Yu Bai Fu Zi (ringed segments)

Yu Bai Fu Zi Slices

Guan Bai Fu Zi Slices

【Name】

Bai Fu Zi

 【Source】

Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians (Bielu Xia Pin)

 【Botanical Origin】

Yu Bai Fu is the dried tuber of Typhonium giganteum Engl. of the Araceae family. Guan Bai Fu is the tuber of Aconitum coreanum (Leveil) Leveil. of the Ranunculaceae family.

 【Characteristics】

(1) Yu Bai Fu: This product is oval or elliptical in shape, varying in size, up to 9 cm in length and 6 cm in diameter. The outer surface is yellowish-white, with stem base scars and scale scars at the apex. Numerous sunken dot-like root scars are visible, arranged in small bean-like, transverse ring patterns. The texture is firm and difficult to break. The fracture surface is off-white and rich in powder. The odor is faint, and the taste is pungent and has a tongue-numbing sensation.
Processed slices are transverse thin slices, circular in shape, varying in size, less than 2 mm thick. The outer edge of the cut surface is brownish, and the cortex is yellowish-white and translucent. After soaking in water, a large amount of mucus expands and exudes. The medulla is white and powdery. Processed Yu Bai Fu: The outer skin is light yellow, and the cut surface is yellowish-white. The taste is mild, slightly numbing to the tongue.
(2) Guan Bai Fu: Both daughter tubers and mother tubers exist in the commercial product. Daughter tubers are conical in shape, slightly flattened, similar to Cao Wu (Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii). The apex has bud scars, and the dried ones have wrinkles and nodes. The texture is hard, not easy to break, the fracture surface is powdery, and grayish-white. The shape of the mother tuber is roughly similar to the daughter tuber, slightly longer, with stem scars remaining at the apex. The surface is brownish-brown, with many wrinkles on the outer surface. The odor is faint, and the taste is very bitter. The fracture surface is off-white, with visible ring-shaped vascular bundle dots. Processed Guan Bai Fu: The outer skin is dark brown, and the cut surface is yellowish-white.

 【Processing】

1. Raw Bai Fu Zi 2. Processed Bai Fu Zi

 【Identification】

“Those from Silla are the best” (Zheng Lei Ben Cao). “The true Bai Fu Zi has a bitter taste and a white interior” (Chi Shui Xuan Zhu Quan Ji). “The best is the one that induces vomiting and purging” (Ben Cao Shu Gou Yuan).
(1) Yu Bai Fu: The best are those that are large and plump, white in color, with fine and smooth skin, substantial texture, and a large powdery fracture surface. Those that are small and thin, with rough skin not removed, are second best.
(2) Guan Bai Fu: The daughter tubers are of better quality, mostly inverted conical or long oval in shape, with fine and smooth skin, grayish-brown in color, substantial texture, and a large white powdery fracture surface.

 【Identification Terminology】

1. Ringed Segments: Refers to the nodes of certain rhizome medicinal materials having numerous root scars, forming small nodular protuberances, making the entire stem node appear like a wheel. Because the nodular protuberances of the root scars are nodular and clustered on the node, it is also called a nodular disk.

 【Chapter】

Rhizomes