Chinese herbal medicine "Guanmu Tong", also known as Mutong Madouling or Northeast Mutong. It is the dried stem of the plant Northeast Madouling from the Aristolochiaceae family. Although Guanmu Tong can treat mouth ulcers, it is also highly toxic. Therefore, it is important for us to have a detailed understanding of Guanmu Tong!
Image of Guanmu Tong
Guanmu Tong clears heat from the heart, promotes urination, and regulates menstruation and lactation. It is used for mouth ulcers, irritability with red urine, edema, painful and difficult urination, abnormal vaginal discharge, amenorrhea with insufficient lactation, and damp-heat arthralgia.
"Chinese Pharmacopoeia": "Clears heat, reduces fire. Treats mouth ulcers and painful urination."
It can also be used to treat painful and difficult urination. It can be combined with some Plantago seeds. For edema, Guanmu Tong can be used together with Polyporus and Morus bark.
To treat mouth ulcers with Guanmu Tong, it can be combined with other Chinese herbs such as Rehmannia, Licorice, and Bamboo leaves.
Mutong Madouling is a woody vine. The stem has a gray corky bark with longitudinal wrinkles. The leaves are alternate; leaf stalks are 10-13 cm long; leaf blades are rounded heart-shaped, 12-20 cm long and 15-23 cm wide, with slightly blunt or pointed tips, heart-shaped bases, entire or slightly undulate margins, and sparse short hairs on the lower surface, with 5 basal veins.
Image of Guanmu Tong
The flowers are axillary, with 1-2 pale brown scales at the base of the pedicel and densely covered with hairs; the corolla tube is 5-6 cm long, curved like a horseshoe, enlarged in the upper part, pale green on the outside, with hairs on the inside near the pistil, the tube is brown or pale yellowish-green, deeply 3-lobed, with broadly triangular lobes;
There are 6 stamens, attached in pairs to the outside of the pistil; the pistil is three-angled, with the stigma shallowly 3-lobed; the ovary is cylindrical. The fruit is hexagonal cylindrical, 9-11 cm long, 3-4 cm in diameter, pale yellowish-green, later turning dark brown, splitting into 6 segments from the top. The seeds are heart-shaped and pale grayish-brown.
Flowering period is in May. Fruiting period is in August to September. It is commonly found in moist areas near rivers and in shady places. It is distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, Gansu, Shaanxi, and other regions.
Guanmu Tong is contraindicated in patients with kidney disease, pregnant women, and newborns. It is generally not suitable for children and the elderly. This product should not be used for a long time, and kidney function should be regularly checked.
