Abstract
Plant sources of some traditional Chinese herbs may have changed over time. History records of herbal toxicity should be viewed critically when different plants might have been used under the same name in earlier eras. The current main source of the Chinese herb Mu Tong is Aristolochia manshuriensis. Examination of classical Chinese herbal literature revealed that until the mid 17th century the original source plants of Mu Tong had been several Akebia species. From the 17th century until the early 20th century Clematis species were the main source of Mu Tong. A. manshuriensis has only been widely used since the 1950s. Renal failure due to ingestion of large doses of A. manshuriensis has been reported in China and other countries while no such toxicity has been recorded in traditional Chinese herbal texts. Documentation of traditional Chinese herbal literature should help to ensure the safe use of Chinese herbs.
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Notes
1 ‘Tu Jing Ben Cao’ was compiled by a government commissioned committee in 1058. The committee was tasked with collecting herbal samples all over China documenting their morphological characteristics, habitat and harvest time and, most importantly, drafting drawings of the original plants. Unfortunately, this book is now unavailable but its content and drawings were copied later by authors such as Tang Shen-Wei in ‘Zheng Lei Ben Cao’. The drawings in this article are copied from ‘Zheng Lei Ben Cao’
2 Nowadays, Tong Cao and Mu Tong are two different herbs. Tong Cao (Medulla tetrapanacis) is the stem pith of Tetrapanax papyriferus. Mu Tong includes the stems of Clematis armandii, C. montana (Chuan Mu Tong), or Aristolochia manshuriensis (Guan Mu Tong).
3 One ‘cun’ equals 3.33cm.
4 In Chinese herbal medicine, herb names often bear a prefix indicating the place where the herb is produced, or to differentiate herbs with similar functions from different areas. Guan refers to China’s northeast region (Manchuria) and Chuan refers to southwestern Si-Chuan province. Thus, Guan Mu Tong is produced in the northeast of China from Aristolochia manshuriensis and Chuan Mu Tong is produced in Si-Chuan from several Clematis species.
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Zhu, YP. Toxicity of the Chinese Herb Mu Tong (Aristolochia manshuriensis). Adv Drug React Toxicol Rev 21, 171–177 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03256194
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03256194