Identification & Quality Standard
Radix Angelicae Sinensis
Botanical Origin
The dried root of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Apiaceae).
Production Regions
Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Yunnan, Qinghai.
Quality Requirements
Superior medicinal material has thick and long main root, oily and moist, with yellowish-brown outer skin; full and fleshy with a potent aromatic odor.
Macroscopic Features
Whole material is long and slightly cylindrical, lower portion has 3~5 or more branched roots, 15~25cm. Outer skin is thin and dense; externally yellowish-brown or brown, with longitudinal wrinkles and horizontal long lenticels. Head (Gui tou) has 1.5~4cm diameter, with striations, upper apex is round and blunt, with purple or yellowish-green remnants of stem and leaf sheaths. Main root (Gui shen) is thick, short and externally uneven; branched root (Gui wei) is 0.3~1cm diameter, thick upper part and thin lower part, curved, with small number off rootlets. Soft and pliable texture; fractured surface is yellowish-white or pale yellowish-brown; cortex is thick with cracks and numerous brown spotted secretory cavities; xylem is relatively pale, cambium ring is yellowish-brown. The fractured surface of some rhizomes has pith and a hollow cavity at the center.
