rhizomes of these plants were specified as either baizhu (bai = white) and chizhu (chi = red), referring to the color observed in the sliced rhizomes, the red being due to spots of accumulated oils. Later, chizhu was renamed cangzhu (cang = gray or black), which refers to the appearance of the outer skin of the rhizome, a dark gray-black color.
As natural medicines are the best ones for mankind and the use of plant drugs for curing diseases is still the common practice in many developing countries, especially in rural areas, many common, widely-used and traditional medicinal plants are under severe threat and are becoming almost extinct in the areas where people have been collecting them. This situation will lead to the sources of many medicinal plants being exhausted in near future. Atractylodes lancea is one such plant.
Properties of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu):
Bitter and pungent in flavour, warm in nature, it acts on the spleen and stomach channels. The pungent flavour is dispelling, the dry property is dampness removing and the warm property dispels the cold. So, this herb possesses the functions of expelling the wind-cold from the superficial parts of the body, as well as the cold-dampness and excessive fluid in spleen and stomach. It is therefore indicated for the diseases caused by dampness no matter it is in the exterior or the interior of the body.
Flavour and channel tropism: pungent and bitter in flavour, warm in property, acting on the spleen and stomach channels.
Strong drying damp function, harmonizes middle burner.
Expel wind-damp-cold (bi-syndrome).
Clears damp heat from lower burner.
Induces sweating, Release exterior.
The investigation of the aromatic oils is a key to understanding the atractylodes herbal materials, particularly cangzhu. Atractylodes lancea is rich in a volatile oil, making up 3.5-7% of the dried rhizome, with atractylodin, beta-eudesmol, hinesol, elemol, atractylone, and beta-selinene; A. chinensis and other substitute species have less essential oil. The main constituents in the essential oils from the rhizome of A. chinensis are ¦Â-eudesmol and atractylone; A. lancea also has hinesol as a major constituent. ¦Â-eudesmol is a major component of the essential oil of magnolia bark, an herb in the same Materia Medica category as cangzhu. The fraction comprising the combination of hinesol and eudesmol in A. lancea is called atractylol, and this is the reddish substance appearing on the surface of the sliced rhizome, giving the name red atractylodes.
Atractylodes macrocephala (baizhu) has less essential oil than the cangzhu varieties, with only 0.35-1.35% and with atractylone as the main component, along with smaller amounts of other lactones having similar structure. The differences in chemical composition help confirm that the two herbs (cangzhu and baizhu) may have differing properties, further justifying their separation in the Materia Medica.
Since white atractylodes has little essential oil, and even less of it after being fried (the heat drives off or destroys volatile components), other active ingredients may be present to explain its functions. A component called atractylenolide (a group of sesquiterpene lactones; three noted thus far) is found in baizhu; this component increases with frying of the herb (highest in lightly fried herb, which has turned yellowish, not brown). In terms of the atractylodes effects, it is thought that these components may serve as antispasmodic agents, thus reducing intestinal contractions associated with diarrhea. Diuretic action, measured in laboratory animal experiments, has been attributed to both volatile and non-volatile compounds of atractylodes, including ?-eudesmol, sesquiterpene lactones, and polyacetylenes.
Atractylodes lancea Thunb contains 5~9% of essential oil. The main ingredients of the oil consist of atractylo, hinesol), beta-eudesmol etc.
Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz. contains 1.5% of essential oil. The main ingredients of the oil consist of atractylol, atractylone, hinesol, beta-eudesmol etc.
Atractylodes japonica Koidz. Kitam contains 1.5% of essential oil. The main ingredients of the oil consist of atractylol, atractylone, hinesol, beta-eudesmol, atractylodin, atraetylin, atractylone etc.
Phytochemicals of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
Effects of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu) and Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
Effects of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu):
Drying dampness, strengthening the spleen, dispelling wind and removing dampness, diminishing cataract and improving acuity of vision.
Eliminating dampness, strengthening the spleen, dispelling wind and cold, relieving exterior syndrome.
Both baizhu and cangzhu strengthen the spleen and eliminate dampness. The former is sweet, bitter, and mild, and acts mainly to nourish the spleen and check perspiration; the latter is acrid, bitter, dry, and strong and acts mainly to dry dampness and induce perspiration. Therefore, baizhu is often used for spleen deficiency or deficiency of the defensive qi with spontaneous sweating, while cangzhu is usually applied for excess syndromes with dampness retained in the middle burner or exterior syndromes complicated by dampness.
