Identification & Quality Standard
Fructus Arctii
Botanical Origin
The dried mature fruit of Arctium lappa L.(Asteraceae)
Production Regions
Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang.
Quality Requirements
Superior medicinal material is large, full, grayish-brown.
Macroscopic Features
Inverse oval shape, slightly flat, and curved, 5~7mm long, 2~3mm wide. Externally grayish-brown, with purple black spots, with numerous longitudinal ridges, often has 1~2 obvious ridges in the middle. Apex is blunt round, slightly wide, with round ring, center has spotted remnants of style; base is slightly narrow on the relatively pale side. Fruit skin is relatively hard, 2 cotyledons, pale yellowish-white, oily. faint odor, bitter and then slightly acrid and numbing to the tongue.
