Hu Huang Lian (Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora (Pennell) D. Y. Hong)

Hu Huang Lian (Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora (Pennell) D. Y. Hong) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Plantaginaceae family. Its name is similar to that of Huang Lian, and both are known for their bitter and cold properties, used to clear heat and dry dampness, particularly effective in removing damp-heat from the stomach and intestines. They are both excellent remedies for treating damp-heat-induced diarrhea and dysentery. Hu Huang Lian is particularly effective in reducing deficient heat and relieving malnutrition-related heat, while Huang Lian is known for clearing heart fire and stomach fire, and is a key medicine for detoxification. It is found in India and Indonesia.

Morphological Characteristics:

Hu Huang Lian is a perennial herb with hairs. The rhizome is cylindrical, slightly woody, and 15-20 cm long. The leaves are nearly basal and slightly leathery; the leaf blade is spatulate, 5-10 cm long, with a sharp tip, and the base narrows into a winged, sheathing petiole with fine serrations along the edges. The flower stalk is longer than the leaves; the inflorescence is a 5-10 cm long spike with a few bracts below; the bracts are oblong or lanceolate, and equal in length to the calyx; the calyx has five lanceolate sepals, each about 5 mm long, with marginal hairs; the corolla is shorter than the calyx, with five equal lobes at the apex, which are ovate and have marginal hairs, with sparse soft hairs inside and nearly glabrous outside; there are four stamens with slender filaments extending out of the corolla, without hairs; the ovary is two-chambered, with a slender style and a single stigma. The capsule is ovoid, about 6 mm long, slightly grooved on the sides, and primarily dehisces between the chambers. The seeds are oblong, about 1 mm long. The flowering period is June, and the fruiting period is July.

Differences from Similar Species:

  • Hu Huang Lian: Grows in China (Tibet, Yunnan) and Nepal, characterized by a long corolla type.
  • Picrorhiza kurrooa: Found in Pakistan, characterized by a short corolla type.

Growth Environment:

It grows on rocks and stone piles, or in shallow soil on sunny slopes, in alpine meadows at altitudes of 3,600 to 4,400 meters.

Main Value:

Therapeutic Effects: Clears heat, cools the blood, and dries dampness. Treats malnutrition, epilepsy, dysentery, consumptive fever with bone steaming, spontaneous sweating, night sweats, hemoptysis, epistaxis, conjunctivitis, hemorrhoids, and abscesses.

  1. Tang Materia Medica: Treats consumptive fever with bone steaming, strengthens the liver and gallbladder, improves vision, treats hot and cold dysentery, enhances complexion, strengthens the stomach and intestines, treats women’s postpartum hot flashes and nervousness, thirst from diabetes, hemorrhoids, and restlessness; soaking in human milk and applying to the eyes is very effective.
  2. Kai Bao Materia Medica: Treats chronic dysentery, malnutrition, cold and cough, warm malaria, bone fever, regulates the waist and kidneys, eliminates night sweats, treats children’s epilepsy, cold and heat, poor appetite, and cholera dysentery.
  3. Danxi’s Mastery of Medicine: Removes accumulated fruit in the intestines.
  4. Orthodox Materia Medica: Treats hemoptysis and epistaxis.

Formulas:

  1. For malnutrition and fever: 5 qian (approx. 15 g) of Chuan Huang Lian, 5 qian of Hu Huang Lian, and 1 qian of cinnabar (grind separately). Grind the first two into fine powder, add the cinnabar powder, fill it into a pig’s gallbladder, and boil it in light brine water without letting it touch the bottom of the pot. After a meal, grind the medicine and form it into pills the size of sesame seeds. Take 5-7 pills with rice water after meals.
  2. For malnutrition with abdominal bloating, tidal fever, and hair dryness in children: 5 qian of Hu Huang Lian and 1 liang (approx. 30 g) of spirit-resin incense. Grind into powder and mix with boar bile juice to form pills the size of mung beans. Administer 1-2 pills with rice water.
  3. For dysentery with bloody stools: Equal parts of Hu Huang Lian, Wu Mei (Mume fruit) flesh, and stove ash. Grind into powder and take with tea before meals, on an empty stomach.
  4. For hot dysentery and abdominal pain: Hu Huang Lian powder formed into balls the size of phoenix tree seeds with rice. Take 30 pills with rice water.
  5. For typhoid fever relapse with red urine and stool: 1 liang of Hu Huang Lian and 2 liang of Zhi Zi (remove the skin, mix with half a liang of honey, and fry until slightly charred). Grind the two into powder, mix with pig bile juice, and form into balls the size of phoenix tree seeds. Take with warm ginger water and umbilical cord water after meals.
  6. For children’s night sweats and alternating tidal fever: Equal parts of Hu Huang Lian and Chai Hu. Grind into fine powder, mix with refined honey, and form into balls the size of chicken heads. Take 2-3 pills dissolved in a small amount of wine with water. Warm in hot water and drink after meals.
  7. For hemoptysis and epistaxis: Equal parts of fresh Rehmannia and Hu Huang Lian. Grind into powder, mix with pig bile juice, and form into balls the size of phoenix tree seeds. Take 50 pills with warm Mao flower soup before bed.
  8. For red eyes in infants: Mix Hu Huang Lian powder with tea and apply to the palms and soles.
  9. For severe hemorrhoid pain and swelling: Mix Hu Huang Lian powder with goose bile juice and apply.
  10. For fistulas with tubular formation: 1 liang of pure Hu Huang Lian powder, 5 qian each of Pteria martensii (boiled in sesame oil), Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides (calcined), and Sophora japonica (slightly fried). Mix with honey and form into balls the size of sesame seeds. Take 1 qian on an empty stomach with clear rice soup. Take twice a day for 40 days for severe cases. For hard flesh protrusions around the fistula, add 20 fried silkworm cocoons to the mixture. This treatment is effective for all fistulas without the need for needle or knife.