Raw, baizhu is the strongest of the products [preparations of baizhu] to tonify the spleen qi and it treats reduced appetite, indigestion, tiredness, and a wan complexion. When baizhu is dry-fried, its action in drying dampness is increased. It is especially effective for treating distention in the abdomen, loose stools, and diarrhea. When the color of the herb turns to deep brown after dry frying [for a longer period], it is then called roasted baizhu. This enters the stomach meridian particularly and has the strongest effect [of the baizhu preparations] in strengthening the receiving, ripening, and transporting functions of the stomach. It is very useful for treating a poor appetite, nausea, fullness in the stomach, and belching.
Classical Note:
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing: "The flavor is bitter and mild. It disperses aches in the joints arising from damp and cold, revives dead muscles, relieves convulsive diseases, expels deep-rooted carbuncles; counters sweating; disperses fevers and relieves dyspepsia."
Interpretation of the Properties of Medicines: "The flavour of Swordlike Atractylodes root is sweet and pungent, and its property is warm and not poisonous. It acts particularly on the spleen and stomach channels, easing the stomach and strengthening the function of the spleen; soothes chest disorders and disperses stagnant energy by inducing perspiration; counters miasma-borne ailments and malaria."
Effects of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
Tonifies the Spleen and benefits the Qi: used for Spleen or Stomach Deficiency patterns with such symptoms as diarrhea, fatigue. lack of appetite, and vomiting.
Strengthens the Spleen and dries Dampness: used for digestive dysfunctions from the Spleen Yang failing to rise, with loss of its transforming ability and subsequent accumulation of Dampness. It is also used for edema and decreased urination in Deficient Spleen patterns. In addition, it is an auxiliary herb for Damp Painful Obstruction.
Stabilizes the Exterior and stops sweating: used for spontaneous sweating from Deficient Qi.
Applications of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu):
1. Disturbance of the middle-jiao due to the accumulation of dampness with manifes-tations of epigastric distress, abdominal distension, anorexia, nausea and vomiting, lassitude, turbid and greasy tongue coating, etc. This herb is one of the most important herbs for eliminating dampness and strengthening the spleen. It is often used with magnolia bark and tangerine peel, as in Peptid Posere (Pingwei San).
2. For wind-cold-damp arthralgia-syndrome with pain in the joints and extremities, it is often used with notopterygium root and cinnamon twig. Besides the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, this herb can also induce diaphoresis, so it is also used for exterior syndrome due to affection by exopathogens marked by headache and anhidrosis and aches in the extremities, in combination with notopterygium root and ledebouriella root; for swelling pain in the knees and feet due to the downward flow of damp-heat, it is often used with phellodendron bark and achyranthes root in powder form called Powder of Three Wonderful Herbs(Sanmiao San).
3. Eye problems such as external orinternal oculopathy, optic atrophy, night blindness, etc. It can be used alone or together with black sesame seed and pig's liver, as in Atractylodes Pill (Cangzhu Wan).
Action: To remove damp and invigorate the function of the spleen,to disple windcold,and to improve eyesight.for treatment of yeast infection and dries dampness and flatulence; strengthens the digestion; expels wind-dampness; for diarrhea with vomiting; edema with fullness of the abdomen; induces sweating in patients unable to sweat; headaches, body aches, solar plexus pain, and pain in extremities due to wind-cold-dampness, and edema in lower limbs; headache of women due to deficiency, improves night vision and diminishing vision.
Simmering cang zhu in water to release fragrance can help in getting rid of fungi and bacteria.
Indications and Pharmacology:Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu).
For the syndromes of dampness retention in the middle-jiao, poor appetite and loose stool, oppressive chest, mass in the abdome, and white and greasy tongue coating: it is often used in combination with the drugs for removing dampness, promoting Qi circulation and relieving abdominal distention, such as tangerine peel and magnolia bark, known as Ping Wei San (Peptide Posere).
For arthralgia due to wind-cold and dampness: it is often used in combination with ledebouriella root, notopterygium root and clematis root. In cases of arthralgia caused by damp-heat, it is often used in combination with the medicines for clearing heat and dampness, such as phellodendron bark, coix seed, etc. For treating affection by exopathogens marked by aversion to cold and fever, it is used in combination with ledebouriella root, dahurian angelica root and Chuanxiong rhizome to dispel wind, cold and dampness and alleviate pain. In addition, it is tenebit to vision and to used for night blindness.
