Plantago Seed
Market name:車前子 Photo location:Museum of Materia Medica, Inst. of Nat. Med. TMPW No.:15214 |
Plant name:Plantago asiatica Photo location:Kyoto Pref., Japan Photo date:1989 Photographer:K. Komatsu |
Synonym | |
Latin name | Plantaginis Semen |
Botanical source: Family name | Plantaginaceae |
Botanical source: Plant name | Plantago asiatica Linné (IPNI:684897-1) |
Part used | Ripe seed |
Empirical criteria for quality selection | Good one is shiny and blackish brown in color. It sinks into water. (TN) |
Constituents | Other aliphatic and related compounds: Plantenolic acid, Succinic acid Polysaccharides: Plantasan, Plantagomucilage A Monoterpenoids: Aucubin, Geniposidic acid Carotenoids & Vitamin A: Vitamin A Phenylpropanoids: Acteoside, Syringin Flavanones & Dihydroflavonols: Plantagoside Simple nitrogen containing compounds: Adenine, Choline Sulfur containing alkaloids: Vitamin B1 |
Pharmacological effects | Diuresis. It increasesin the excretion of urea, sodium chloride and uric acid as well as water. |
Indications | It is taken as medicinal tea for diuresis, |
Diseases | Oliguria, Urodynia, Dysuria, Vomitting, Diarrhea, Red eye, Decreaced vision, Muscae valitantes, Corneal opacity, Cough, A lot of sputum |
Formulas | goshajinkigan , gorinsan , seishinrenshiin , meiroin , ryutanshakanto |
Meridian tropism | Liver, Kidney, Twelve meridians, Lung |
Property | Cold |
Flavor | Sweet |
Classification in "Shen-non Ben-cao Jing" | Superior |
TCM: Classification | Diuretics with removing dampness |
TCM: Medicinal effects | To clear heat, disinhibit urine and relieve stranguria, drain dampness to check diarrhea, improve vision, and dispel phlegm. Used for heat strangury with slow pain, edema distention and fullness, diarrhea caused by summer heat dampness, red painful swelling eyes, phlegm-heat cough. |
Remarks | Listed in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia 18th ed. |
References | TN: T. Namba & Y. Tsuda ed., Outline of Pharmacognosy, a Textbook, 3rd ed., Nankodo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1998. |
DNA sequences of medicinal plants
Gene Region | |||||||||||||||||||
Nuclear | Chloroplast | Mitochondria | |||||||||||||||||
Botanical source: Plant name | 5Ss | 18S | ITS1 | 5.8S | ITS2 | 26S | others | trnH-psbA | matK | trnK | trnK-rps16 | trnT-L | trnL | trnL-F | rbcL | rpoC1 | ndhF | others | |