BOTANICAL INVESTIGATION AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINES DERIVED FROM THE GENUS RUMEX

Yang-ti, a kind of Chinese herbal medicine, is found to be derived from several species of the genus Rurnex (Fam. Polygonaceae). Ethnopharmacologically, they have been widely used in China as a haemostatic and antifungal agent for haemorrhage, ringworm, favus etc.After a general survey and taxonomic identification of the original plants of this category of drugs, nine species were found to possess such theurapeutic effects. They are: Rumex acetosa L., R. gmelini Turcz., R. crispus L., R. stenophyllus Ledeb., R. patientia L., R. japonicus Houtt, R. nepalensis Spreng., R. obtusifolius L. and R. chalepensis Mill. (cf. Tab. 1).By means of TLC run along with authentic samples, nepodin, an antifungal active principle, together with emodin, physcion and chrysophanol were shown to be present in all the nine species mentioned above. With the aid of a densitometric method, the contents of total, combined and free forms of anthraquinone derivatives were also determined (cf. Tab. 2). The anthraquinone patterns of Rumex in comparison with Rheum showed that the proportion between the combined and free forms of the former were not as large as that of the latter. In addition, the content of the free form in Rumex was, sometimes, higher than that of the combined.This study may serve as a scientific basis for further utilization of these kinds of drug resources.