This product is the root of the Umbelliferae plant Peucedanum praeruptorum (Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn.) or Angelica decursiva (Angelica decursiva (Miq.) Franch. & Sav.). Peucedanum praeruptorum grows wild in grassy areas on sunny slopes. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Hunan, and Sichuan, and is also produced in Guangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, and Jiangxi. Angelica decursiva grows wild on slopes, roadsides, or under forests. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, and is also produced in Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and other regions. The roots are harvested in autumn and winter when the above-ground parts wither. The main roots are dug up, and the stems, leaves, fibrous roots, and soil are removed, then dried in the sun or on a heated surface.

In addition to the two species mentioned above, the root of the related plant Saposhnikovia Root is also used as Peucedanum in Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Guangxi, and other regions, and is commercially referred to as "hard-stemmed Peucedanum."

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

White Peucedanum, also known as Cloud Peucedanum or Xin Peucedanum. The main root varies in shape, being conical, cylindrical, or spindle-shaped, slightly curved, sometimes with branch roots, but the root tip and branch roots are mostly removed, measuring 3-9 cm in length and 1-1.5 cm in diameter. The surface is dark brown or grayish-yellow. The root head has stem scars and residual coarse hairs (leaf sheaths). The upper part of the root is densely covered with ring patterns, mostly blackened, while the lower part has longitudinal grooves and wrinkles, along with transverse lenticels and fibrous root scars. The texture is relatively soft and easy to break; the cross-section is loose; the bark occupies the main part of the root, with a milky white periphery and a yellowish-brown inner layer, the central xylem is narrow, with light yellowish-white Chrysanthemum Flower patterns; scattered golden spots are numerous. It has a fragrant aroma, with a sweet taste followed by bitterness. Those with neat strips, long body, yellowish-white cross-section, and strong aroma are considered the best.

Purple Peucedanum has a main root that branches or has lateral roots. The main root is cylindrical, 8-15 cm long, 0.8-1.7 cm in diameter, with stem scars and residual coarse hairs (leaf sheaths) at the root head; there are several lateral roots, 7-30 cm long, 2-4 mm in diameter, thin and cylindrical. The surface of the root is dark brown or grayish-yellow, with fine longitudinal wrinkles and grayish-white transverse lenticels. The main root is solid and not easy to break, with an uneven cross-section, the bark and wood are easily separated, the bark is relatively narrow, light brown, scattered with yellow oil spots, more near the cambium; the central xylem is yellowish-white, occupying the majority of the root; the branch roots are brittle and soft, easy to break, with nearly white wood. It has a fragrant aroma, with a mild taste followed by bitter and pungent.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter and acrid, cool.

1. Leigong Paozhi Lun: "sweet and slightly bitter."
2. Bielu: "bitter, slightly cold, nontoxic."
3. Yaoxing Lun: "sweet and acrid."
4. Diannan Bencao: "cold, bitter and acrid."
5. Gangmu: "sweet and acrid, slightly neutral. Act on lung and spleen meridians.
   1. Gangmu: "act on hand/foot taiyin and yangming meridians."
   2. Leigong Paozhi Yaoxing Jie: "act on lung, liver, spleen and bladder meridians."
   3. Bencao Jingshu: "act on hand taiyin and shaoyang meridians."

   bubble_chart Efficacy

   Disperse wind-heat, lower qi, and dissipate phlegm.

   bubble_chart Indications

   Treating wind-heat headache, phlegm-heat cough and panting, vomiting and nausea, and chest and diaphragm fullness.

   1. Bielu: "Mainly treats phlegm fullness in the chest and hypochondrium, stuffiness, binding qi in the heart and abdomen, wind headache, removes phlegm, and lowers qi. Treats cold-damage disease with chills and fever, eliminates the old to bring in the new, and improves vision and benefits essence."
   2. Yaoxing Lun: "Removes heat and fullness, lowers qi, mainly treats seasonal epidemic with internal and external heat, best taken as a single decoction."
   3. Rihuazi Bencao: "Treats all types of fatigue, lowers all types of qi, stops cough, breaks up masses, opens the stomach and promotes digestion, unblocks the five zang-organs, mainly treats cholera spasm, restless joints, nausea, vomiting, panting, calms the fetus, and treats all types of mild infantile malnutrition in children."
   4. Diannan Bencao: "Disperses common cold and cold-damage disease, a key medicine for inducing sweating, stops cough, regulates liver qi, improves vision and clears nebula, expels phlegm from inside and outside."
   5. Gangmu: "Clears lung heat, resolves phlegm heat, and disperses wind evil."

