Fructus Xanthii
Source
The fruit and involucre of Xanthiurn sibiricurn Patr., family Cornpositae.
Characteristics
Involucre
converging into an elliptical sac, yellow-green, hard, marked with hooked
spines. Fruit divided into 2-celled inside, each cell containing a cambiform
achene. Acrid and bitter in taste, warm in nature, mildly toxic, and attributive
to lung channel.
Indication
1. Expel cold and wind and clear the nasal passage: For sinusitis, allergic
rhinitis, headache of wind-cold type.
2.
Expel wind-dampness evil and alleviate pain: For rheumatism, eczema, scabies
and leprosy.
Pharmacological
Action
1. Lowering blood sugar, with similar mechanism as phenethyl biguanide
(DBI).
2. Its chief poisonous component is rhamnose. The toxic effects in rats,
guinea-pigs and rabbits by different routes of administration are similar.
LD50 is 0.93g/kg in mice.
Administration Decoction: 3-10g.