Herbal Textual Research on Traditional Chinese Medicines of Doukou in Famous Classical Formulas / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Chinese medicines of Doukou includes Amomi Fructus Rotundus， Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen， Galangae Fructus and Myristicae Semen. They have a long medicinal history and are also commonly used in cooking and seasoning. Due to the similar names and limited to the traffic conditions in ancient times， the records of Doukou in ancient literature are often confused with many plants in the same family， and there are still many kinds of confused products. In order to promote the development of famous classical formulas containing the medicinal materials， the ancient literature of Doukou in the past dynasties was comprehensively combed from the aspects of name， origin， genuine area， medicinal parts， harvesting and processing and processing methods. It has been found that the basic original plants of Amomi Fructus Rotundus are Amomum kravanh and A. compactum， the original plant of Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen is Alpinia katsumadai and it often confused with Tsaoko Fructus. The main source of Galangae Fructus recorded in the ancient materia medica is the fruit of A. officinarum， while the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that the original plant is A. galanga. Myristica fragrans is the original plant of Myristicae Semen. It was found that except M. fragrans， the other three kinds of medicinal origin of Doukou had changed， there are many other plants confused with each other. The four kinds of Doukou are produced in Southeast China and Southeast Asia， and most of Amomi Fructus Rotundus and Myristicae Semen are imported. The Chinese medicines of Doukou have clear medicinal parts and simple processing methods， the main methods in the past dynasties are cleaning， stir frying and simmering， and the processed products are selected according to the needs of different diseases. It is suggested to use the dry mature seeds of A. katsumadai in Houpo Wenzhongtang， which is from Guangxi， Guangdong， Hainan， Fujian and Yunnan and so on， among which Wanning in Hainan province is genuine producing area. The fruits should be harvested in summer and autumn， and dried to 90% dry in the sun， or slightly scalded with water and dried to half dry in the sun， and removed the peel， taken out the seed group， dried in the sun and then be used as medicine.