Pueraria Root Starch, a name in traditional Chinese medicine. It is the starch extracted by water milling and clarification from the tuberous roots of the leguminous plants Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi and Pueraria thomsonii Benth. It is distributed throughout China, except for Xinjiang and Tibet. It has the effects of reducing fever, relieving restlessness, promoting fluid production, and quenching thirst; it is used to treat feverish restlessness, thirst, alcohol intoxication, sore throat, and boils.
Kudzu Root Powder
Pueraria Root Starch, a name in traditional Chinese medicine. It is the starch extracted by water milling and clarification from the tuberous roots of the leguminous plants Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi and Pueraria thomsonii Benth. It is distributed throughout China, except for Xinjiang and Tibet. It has the effects of reducing fever, relieving restlessness, promoting fluid production, and quenching thirst; it is used to treat feverish restlessness, thirst, alcohol intoxication, sore throat, and boils.
Chinese Name : 葛根粉
Authentic Producing Area : Hunan, Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Sweet in taste, cold in nature; enters the Stomach Meridian
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
It relieves fever and restlessness, and promotes the production of body fluids to quench thirst.
Indications
Used for feverish restlessness, thirst, alcohol intoxication, sore throat, and boils.
Usage and Dosage
Internal use: Take 10–30 g mixed with boiling water, honey, or rice porridge. External use: Apply an appropriate amount by sprinkling or as a poultice.
Precautions
*Essentials of Materia Medica*: “Consuming large amounts promotes urination and has a laxative effect.” Those with a cold Stomach should use with caution.
Pharmacological Actions
1. Puerarin dilates the coronary and cerebral arteries, lowers blood pressure, and significantly increases blood supply to ischemic tissues. 2. It contains more than 10 amino acids and more than 10 trace elements essential for the human body. 3. It possesses certain cancer-preventing and anti-cancer effects.
Relevant Discussions
*Kaibao Bencao*: “It counteracts the effects of cinnabar, relieves restlessness and fever, promotes urination and bowel movements, and quenches thirst.”
Applications
Related Compatibility
1. For treating chest heat, restlessness, or thirst: 4 liang of kudzu root powder and half a jin of millet. Soak the millet in water overnight; the next day, strain it, mix it evenly with the kudzu root powder, and cook into porridge. (From *Shenghui Fang*: Kudzu Root Powder Porridge)
2. For treating bloody dysentery: 3 liang of kudzu root powder, 1 liang of honey. Mix the ingredients with 4 he of freshly drawn water. Take the entire mixture on an empty stomach. (*Mirror of Dietary Medicine*)
Processing & Preparation
Crude Drug Identification
Properties of Crude Drugs
Appears as long cylindrical or thick, plate-like slices, off-white or pale yellow in color. The cross-section is rough, containing abundant fibers; the fibers and starchy tissue alternate to form concentric rings with longitudinal striations. It is hard and heavy, with a high starch content, a faint odor, and a sweet taste. The best quality is characterized by large, firm, white tubers with a high starch content and minimal fiber.
Botanical Information
Botanical Classification
A plant of the legume family, Pueraria lobata or Pueraria glutinosa.
Morphological Characteristics
1. Wild Kudzu: Also known as Kudzu, *Pueraria lobata*, *Lu Huo*, *Huang Jin*, *Kudzu Vine*, and *Wild Flat Kudzu*. A perennial deciduous vine growing up to 10 m in length. The entire plant is covered with yellowish-brown coarse hairs. The tuberous root is cylindrical and thick, with a grayish-yellow outer skin; the interior is starchy and highly fibrous. The base of the stem is stout, and the upper part is highly branched.The leaves are trifoliate; the petiole of the terminal leaflet is relatively long; the leaf blade is rhomboid-orbicular, 5.5–19 cm long and 4.5–18 cm wide, with a gradually tapering apex and a rounded base, sometimes shallowly lobed; the lateral leaflets are smaller, obliquely ovate, asymmetrical on both sides, pale white on the underside with a powdery bloom, and covered on both surfaces with white, appressed, short soft hairs;Stipules are shield-shaped, ovate-oblong; stipulets are needle-like. Inflorescences are racemes, axillary or terminal; corollas are bluish-purple or purple; bracts are narrowly linear and early deciduous; bracteoles are ovate or lanceolate; calyx is campanulate, 0.8–1 cm long,with 5 lanceolate lobes; the upper 2 lobes are fused, and the lower lobe is longer; the standard is nearly round or ovate, with a slightly notched apex and two short lobes at the base; the wings are narrowly elliptic, shorter than the standard, and often bear a lobe at the base on one side; the keel is slightly longer than the wings;10 stamens, in two whorls; ovary linear, style curved. Pod linear, 6–9 cm long, 7–10 mm wide, densely covered with yellowish-brown, long, stiff hairs. Seeds ovate, reddish-brown, glossy. Flowering period: April–August; fruiting period: August–October.
2. Sweet Kudzu: Also known as Kudzu vine. A vine. The roots are swollen. Stems and branches are covered with yellowish-brown short hairs or mixed with long, stiff hairs. Leaves are trifoliate with long petioles; stipules are lanceolate-oblong and hairy; leaflets are rhombo-ovate to broadly ovate, sometimes 3-lobed, 9–21 cm long and 8–18 cm wide, with a short acuminate apex and a rounded base.Racemes are axillary; bracteoles are ovate; the calyx is campanulate, 1.2–1.5 cm long, with 5 calyx teeth that are lanceolate, longer than the calyx tube, and covered with long, stiff yellow hairs;corolla purple, 1.3–1.8 cm long. Pods oblong, flattened; 10–12 cm long, 1–1.2 cm wide, densely covered with yellowish-brown, long, stiff hairs. Seeds reniform or round. Flowering period: June–September; fruiting period: August–October.
Distribution Area
1. Wild Kudzu: Distributed throughout China except for Xinjiang and Tibet. 2. Sweet Kudzu: Distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and other regions.