The prepared atractylodes rhizome is often used for removing dampness and strengthening the spleen: and the unprepared for dispelling wind to relieve exterior syndrome. Epigastric distension and diasrrhea; edema, particularly edema of the legs with lameness; rheumatic arthralgia; common cold; night blindess
Analgesic effects: Body torsion and heat-induced pain tests show that Cang Zhu has a significant analgesic effect.
Anti-arrhythmic effects: N-butyl alcohol-based extract of Guan Cang Zhu can significantly raise the effective dosage of aconitine for inducing ventricular arrhythmia in rats. Experiments on barium chloride-induced bi-directional ventricular arrhythmia show that the extract can significantly reduce the number of rats suffering from the modeled arrhythmia, postpone the occurrence of arrythmia, and shorten its duration.
Anti-diarrhea effects: Cang Zhu can inhibit both small intestinal and large intestinal diarrhea induced by castor oil or senna leaf. It can also inhibit the propulsive movement of India ink in the gastrointestinal tract.
Anti-anoxia effects: Experiments show that acetone-based extract of Cang Zhu can prolong mice's survival time from KCN-induced anoxia. Further research finds that (-eudesmol, an active component of Cang Zhu, is responsible for its anti-anoxia effect.
Anti-inflammatory effects: Cang Zhu can counteract xylene-induced auricular swelling, carrageenin-induced foot swelling, and acetic acid-induced increase in abdominal capillary permeability.
Anti-thrombotic and anticoagulant effects: Duodenum administration of 70% alcohol-based extract of Bei Cang Zhu at 3g/kg and 10g/kg can prolong the coagulation time and kaolin partial thromboplastin time in rats.
Anti-ulcer effect: the beta-eudesmol of cang zhu can inhibit the secretion of stomach acid and can inhibit ulcer.
Diuretic effect: The diuretic effect is not obvious but it can increase the secretion ions of sodium, potassium and chlorine in the urine.
Effects on Bacillus dysenteriae F13: In-vitro tests on Cang Zhu's effect of eliminating the drug-resistant plasmids of Bacillus dysenteriae F13 show that it has a 0.8% elimination rate against TC+SM+AP-resistant plasmids and one of 46% against SM-resistant plasmids.
Effect on blood sugar: alcohol extract of cang zhu can maintain the lowering of blood sugar of regular rabbits
Effect on the inhibiting of CNS: the mixture of the essential oils of beta-eudesmol, and hinesol possesses the effect of sedative on laboratory mice and it can prolong the sleep using hexobarbital sodium and it can inhibit spasm caused by electric shock. It also can help the delivery of carbon dust in the small intestines.
Effects on smooth muscles: Cang Zhu decoction can increase the tension of rats' stomach smooth muscle strips (isolated from both the fundus and the body of the stomach). This effect of Cang Zhu appears to be dose-dependent, and to varying degrees, can be blocked by atropine, hexamethonium, and isoptin.
Effects of promoting stomach functions: Rats of modeled dampness have the following symptoms: lethargy, lack of appetite, loose stool, loss of weight, decrease in serum gastrin, and slugish gastrointestinal propulsive movement, etc. After being treated with Cang Zhu and 7 other dampness-removing aromatic herbs for 5 consecutive days, they show varying degrees of improvement in the physical signs. Further tests show that the gastrin level is raised, the gastrointestinal propulsive movement quickened, and the activity of gastric mucosal SOD heightened.A related study shows that at 3g/kg and 10g/kg, duodenum administration of 70% alcohol-based extract of Cang Zhu at 3g/kg and 10g/kg promotes bile secretion in rats.
Effects on diarrhea due to spleen deficiency: Administered to mice with senna leaf-induced spleen deficiency, Cang Zhu can increase the body weight, inhibit the propulsive movement of the small intestine, increase the content of Zn and Fe, and decrease that of Cu in the serum. It can also counteract hydrochloric acid-induced gastritis and inhibit pyloric ligation-induced gastric ulcers in rats, increase the pH value of the gastric fluids, and inhibit the activity of pepsin.
