Ramie root

Radix boehmeriae

Ramie root

[alias] home ramie, wild ramie, white ramie, garden ramie and green ramie.

[source] it is the root of boehmerianivea (L.) Gaud.

[plant morphology] perennial herb or subshrub, 1-2m high. The root is irregularly cylindrical, slightly curved. Stem erect, branched, green, with short or long hairs. The leaves are alternate, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 5-16cm long and 3.5-14cm wide, apex caudal, base broadly cuneate or rounded, margin coarsely toothed, upper surface rough, and lower surface densely covered with white woolly hairs. The flowers are monoecious, and the inflorescence is conical; the male inflorescence is under the female inflorescence, and the male inflorescence has 4 perianth segments, and the male inflorescence has 4 pistillodes; the female inflorescence is clustered or spherical, perianth tubular, 4-toothed, ovary 1-locular, containing 1 ovule. Achene elliptic, hairy, perianth persistent, apex with persistent stigma, filiform. The flowering period is from May to August and the fruiting period is from August to October.

Growing in wasteland, hillside or cultivated land. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.

[harvesting] in winter and spring, it is dug, washed and dried.

[character] the root is irregular cylindrical, slightly curved, 4-30cm long and 0.4-5cm in diameter. The surface is gray brown with dense verrucous processes and transverse lenticels. The skin is brown and easy to peel off, and the wood is yellowish white. The material is hard and the section is powdery. It's light and sticky.

[chemical constituents] emodin and emodin-8-beta-glucoside were found in roots.

Cold in nature and sweet in taste.

[indications] heat clearing, diuresis, abortion, hemostasis, detoxification. It is used for cold fever, measles fever, urinary tract infection, nephritis edema, abdominal pain of pregnant women, fetal restlessness, threatened abortion, traumatic injury, fracture, sore swelling, bleeding diseases.