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Collection and Storage Chinese Herbal Medicines

Collection and Storage

The harvest season, time, method and storage of Chinese Herbal Medicines are closely related to the quality of Chinese herbal medicines, and are an important link to ensure the quality of medicines. Therefore, the collection of herbs should be planned according to different medicinal parts (such as roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits , seeds or whole grasses of plants have a certain period of growth and maturity, and animals also have a certain period of capture and processing). In order to obtain higher yield and better quality medicines, to ensure the supply and curative effect of medicines, and to meet the needs of people’s health care.

Except that the active ingredients contained in some medicines have special requirements in terms of production and storage, the harvesting principles of general plant medicines are as follows:

1. Most of the herbs, stems, and leaves are collected during the summer and autumn when the plants are fully grown, the stems and leaves are lush or when they are flowering, but the leaves of some plants are also collected in the autumn and winter. Perennial herbs are often cut from the aerial parts, such as motherwort, mint, etc.; some of the stems are weak, the plants are short, and the medicines that must be used with roots are uprooted, such as weeping pot grass, purple flower underground, etc.
2. Root and rhizome medicines are generally collected when the aerial parts of plants begin to wither in autumn or when plants are drawn in early spring. At this time, plant nutrients are mostly stored in the roots or rhizomes, and the collected medicines have high yield and good quality. But there are also some roots and rhizomes such as Radix Ginseng, Pinellia sinensis, Corydalis japonica, etc., which are harvested in summer. Most root and rhizome medicines need to grow for one or more years before they can be harvested for medicinal purposes.
3. Floral medicines are mostly collected in the bud period or just opening of the flowers, so as to avoid the loss of fragrance and the scattering of petals, which affect the quality, such as honeysuckle and roses . Because the flowering period of plants is generally very short, some of them need to be collected in time. For example, safflower needs to collect petals whose corolla changes from yellow to red, and pollen grains need to be collected when they are in full bloom, such as pine pollen and Puhuang. It is best to pick flowers in the morning on a sunny day, so that they can be dried quickly after picking.
4. Fruit medicines should generally be collected when the fruit is ripe, except for a few immature fruits such as green peel and mulberry locust.
5. Seeds are usually collected after full maturity. Some seeds are easy to scatter after maturity , such as morning glory seeds , acute seeds ( impatiens seeds), etc., which are collected when the fruits are ripe but not cracked. For some medicines that use both the whole plant and the seeds, the whole plant can be cut when the seeds are mature, and the seeds are laid down and then dried and stored separately, such as plantain seeds and perilla seeds .
6. The bark and root bark drugs are usually peeled in the spring and summer, when the plants are growing vigorously, and there are more slurries, which are easy to peel off. When peeling the bark, care should be taken not to peel off the entire trunk of the tree, so as not to affect the transport system of the trunk and cause the death of the tree.

Regarding animal medicine, small animals that are generally hidden in the ground should be caught in summer and autumn, such as earthworms , crickets, etc. Although large animals can be caught in all seasons, they should generally be hunted in autumn and winter, but the antler must be at the end of the stag’s young horns. taken during the transformation.

In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to weather changes when harvesting medicines. For example, when it is collected in rainy seasons, it is often not dried in time, resulting in rot and deterioration. When collecting drugs, attention should be paid to the protection of drug sources, considering both current needs and long-term interests.

Therefore, the following points should also be noted:

1. Root preservation and seed preservation: For some perennial plants, the aerial part can be used as a substitute for the roots, try not to uproot them; if the roots or rhizomes must be used, care should be taken to save the seeds. For some dioecious plants, such as Trichosanthes, when excavating small pollen, generally only the tuberous roots of the male plant should be excavated. Use whole-grass annuals, and when a large number of collections are carried out, some sturdy plants should be left for breeding. Do not use the leaf medicine to light the whole leaves at one time, and try to pick the dense part, so as not to affect the growth of the plant.
2. Make full use of: perennial plants whose roots, stems, leaves, and flowers can be used as medicine should be considered more on the ground part and the part with more yield. In addition, it can be combined with environmental sanitation cleaning, land reclamation and flood filling, logging and pruning, and at any time, pay attention to collecting medicinal bark, root bark, whole grass, etc., and carefully organize them for medicinal purposes.
3. Appropriate planting: According to actual needs, for locally difficult to collect or less wild varieties, it can be properly introduced and propagated for adoption.

After the drug is collected, it should be processed to a certain extent for storage. If it is a plant drug, the soil impurities and non-medicinal parts should be removed after collection, washed and cut off. Except for fresh use, it should be dried in the sun in time, or dried in the shade, or dried according to the nature of the drug. separately. Some medicines with more water content, such as purslane, etc., can be cut off after washing and dried for a few days.

The fruits or seeds of plants such as Schisandra Chinensis, Ligustrum lucidum, Raisin, Tinglizi, mustard seeds, etc. must be placed in a sealed urn; the stems, leaves or roots of plants without aromatic properties such as Motherwort, Equisetum, Prunella, Daqingye, Banlangen, Shouwuteng, etc. can be placed in a dry and cool place or stored in a wooden box; aromatic drugs and flowers such as chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, rose, etc., must be placed in a lime urn to prevent damp, mildew and deterioration.

Seed drugs should be insect-proof and rat-proof. Animal medicines and organ tissues such as cymbidium snake, black-headed snake, centipede, ground soft-shelled turtle, placenta, etc., should be placed in a lime tank after drying to keep dry; Resistant to moth or rot.

Mineral medicines such as gypsum, talc, and magnetite can be placed in wooden boxes; however, those such as mirabilite and borax must be tightly covered in the urn to prevent moisture.
Highly toxic drugs should be stored separately to prevent accidents. The warehouse for storing medicines must always be kept clean and dry to prevent the erosion of insects and rats; the medicines must still be frequently exposed to the sun . , must be checked frequently to prevent mildew and deterioration.