Potentilla anserina

Potentilla anserina

(commonly used Chinese herbal medicine in Tibet)

[synonyms] ginseng fruit (commonly used Chinese herbal medicine in Tibet), lotus flower (Atlas of Chinese higher plants), and zhoma (Tibetan name).

[source] it is the root tuber of Potentilla anserina.

[plant morphology] Potentilla anserina

Perennial herbs, 10-25 cm high. The roots are cylindrical, with many slender fibrous roots, some of which are locally expanded and round, fleshy. Stolon slender, rooting on nodes, covered with sparse hairs. The basal leaves are pinnate compound leaves, 3-12 pairs of leaflets, ovate oblong or elliptic, 1-3cm long and 0.6-1.5cm wide, with blunt apex, deep serrated edge and dense white woolly hair below; there are very small leaflets between leaflets; the petiole is long and white hair; stipules are membranous; stem leaves have a few leaflets. Flowers solitary in leaf axils of stolon, yellow, petals longer than sepals. Achenes ovate, pitted, abaxially grooved.

Born in roadsides, ditches, wet fields. It is distributed in Northeast, North China, northwest and southwest.

[collection] from June to September.

[chemical composition] the content of moisture, ash, reducing sugar, sucrose, amylum, pentosan, protein, tannin, crude fiber and Potentilla glycoside in air dried crude drug was 8.77%, 3.09%, 2.79%, 1.20%, 3.30%, 8.34%, 6.19%, 10.76%, 15.42% and 0.120% respectively. The fatty acid fraction contains arachidonic acid, tetradecanoic acid, kojic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid; the unsaponifiable fraction contains sterol, wax alcohol and octadecane. Except tannins, Potentilla glycosides and flavonoids, there are no alkaloids and saponins. The content of ammonia, choline, betaine and histidine in the whole plant is high.

The leaves contain myricetin, delphinidin, (-) - epicatechin and d-catechin.

[pharmacological action] it contains two components of contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle, but its effect is very weak. The relaxant or antispasmodic components are glycosides or salts containing NH4 +. Choline is the component that enhances the peristalsis or tension of smooth muscle (rat uterus and guinea pig intestine). It has been reported that it has a good effect on irregular menstruation, but it has no antispasmodic effect on uterus. The infusion can cause cardiac arrest by injecting into jugular vein of guinea pig. It has synergistic effect with digitalis, so it may have cardiotonic component.

[nature and taste] common Chinese herbal medicine in Tibet: "Gan, Ping. "

[functions and indications] common Chinese herbal medicine in Tibet: "invigorate the spleen and stomach, generate fluid and quench thirst, replenish qi and blood, treat diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, anemia after illness and malnutrition. "

[usage and dosage] oral administration: decoction, 0.5-1 Liang.