Cat ginseng

Cat ginseng

(Zhejiang folk herbs)

It is commonly used in Zhejiang Province.

[source] it is the root of Actinidiaceae.

[plant morphology] Kiwifruit

Deciduous woody vines. The root bark is smooth, the surface is dark brown, and the cross section is white. Branches glabrous, with grayish white lenticels, pith white, plump or somewhat flaky. Leaves alternate, broadly ovate to ovate, long elliptic, apex acuminate, base rounded or subcordate, margin with sharp teeth, glabrous or occasionally bristles along main vein. Flowers white, 1-3 axillary; calyx 2-3. Berries oblong, about 4 cm long, 3.3 cm wide, yellow when ripe. The flowering period is June. The fruiting period is October.

It grows in the bush of low mountain or country stream. It is distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.

[collection] collect in summer and autumn, wash, slice and dry.

[function indications] clearing away heat and toxin.

[prescription selection] ① for carbuncle and furuncle: one hundred and twenty-five yuan for fresh kiwi root and three yuan for Lingxiao root, fried in water.

② Treatment of leucorrhea: two liang of Kiwi fresh roots, five yuan of snow in June, one yuan of Guanzhong, one yuan of jindengteng, fried in water. (the main functions are listed in Zhejiang folk herbal medicine)

[clinical application] treatment of leprosy

The patients were treated with three to four taels of maorenshen Decoction once a day for more than four hours, or with phenylpropanesulfone, dapsone, thiosemicarbazide, lephening and hemp pill respectively. Clinical treatment of 65 cases, 21 cases were markedly effective, bacterial negative or average index decreased, most of the lesions subsided, peripheral nerve significantly thinner and softer, most or part of the recovery of perception; effective in 37 cases, bacteria decreased or improved in varying degrees, part of the lesions subsided, peripheral nerve thinner and softer, perception improved in varying degrees; ineffective in 7 cases. Preliminary observation showed that the reduction rate of bacteria in the treatment of tumor type and borderline leprosy with cat ginseng was faster than that with sulfone alone, and the comprehensive treatment was more effective than that with sulfone alone, especially for the patients with long-term leprosy reaction who could not accept sulfone. In terms of symptom changes, the skin lesions of the patients in the reaction stage subsided rapidly, and 90.7% of them made significant progress. The peripheral nerve and sensory changes also improved in varying degrees, which were more significant than those of the patients treated with sulfone alone. However, the curative effect of tuberculous leprosy (especially the patients with stable tuberculous leprosy) was not as good as that of tumor type and borderline type. Therefore, clinical application must pay attention to case selection.