Da Hei Yao, a traditional Chinese medicine, is the root of the Aster tataricus, a plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. It is mainly found in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Da Hei Yao has the effects of nourishing deficiency, clearing heat, and relieving cough. It is commonly used to treat symptoms such as dizziness, tinnitus, palpitations, insomnia, night sweats, chronic cough due to lung deficiency, abscesses and swelling, and bone tuberculosis.
【Benefits and Effects of Da Hei Yao】
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that Da Hei Yao has the effects of nourishing deficiency, clearing heat, and relieving cough. It is commonly used to treat symptoms such as dizziness, tinnitus, palpitations, insomnia, night sweats, chronic cough due to lung deficiency, abscesses and swelling, and bone tuberculosis.
【Morphological Characteristics】
Aster tataricus is a perennial herb or subshrub, reaching a height of 60-100cm. The roots are woody and stout. The lower part of the stem is woody, covered with reddish-brown dense soft hairs and glands, and branches above the middle part.
The leaves are opposite; the lower leaves are large, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 18-20cm long and 4-5cm wide; the upper leaves gradually become smaller, oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1-4cm long;
The apex is pointed or gradually pointed, the base is gradually narrowed, extending along the stem to form wings with a width of 1-10mm, with finely serrated edges and small glandular heads, covered with fine and coarse appressed hairs on the upper surface, and reddish-brown soft hairs on the lower surface, with glands on both sides, and prominent veins on the lower surface.
The head-like inflorescences are small, with a diameter of 5-6mm, and the branches always contain umbellate or compound umbels of flowers at the apex, with very short or up to 10mm long slender peduncles, and linear bracts;
The involucres are campanulate, about 7mm long and 5-6mm in diameter, with about 5 layers of linear-lanceolate involucral bracts, extremely pointed, with the outer layer gradually becoming shorter and smaller, and covered with the same dense hairs as the peduncle. The inner layer, except for the hairy midrib, has a wide membranous edge and marginal hairs;
The corollas are all tubular, 4.5mm long, with yellow glandular dots on the outer layer; the corolla hairs are one layer, light reddish-brown, about the same length as the corolla. The achenes are nearly cylindrical and covered with dense short hairs. The flowering period is from July to September, and the fruiting period is from September to October.
【Harvesting and Storage】
It is harvested in autumn, washed, and used fresh or dried.