Identification and Differentiation of Medicinal Materials

Application Differentiation: Hu Huang Lian (Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora) and Huang Lian (Coptis chinensis) are both bitter and cold medicinal herbs with yin-nourishing properties. They share similar effects such as clearing heat, draining fire, drying dampness, and cooling blood. However, according to Ben Cao Zheng Yi (The Correct Meaning of Materia Medica), Hu Huang Lian is characterized by its heavier, darker nature, which allows it to descend quickly, making it particularly effective in clearing and directing damp-heat in the lower burner (lower part of the body). It acts more swiftly than Chuan Huang Lian (Coptis chinensis) and is especially effective for conditions such as hot dysentery with prolapse, hemorrhoids with fistula, bloody dysentery, hematuria, blood-stained urine, and syphilitic sores, where damp-fire is deeply entrenched. Hu Huang Lian’s bitter and descending properties make it effective in quickly directing heat downward without lingering in the middle burner, thus not disrupting the harmony of the spleen and stomach. However, Hu Huang Lian’s effectiveness in reducing steaming bone fever and eliminating childhood malnutrition is not as pronounced as Huang Lian, and its capacity to drain heart fire and detoxify is also weaker.

Chemical Identification:

  1. After sublimation of the powdered material, needle-like, clustered needle, and rod-shaped crystals can be observed under a microscope.
  2. Take 5g of the powdered material and add 50ml of water. Warm it in a water bath at 60°C for 20 minutes, then filter. Add 1ml of the filtrate to 2 drops of ferric chloride ethanol solution to produce a dark green precipitate. In another 1ml of filtrate, add 2 drops of 5% α-naphthol ethanol solution, shake well to produce a yellowish-white turbidity, then gently add 0.5ml of sulfuric acid along the tube wall. A purple ring will appear at the interface of the two liquids, and after shaking, the color deepens. Diluting with water produces a dark purple precipitate.

Modern Research

Pharmacological Effects:

  1. Hepatoprotective and Choleretic Effects:
    • Vanilloylcatalpol (Hu Huang Lian glycoside II) isolated from Hu Huang Lian has been shown to have a hepatoprotective effect on mice with liver toxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride and a choleretic effect on rats. Apocynirie isolated from the petroleum ether extract of Hu Huang Lian also has a choleretic effect in rabbits. Kutkin, a mixture isolated from the ethanol extract of Hu Huang Lian, when administered orally to rats at doses of 3-50mg/kg, can dose-dependently prevent biochemical changes in the serum and liver caused by three different chemicals, with better efficacy than silymarin. Hu Huang Lian glycoside also exhibits dose-dependent choleretic effects and antagonizes bile duct obstruction caused by ethinylestradiol in anesthetized and awake rats and guinea pigs.
  2. Antifungal Activity:
    • The aqueous extract of Hu Huang Lian (1:4 dilution) shows varying degrees of inhibitory effects on dermatophytes such as Trichophyton violaceum, Microsporum concentricum, Microsporum gypseum, Microsporum cookei, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton verrucosum, Trichophyton tonsurans, Epidermophyton floccosum, Epidermophyton rubrum, Epidermophyton Kaufmann-Wolfii, and Nocardia asteroides.
  3. Other Effects:
    • Apocynirie isolated from the petroleum ether extract of Hu Huang Lian induces uterine contractions in rats and has an inhibitory effect on the heart of frogs. Two extracts of Hu Huang Lian, obtained by cold (4°C) and hot (reflux) deionized water extraction, were lyophilized and then extracted with methanol. The methanol-soluble parts of these extracts strongly inhibit the complement activity of the classical complement activation pathway, while the methanol-insoluble part of the cold water extract strongly inhibits the complement activity of both the classical and alternative complement activation pathways.

Conservation Status

Protection Level: Hu Huang Lian is listed in China’s List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (Grade II) and is classified as Endangered (EN) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.