Herbal Textual Research on Astragali Radix in Famous Classical Formulas / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Through consulting the ancient herbal medicine， prescription books and medical books， combined with modern relevant literature， standards and other information， this paper made a textual research on the name， origin， producing areas， harvesting and processing methods of Astragali Radix according to different historical development periods， providing a basis for the development of famous classical formulas containing Astragali Radix. According to the textual research， the original name of Astragali Radix is Huangqi， and "Qi" originally refers to the medicinal material Zhimu. Some people began to mistake it for Huangqi in the Ming dynasty， and then gradually used Astragali Radix as a medicinal material. The mainstream basis of Astragali Radix can be determined as the dried roots of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus or A. membranaceus. In different historical periods， A. floridus， A. chrysopterus， A. emestii and other plants of Astragalus or even non-Astragalus were used as local Astragali Radix. The earliest production areas of Astragali Radix were Sichuan， Shaanxi， and Gansu， and then gradually expanded to the northeast. Since the Song dynasty， Mianqi in Shanxi province has been regarded as the genuine variety. In the Qing dynasty， besides Shanxi province， Inner Mongolia was also regarded as a genuine place. In the Republic of China， Huangqi produced in northeast China was praised highly. It is mainly produced in Shanxi， Inner Mongolia， Gansu， northeast and other provinces. The main commodity is cultivated products， and the quality of wild imitation cultivation in Datong and Xinzhou is better than other places. There are many processing methods of Huangqi recorded in the materia medica and prescription books， most of which are raw products， and honey processing is the mainstream of processed products. Based on the current situation of resource cultivation and production， 11 famous classical formulas in The Catalogue of Ancient Famous Classical Formulas （The First Batch） containing Huangqi suggested that all use A. membranaceus var. mongholicus， especially those from Datong and Xinzhou in Shanxi Province. In addition to honey processing of Qingxin Lianziyin， it is suggested to use raw products for other formulas.