What is zi cao herb?

Onosma paniculatum bur. et Fr., is a perennial herbaceous plant of dicotyledonous class, Amaranthaceae and Genus. Mainly produced in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, root medicine, local folk medicine has a long history. The root is twisted and not straight cylindrical, the body is light and hard, easy to break, the section is yellow and white, the gas taste is slightly sour, the surface embolus is laminar, purplish brown or purplish red easy to fall off.

Morphological characteristics of Lithochroma yunnanensis

Herbs biennial, rare perennials, 40-80 cm tall, blackened when dry. Stem simple, unbranched, 5 -- 10 mm in diam., axillary branches of upper leaves, spreading bristles and dense short hairs, bristles with basal disc. Basal leaves fascicular, linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 10-20 cm long and 1-2.5 cm wide, rarely up to 3 cm, apex acuminate, base tapering into stipes; Middle and upper leaves tapering, lanceolate or ovate-triangular, 3 -- 7 cm long and 1 -- 2 cm wide, apex acuminate, base halberd, clasping or slightly clasping.

Inflorescences stem apex and axillary branchlets apex, elongate racemes after flowers, clusters of dense or spreading panicles, up to 30 cm long; Bracts triangular; Pedicels slender, 7 -- 17 mm long; Calyx 7 -- 9 mm long, fruiting accretive; Corolla bluish purple, darkly red, tubular campanulate, 12 -- 14 mm long, 7 -- 8 mm in diameter at throat, lobes small, broadly triangular, margin recursively curvilinear, corolla densely covered with ascending hairs outside, inner lobe with only 1 row of hairs on ribs; Anthers laterally united, ca. 7 mm long, sterile apex ca. 2 mm long, concealed or slightly extended, filaments decurinate, 4 -- 5 mm long, hairy, 3-4 mm from corolla base; Style 15-16 mm, below middle hairy; Glands ca. 0.5 mm tall, densely pilose.

Nuts dark brown, 2-3 mm long, dull, warty. Fruit and fruit period from June to September.

Toxicity of Porphyra yunnanensis

5 ~ 15 g/kg to yunnan radix arnebiae seu lithospermi syrup feeding mice, 2 months generally normal appetite and activity, weight change is not obvious, pathological anatomy in addition to the pituitary, ovary and uterus weight, other such as thyroid, adrenal weight no change, under a microscope to check all organization, organizational pathological changes were observed. The mice fed with 30% Sinkiana lost 30% weight within 1 week and 40% died within 15 days. The rabbits were given root powder of 5 g/kg by intragastric administration. After 3 days, the urine was dark purple, protein and red blood cells appeared in the urine, and diarrhea occurred. The symptoms disappeared after 2 days.