Akebia quinata (Houtt.) Decne.

Akebia quinata (Houtt.) Decne.

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Latin Name: Akebia quinata (Houtt.) Decne.

Family: Lardizabalaceae; Genus: Akebia

Synonym Name: Rajania quinata Houttuyn; Akebia micrantha Nakai; Akebia quinata var. polyphylla Nakai; Akebia quinata var. yiehii W. C. Cheng.

English Name: Five-leaved Akebia, akebia; chocolate-vine; fiveleaf; raisin vine

French Name: akébia à cinq folioles or feuilles

Russian Name: akebia pyaternoye

Chinese Name: bai mu tong; mu tong (木通); son ye mu tong,  Yuzhizi, Bayuezha or Bayuegua.

Germany Name: fingerblättrige akebie; fuenfblaettrige akebie

Netherlands: klimbes; schijnaugurk

Vietnamese name: Mộc thông

Description: Woody climbers, deciduous. Stems grayish brown, slender, cylindric; lenticels prominent, small, orbicular. Winter bud outer scales imbricate, pale red-brown. Petiole slender, 4.5--10 cm; petiolules slender, 0.8--1.5(--2.5) cm; leaflets (3--)5(--7), obovate to obovate-elliptic, papery, abaxially glaucous, adaxially dark green, base rounded to broadly cuneate, apex rounded and usually emarginate and cuspidate; lateral leaflets 2--5 × 1.5--2.5 cm; terminal leaflet 2.5--5(--7) cm. Racemes fascicled, 6--12 cm; bracts imbricate, scaly; peduncle ca. 2.5 cm, axillary on short branches. Flowers slightly fragrant. Male flowers: 4--8 (--11). Pedicel slender, 7--10 mm. Sepals 3(--5), pale purple, occasionally pale green or white, broadly cucullate-ovate, 6--8 × 4--6 mm, apex rounded. Stamens 6(or 7), straight at first, incurved at length; filaments very short; anthers oblong. Pistillodes 3--6, small. Female flowers: pedicel slender, 2--4(--5) cm. Sepals dark purple, occasionally green or white, broadly elliptic to suborbicular, 1--2 × 0.8--1.5 cm. Staminode 6--9. Carpels 3--6(--9). Fruit purplish at maturity, straight or slightly incurved, oblong to ellipsoid, 5--8 × 3--4 cm. Seeds ovoid-oblong, compressed, pulp white; seed coat brown to black, shiny. Flowering: April to May, fruiting: June to August.

Distribution: Growing in mountains thickets at altitude 300-1,500m, forest margins and ravines. Distributed in provinces of the Yangtze River basin. Also distributed in Japan and North Korea. Akebiaquinata: the medicinal materials are produced in East China. Akebia fruit: the medicinal materials are produced in Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Anhui.

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.

Triterpene glycoside, named akeqintoside E, 3 αα,23αα‐dihydroxy‐30‐norolean‐12,20(29)‐dien‐28‐oic acid 28‐O‐αα‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐O‐ββ‐D‐glucopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐O‐ββ‐D‐glucopyranosyl ester, akeboside Sth, begoniifolide A, akebia saponin PJ2, 3ββ‐[(O‐GlcUA‐(1–3)‐O‐[Rha‐(1–2)]‐Ara)oxy]olean‐12‐en‐28‐oic acid O‐Rha‐(1–4)‐Glc‐(1–6)‐Glc ester, kalopanax saponin D, 3ββ‐[(O‐GlcUA‐(1–3)‐Ara)oxy]olean‐12‐en‐28‐oic acid O‐Rha‐(1–4)‐Glc‐(1–6)‐Glc ester.

Pharmacology: Mutong: urination-inducing, antibiosis. Yuzhizi: antibiosis, breast-cancer, digestive-system cancer and ureteral-calculus curing.

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 difficult urination 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, an appropriate amount of spring onion. 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

Hae Ju Ko  Joo Hee Lee  Yeong Shik Kim  Je Hyun Lee  Eun‐Rhan Woo; A New Triterpene Glycoside from the Stems of Akebia quinata; Volume36, Issue1, January 2015 Pages 356-359