Four-Leaf Houttuynia is the whole herb of the Houttuynia cordata Thunb., a plant in the family Saururaceae. It is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, genital ulcers, and snake and dog bites.
Four-Leaf Houttuynia is an annual or biennial herb, without hairs. It has clustered stems with branching and four edges, reaching a height of 10-30 cm, and a slightly pale green-white color. The leaves are opposite and sessile, with an oval to narrow-oval shape, measuring 1-2.5 cm in length and 5-15 mm in width. The tips are pointed or slightly blunt, the base is rounded, and the margins are entire and papery. The flowers are solitary and axillary, with a pedicel measuring 2-3 cm in length and no bracts. The sepals are divided into 5 linear-lanceolate lobes, measuring 4-6 mm in length and ending in a sharp point. The corolla is radial, measuring 4-6 mm in length, and pale red. The lobes are inverted-ovate and have entire margins or small notch-like teeth at the tips, with glandular ciliate margins. There are 5 stamens with hairy filaments, and the superior ovary has a filiform style. The fruit is spherical, with a diameter of about 4 mm. The seeds are dark brown and densely covered in tuberculate projections. The flowering period is from March to May.
Ecological environment: Four-Leaf Houttuynia grows in the wild, on field edges, and in wetlands.
Distribution: Four-Leaf Houttuynia is distributed in Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, and other places.
Identification: The whole herb is shriveled. The stem has four edges, with a diameter of about 1 mm, and a yellow-brown color with no hairs. The leaves are opposite, often fragmented, and when flattened, they are oval or broadly elliptic in shape, measuring 0.3-1.0 cm in length and 2-6 mm in width. The margins are entire, the upper surface is brownish-yellow, and the lower surface is yellow-green. The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils; the sepals are deeply divided to the base, with 5 lanceolate or fusiform lobes; the corolla is pale red and deeply divided into 5 lobes. It has a faint scent and a sour and astringent taste.
Chemical constituents: The aboveground parts contain n-hexacosane, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, β-amyrin, lacceric acid, rutin, ana-galligenin, glucose, arabinose, and xylose. They also contain anagallisin A, B, D, and E. The root contains saponins and glucose-glycosides. The saponin element is a triterpenoid compound, including anagalline. Through oxidation, anagal-ligenone B can be obtained, and through reduction, anagalligenin B can be obtained. The leaves contain sterols, α-spinasterol, Δ7-avenasterol, dihydrospinasterol, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid.
The flowers contain stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, α-spinasterol-3-glucoside, kaempferol, quercetin, and rutin. The seeds contain myristic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and gadoleic acid. The non-saponifiable portion contains alkanols, β-sitosterol, and stigmasterol in large amounts.
