The Five Spice Herb is distributed in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and eastern Jiangxi. It has the effects of expelling heat, relieving summer heat, promoting qi circulation, and alleviating pain. It is used for colds, heat strokes, scrofula, stomach pain, sore throat, boils, and centipede bites.
【Morphology of the Five Spice Herb】
It is an annual herb, 12-50cm tall. The stem is erect, quadrangular, and sparsely covered with short, soft hairs. Leaves are opposite; leaf stalks are 2-7mm long, slightly covered with soft hairs; leaf blades are linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, 1.2-2.2cm long, 0.2-0.4cm wide, gradually pointed at the apex, narrowly wedge-shaped at the base, with fine serrations on the edges, entire near the base, sparsely hairy on the upper surface, short and hard-haired on the veins on the lower surface, with glandular dots. Umbel inflorescences with 2 flowers, forming terminal pseudo-umbel inflorescences on the main stem and lateral branches, 2-5mm long, sparsely flowered; bracts are small, arranged sparsely, nearly circular to ovate, 1.5-2.5mm long, tapering to a tail-like tip at the apex, softly hairy on the upper surface, densely covered with glandular dots on the lower surface; calyx is campanulate, about 3mm long, softly hairy and glandular on the outside, with 5 teeth, bilabiate, with the posterior 3 teeth shorter and the anterior 2 teeth deeply divided; corolla is purple, 6-7mm long, softly hairy on the outside, upper lip erect, slightly concave, lower lip 3-lobed, with the middle lobe larger; stamens are 4, the posterior ones are fertile and slightly protruding; ovary is 4-lobed, with the style base, style is 2-lobed. Small nutlets are spherical, brown, with reticulations. Flowering period is from July to October, fruiting period is from August to November.
【Discussions on the Five Spice Herb in Various Sources】
1. "Folk Medicinal Herbs of Zhejiang": It opens the chest and promotes qi circulation. It is used for stomach pain and scrofula.
2. "Hangzhou Medicinal Plants": It is used for the treatment of colds and hemoptysis.
3. "Commonly Used Folk Medicinal Herbs in Zhejiang": It detoxifies and reduces inflammation, promotes diuresis, and relieves pain. It is used for heat stroke, colds, and stomach pain.
【Pharmacological Effects of the Five Spice Herb】
1. Antibacterial Effects: In vitro experiments, the decoction of the Five Spice Herb has a certain antibacterial effect. It is most effective against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, and Proteus vulgaris, and also has good antibacterial effects against Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnei, and Salmonella paratyphi, but the effects on Shigella flexneri and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are slightly weaker. The effective antibacterial components are found in the leaves and stems, while the roots have little effect. After oral administration of the decoction to rats, their concentrated urine has antibacterial effects in test tubes.
2. Immunomodulatory Effects: The Five Spice Herb can promote lymphocyte transformation in healthy individuals and patients with acute nephritis, and has immunomodulatory effects.
3. Toxicity: The LD50 of the intraperitoneal injection of the Five Spice Herb decoction in mice is 0.78±0.13ml/kg. At low doses, it has no obvious toxicity in rabbits, but at doses above 1ml/kg, there are obvious toxic symptoms such as tremor and convulsions; at a dose of 2ml/kg, it can cause repeated convulsions, generalized stiffness, opisthotonos, repeated seizures, and death. Subacute toxicity tests have shown that feeding rabbits with 0.14ml/kg of volatile oil for 2 weeks does not cause abnormalities in indicators such as hemoglobin, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and urea nitrogen. The toxicity of the Five Spice Herb may be related to the presence of sidearborin. Phenobarbital sodium at 30mg/kg has a certain protective effect on rabbits in the low-dose group.