Preventing ulcers: N-butyl alcohol-based extract of Cang Zhu can significantly counteract gastric ulcers induced by acetic acid, ligation of pylorus, alcohol, and indomethacin. This effect of Cang Zhu does not extend to stress and reserpine-induced gastric ulcers, however. At 0.18g/kg, the extract can also significantly increase the prostaglandin E2 level (P<0.05), and lower the total acidity (P<0.01), free acidity (P<0.05), and papsase activity (P<0.05) in the gastric fluids.(2) At 5g/kg and 15g/kg, 75% alcohol-based extract of Bei Cang Zhu can inhibit the formation of gastric ulcers induced by water-immersion stress, hydrochloric acid, or indomecin-alcohol.
Indications and Pharmacology:Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu).
Urinary effect: in many animal experiments Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu) has demonstrated a significant and prolonged diuretic eitect. When it was given by gastric lavage in doses of 1-3 g/kg, there was a two to sixfold increase in urinary output that was usually sustained for six to seven hours. The excretion of sodium is even greater than that of water. This herb does not seem to affect the function of ADH. The reports of the few experiments testing the diuretic effect of this herb in humans have been equivocal.
Endocrine effect: in many experiments on animals, Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu) increases the assimilation of glucose and lowers plasma glucose levels.
Hematologic effect: gastric lavage with decoctions of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu) mildly elevated the prothrombin times in rats. When healthy volunteers took a tablespoon of a 1:20 solution of the decoction of this herb three times a day for four days, there was a significant prolongation of the prothrombin time. This did not return to normal until 10 days after administration was stopped. Alcohol-extracted preparations had a weaker effect.
Effect on endurance: when mice were given decoctions of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu) orally in doses of 6 g/kg for a month there was an increase in weight and endurance (as measured by the swimming test).
Dosage and Administration:
Dosage: 3-9g.decocted in water for an oral dose.
Contraindicgations: interior heat syndromes due to yin-deficiency, and hyperhidrosis due to qi-deficiency.
Toxicity of Swordlike Atractylodes Rhizome (Cang Zhu):
Smoking mice and rats with an incense made from Cang Zhu and argyi leaves for 0.5-2 hours does not lead to abnormal outward appearances or pathologic changes. No adverse effects are experienced by any of 4000+ healthy people who have slept for 30 consecutive days in rooms where a coil of incense made from Cang Zhu and argyi leaves is burned throughout the night.
Toxicity of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu):
The LD50 for peritoneal injection of Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu) is 13.3 g/kg. When rats were fed decoctions of the herb in doses of 0.5 g/kg for one to two months, no toxic symptoms developed. However, a mild lymphopenia and anemia did develop without any signs of damage to the brain, heart, or liver."
Scientific References:
1.Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu) and Rhizoma Atractylodes Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu)
Claims & Warning:
Claims: Information this web site presented is meant for Nutritional Benefit and as an educational starting point only, for use in maintenance and promotion good health in cooperation with a common knowledge base reference...Furthermore,it based solely on the traditional and historic use or legend of a given herb from the garden of Adonis. Although every effort has been made to ensure its accurate, please note that some info may be outdated by more recent scientific developments......
Pharmakon Warning: The order of knowledge is not the transparent order of forms and ideas,as one might be tempted retrospectively to interpret it; it is the antidote....(Dissemination,Plato's Pharmacy,II.The Ingredients:Phantasms,Festivals,and Paints;138cf. Jacques Derrida.).
And as it happens,the technique of imitation,along with the production of the simulacrum,has always been in Plato's eyes manifestly magical,thaumaturgical:......and the same things appear bent and straight to those who view them in water and out,or concave and convex,owing to similar errors of vision about colors, and there is obviously every confusion of this sort in our souls.And so scene painting (skiagraphia) in its exploitation of this weakness of four nature falls nothing short of witchcraft (thaumatopoia), and so do jugglery and many other such contrivances.(Republic X,602c-d;cf.also 607c).
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seminal trace...Atractylodes Rhizome.5:1 Extract.Swordlike Atractylodes Rhizome.Atractylodes lancea Thunb. DC. or Atractylodes chinensis DC.Koidz.Swordlike Atractylodes Rhizome, Rhizoma Atractylodis,Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae,Atractylodes Rhizome,Rhizoma Atractylodis....
Botanical Info of Atractylodes lancea Rhizome(Cang Zhu):
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing: "The flavor is bitter and mild. It disperses aches in the joints arising from damp and cold, revives dead muscles, relieves convulsive diseases, expels deep-rooted carbuncles; counters sweating; disperses fevers and relieves dyspepsia."
Scientific References:
Claims & Warning:
