''Rehmannia glutinosa'' is one of the
50 fundamental herbs used in
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
, where it has the name ''shēng dì huáng'' (). It is often sold as ''gān dì huáng'' (), ''gān'' meaning "dried".
Chemical constituents
A number of chemical constituents including
iridoid
Iridoids are a type of monoterpenoids in the general form of cyclopentanopyran, found in a wide variety of plants and some animals. They are biosynthetically derived from 8-oxogeranial. Iridoids are typically found in plants as glycosides, mos ...
s,
phenethyl alcohol
Phenethyl alcohol, or 2-phenylethanol, is the organic compound that consists of a phenethyl group (C6H5CH2CH2) attached to OH. It is a colourless liquid that is slightly soluble in water (2 ml/100 ml H2O), but miscible with most organic solvents. ...
,
glycoside
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...
s, cyclopentanoid
monoterpene
Monoterpenes are a class of terpenes that consist of two isoprene units and have the molecular formula C10H16. Monoterpenes may be linear (acyclic) or contain rings (monocyclic and bicyclic). Modified terpenes, such as those containing oxygen funct ...
s, and
norcarotenoids, have been reported from the fresh or processed roots of ''R. glutinosa''.
Etymology
* ''Rehmannia'' is named for Joseph Rehmann (1788–1831), a physician in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
[Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 180, 328][Joseph Rehmann. ''Sammlung auserlesener Abhandlungen und merkwürdiger Nachrichten Russischer Ärzte und Naturforscher''. St. Petersburg 1812, p. 271-276: ''Ballota lanata. Ein neues Mittel gegen die Wassersucht.'' S. 271-27]
(Digitalisat)
/ref>
* ''Glutinosa'' means 'glutinous', 'sticky', or 'viscous'.
See also
*Chinese herbology
Chinese herbology () is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A ''Nature'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that t ...
– 50 fundamental herbs
References
glutinosa
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Medicinal plants
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