Akebia trifoliata (Thunb.) Koidz.
Photo tradewindsfruit.com
Latin Name: Akebia trifoliata (Thunb.) Koidz.
Family: Lardizabalaceae; Genus: Akebia
Synonym Name: Akebia clematifolia Siebold & Zucc.; Akebia lobata Decne.; Akebia lobata var. clematifolia (Siebold & Zucc.) Ito; Akebia lobata var. quercifoliata (Siebold & Zucc.) It; Akebia quercifolia Siebold & Zucc.; Akebia sempervirens Nakai; Akebia trifoliata var. clematifolia (Siebold & Zucc.) Nakai ; Akebia trifoliata var. honanensis T.Shimizu; Akebia trifoliata var. litoralis Konta & Katsuy.; Akebia trifoliata subsp. Trifoliata; Clematis trifoliata Thunb.
English Name: Threeleaf Akebia, Trifoliate Akebia
Chinese name: Yuzhizi, Bayuezha or Bayuegua. 三叶木通 san ye mu tong
Vietnamese name: Mộc thông
Description: Woody climbers, deciduous or subevergreen. Stems grayish brown, verruculose, laxly lenticellate. Petiole 7--11 cm; lateral petiolules 6--12 mm; terminal petiolule 2--4 cm; leaflets 3 (--5), ovate, ovate-oblong, or broadly ovate, 3--8 × 1.5--6 cm, papery, subleathery, or leathery, abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, base truncate, rounded, cordate, or cuneate, margin sinuate, shallowly lobed, subentire, or entire, apex obtuse to narrowly rounded and slightly emarginate, cuspidate. Racemes axillary on short branches, 6--16 cm; peduncle slender, 3--5 cm. Male flowers: 15--30. Pedicel filiform, 2--5 mm. Sepals 3 or 4, pale purple to purple, broadly elliptic, elliptic, or oblong. Stamens 6; filaments very short; anthers incurved at anthesis. Pistillodes 3, oblong-subulate. Female flowers: pedicel 1.5--3 cm, slightly thicker than in male flower. Sepals 3, purplish brown, dark purple, or purplish black, suborbicular, sublinear, or narrowly oblong. Carpels 4--9, straight, 4--6 mm. Fruit oblong, straight or slightly curved. Seeds ovoid, 5--7 × 4--5 mm. Flowering: April to May, fruiting: July to August.
Distribution: Growing in thin forests near mountain ravines at altitude 250-2,000m or hill thickets. Distributed in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, South Shaanxi, Southeast Gansu and the provinces of the Yangtze River basin. Also distributed in Japan. Akebiaquinata: the medicinal materials are produced in Zhejiang and etc. Akebia fruit: the medicinal materials are produced in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi.
Part Used: Medical part: dried roots and canes. Chinese name: Mutong. Medical part: dried or nearly mature fruits.
Harvest & Processing: Mutong: harvested in autumn, cut the stem, removed branches and sun-dried. Yuzhizi: harvested greenish yellow fruits in summer and autumn, sun-dried or scald in boiled water and dried.
Chemistry:
Mutong: contains betulin, oleanolic acid, hederagenin.
Yuzhizi: mainly contains glucoside,saponin and fatty oil: (oleanolic acid-3-O-alpha-L-rha(1→2)-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside), and glyceride.
Hederagenin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L- arabinopyranoside, hederagenin-3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside, 3-O- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-hederagenin-28- O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6) -β-D-gluco pyranoside, 3-O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-hederagenin-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside, hederagenin-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside, 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-30-nor- olean-12,20(29)- dien-28-oic acid O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)-β- D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-gluco pyranosyl este, daucosterol
Pharmacology:
Mutong: urination-inducing, antibiosis.
Yuzhizi: antibiosis, breast-cancer, digestive-system cancer and ureteral-calculus curing.
Akebia trifoliata stems mainly contain a variety of oleanolic acids, ivy saponin-type triterpenoid saponins, which have antitumor, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and antibacterial actions.
Properties & Actions: Akebiaquinata: bitter, little cold. Akebia Fruit: bitter, cold. Mutong: clearing heat of heart, inducing urination, clearing meridians and promoting lactation. Yuzhizi: soothing the liver and regulating the normal flow of qi, promoting blood circulation and arresting pain, inducing urination and expelling parasites.
Indications & Usage: Mutong: restlessness accompanied by thoracic fever, pharyngitis and pharyngodynia, dark urine, five types of stranguria, edema, generic contracting pain, amenorrhea and insufficient milk in lactating mothers. Yuzhizi: gastric and costal swelling pain, amenorrhea and algomenorrhea, difficulty in urination, bites by snakes and insects. Mutong: oral administration: decocting, 3-6g; or made as pills or powders. Yuzhizi: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g; large amount up to 30-60g; or made as medicinal liquor.
Examples
Mutong:
1.Treat the accumulated heat in the heart, parched lips, reddish complexion, difficulty in urination: five-leaved akebia and weeping forsythia 3 qian each. One and a half small cups of water, wick 10. Decoct to reduce the volume by 80% and swallow.
2. Treat difficulty urine during pregnancy, gas pain shifting from abdomen to sites below the umbilicus: five-leaved akebia, baikal skullcap, musk mallow seed, fresh and dried rehmannia (baked) 2 liang each. Grind the drugs into powder, prepare firmianae semen like pills. Swallow 2 0granules with wick decoction before meals.
3. Treat orchitis: five-leaved akebia stem and vine 30-60g, spring onion of an appropriate amount. Decoct in water, fumigate and wash.
Yuzhizi:
1. Treat stromache due to coldness of middle energizer, hernia pain: holboellia wall. 30g, small common fennel 15g, decoct in water and swallow.
2. Treat swelling pain of testicle: holboellia wall. 30g, satsuma orenge seed 10g, lycheehe 12g, areca peel 6g, small common fennel 6g. Decoct in water and swallow.
3. Treat ureteral calculus: (Bayuezha) matched with semen coicis 6 0g each. Decoct in water and swallow.
References
Chinese Medicinal Material Images Database
efloras.org
Theplantlist
J.-M. WangZ.-M. WangH.-M. GaoJ.-X. Liu; Study on chemical constituents in fruit of Akebia trifoliata; 2008, Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences 43(2):98+99-100