   bubble_chart Documentation

   1. Gangmu: "Peucedanum is a medicine for the Taiyin and Yangming meridians of the hands and feet, and it is different from Bupleurum, which is purely yang and ascends, entering the Shaoyang and Jueyin meridians. Its efficacy is particularly strong in lowering qi, thus it can treat diseases such as phlegm-heat asthma, cough, stuffiness, diaphragm, and vomiting. When qi descends, fire also descends, and phlegm descends as well, hence it has the effect of removing the old to bring forth the new, making it an essential medicine for phlegm and qi. Tao Hong-jing's statement that it has the same efficacy as Bupleurum is incorrect; although the conditions they treat may be similar, the meridians they enter and the conditions they primarily treat are different."
   2. Bencao Huiyan: "Peucedanum is a medicine that disperses wind-cold, clears exterior pathogens, warms lung qi, and disperses phlegm and cough. For conditions such as common cold with symptoms of cough, phlegm, asthma, heavy voice, and strong qi, this indicates that the pathogen is in the lung meridian; for cold-damage disease with symptoms of headache, aversion to cold, fever, and bone pain, this indicates that the pathogen is in the bladder meridian; for chest and hypochondrium stuffiness and fullness, and qi stagnation, this indicates that the pathogen is in the middle diaphragm area. Additionally, for pregnancy fever, poor appetite; childhood fever, rash not yet formed; adult phlegm-heat, rebellious qi obstruction, this indicates that pathogenic qi is congested and blocked in the striae and interstice, and Peucedanum can treat all these conditions. Luo Yijing said: Peucedanum removes cold phlegm, Pinellia removes damp phlegm, Arisaema removes wind phlegm, Immature Orange Fruit removes solid phlegm, Trichosanthes seed treats dry phlegm, Fritillaria Bulb and Ophiopogon Tuber treat deficient phlegm, Coptis Rhizome and Snakegourd Root treat heat phlegm, each has its own distinction."
   3. Bencao Tongxuan: "Peucedanum is a medicine for the lung and liver. It disperses wind and drives out heat, disperses phlegm and lowers qi, opens the stomach and transforms food, stops vomiting and stabilizes asthma, eliminates cough and calms the fetus, stops children's night crying. Bupleurum and Peucedanum are both wind medicines, but Bupleurum primarily ascends, while Peucedanum primarily descends, which is the difference. Various efficacies are all due to the effect of searching for wind and lowering qi, and for those suffering from wind phlegm in the liver and gallbladder meridians, there is no better treatment than this. It is contraindicated with fire."

   bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

   For internal use: decoct in water, 1.5-3 qian; or take in pill or powder form.

   bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

   1. Bencao Jing Jizhu: "Pineilia serves as its envoy. It is averse to Chinese Honeylocust Fruit. It fears false hellebore."
   2. Bencao Jingshu: "It should not be applied to diseases characterized by qi deficiency and blood deficiency. In cases where yin deficiency leads to intense fire, which scorches the true yin and condenses into phlegm, causing cough and asthma; where vital qi is deficient and qi does not return to its origin, leading to fullness and discomfort in the chest and hypochondrium; where headache is not caused by phlegm but by yin and blood deficiency; and where there is internal heat and vexation, with external manifestations of cold and heat that are not due to external contraction, it is strictly contraindicated."

   bubble_chart Processing and Storage

   1. Peucedanum: Remove impurities, discard the reed, wash off the soil, soak briefly, remove, moisten thoroughly, slice, and dry in the sun.
   2. Honeyed Peucedanum: Take Peucedanum slices, mix with refined honey and an appropriate amount of boiling water, let it sit briefly, then stir-fry in a pan over mild fire until it no longer sticks to the hands, remove and let cool. (For every 100 catties of Peucedanum slices, use 20 catties of refined honey)
   3. Leigong Paozhi Lun: "For the processing of Peucedanum materia medica, first scrape off the dark black skin and whiskers with a knife, then finely chop, soak with sweet bamboo juice to moisten, and dry in the sun before use."

   bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

   The root of purple-flowered Peucedanum contains furanocoumarins: Peucedanum glycosides approximately 1.61%. It also contains spongosterol, mannitol, and volatile oil. The main components of the volatile oil are estragole and limonene. The root of white-flowered Peucedanum contains Peucedanum A, B, C, and D.

   1. Using the method of collecting tracheal mucus secretion in anesthetized cats, it was proven that oral administration of purple-flowered Peucedanum decoction at 1 gram/kg significantly increases respiratory mucus secretion, thus having a dispelling phlegm effect.
   2. Injecting 1% iodine solution of 1-1.5 ml into the pleural cavity of cats to induce cough, and administering decoction at 0.8-2 grams/kg, did not show a significant cough-suppressing effect.
   3. The aglycone of Peucedanum glycosides (see Saposhnikovia Root entry) has antibacterial and antifungal effects.

   bubble_chart Selected Prescriptions

   1. For treating cough with thick and sticky nasal discharge and sputum, chest discomfort, and occasional feverishness: Peucedanum 1 liang (remove the root head), Ophiopogon Tuber 1.5 liang (remove the core), Fritillaria Bulb 1 liang (roast until slightly yellow), Mulberry Root Bark 1 liang (cut), Bitter Apricot Seed 0.5 liang (soak in hot water, remove skin and tip, stir-fry with bran until slightly yellow), Liquorice Root 1 fen (roast until slightly red, cut). Grind the above ingredients into a powder. Take 4 qian each time, add half a portion of Fresh Ginger Rhizome to a medium bowl of water, boil until reduced to six parts, strain, and take warm at any time. (Shenghui Fang Peucedanum Powder)
   2. For treating lung heat cough, phlegm congestion, and restless panting: Peucedanum (remove the root head) 1.5 liang, Fritillaria Bulb (remove the core), Willowleaf Rhizome each 1 liang; Ophiopogon Tuber (remove the core, bake) 1.5 liang, Submature Bitter Orange (remove pulp, stir-fry with bran) 1 liang, Peony (also), Ephedra (remove root and nodes) each 1.5 liang, Rhubarb Rhizoma (steam) 1 liang. Finely chop the eight ingredients to the size of hemp seeds. Take 3 qian each time, add to a cup of water, boil until reduced to seven parts, strain, and take warm after meals, twice a day. (Shengji Zonglu Peucedanum Drink)