Clematis armandii
StarClematis armandii
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Urinary & fluids
Western Herbalism Properties
Gallery
Botanical Description
Clematis armandii is a vigorous evergreen woody climber reaching 4-6 m, scrambling over rocks and other vegetation by means of twining leaf-stalks. The leaves are compound, divided into three leathery, glossy dark-green leaflets that are ovate-lanceolate with entire margins and conspicuous parallel veins. In early spring the plant produces abundant fragrant, saucer-shaped white flowers about 4-6 cm across, borne in axillary clusters; each flower lacks true petals, its showy parts being four to seven sepals. The fruit is an achene bearing a long, silky, feathery plume that aids wind dispersal. Native to central and western China, it grows in woodland margins, scrub and along streams in mountainous regions, and is widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental climber valued for its early bloom and evergreen foliage.
Active Constituents
Neolignans and lignans, principally (7R,8S)-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol and (7R,8S)-9-acetyl-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol
Dihydrobenzofuran neolignans and related lignansConcentration: The major component class of the stem. A phytochemical study of the pharmacopoeial drug isolated seventeen lignans, one of them new, from the dichloromethane fraction of the ethanol extract.
These are the compounds that carry the drug's anti-inflammatory reputation into a measurable assay. In lipopolysaccharide-activated BV-2 microglial cells, (7R,8S)-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol inhibited nitric oxide production with an IC50 of 3.9 micromolar and its 9-acetyl derivative with an IC50 of 9.3 micromolar, both more potent than the reference inhibitor L-NMMA, and both also suppressed TNF-alpha release concentration-dependently. Two guaiacylglycerol-beta-coniferyl ether diastereomers were active as well. This is cell-level work in a microglial line, so it supports a plausible anti-inflammatory mechanism rather than any clinical claim.
Oleanolic acid
Pentacyclic oleanane-type triterpenoidConcentration: Present in quantities sufficient for isolation by vacuum liquid and column chromatography and for routine HPTLC and HPLC quantification; proposed as the positive identity marker for the drug.
Pharmacologically this is a common and unremarkable plant triterpenoid, but analytically it is the most useful compound in the drug. Because the pharmacopoeial identification methods do not reliably separate this species from its adulterants, a validated HPTLC and HPLC procedure keyed to oleanolic acid has been proposed as the positive identification step for Caulis Clematidis Armandii. A batch in which oleanolic acid cannot be demonstrated should not be accepted as this drug.
Boehmenan
Dilignan (bis-coniferyl ester type lignan)Concentration: Isolated from the stems; a minor named constituent rather than a bulk component.
Studied in isolation for effects on epidermal growth factor dependent signalling and apoptosis in lung cancer cell lines. It is cited here because it is one of the few individually characterised actives of this species, not because the drug has any anticancer indication; the work is entirely at cell level and the traditional use of the stem is urological, not oncological.
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins
Triterpenoid glycosides (hederagenin and oleanolic acid glycosides)Concentration: A characteristic constituent class of the genus Clematis, present in the stem alongside the free triterpenoid.
Saponins are the usual explanation offered for the mild irritant and diuretic character of Clematis drugs, and are a general reason for taking the genus at conservative doses. Their individual contribution in this stem drug has not been separated from that of the lignans.
Macrocyclic compounds of the stem
Macrocyclic phenolic constituentsConcentration: Two novel macrocycles were described from the stems in 2006; quantities were preparative-scale rather than bulk.
Reported as new chemistry rather than as demonstrated actives. Listed for completeness of the phytochemical picture; no pharmacological role has been established for them.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Guan Mu Tong (Caulis Aristolochiae Manshuriensis, from Aristolochia manshuriensis)
This is the defining safety issue of the drug and it is a substitution hazard, not a pharmacological interaction. Three botanically unrelated stems have circulated in China under names built on Mu Tong: this species and Clematis montana as Chuan Mu Tong, Akebia species as Mu Tong proper, and Aristolochia manshuriensis as Guan Mu Tong. Only the last contains aristolochic acids, which are nephrotoxins and Group 1 human carcinogens. Guan Mu Tong resembles this drug closely in gross morphology and was credited with similar therapeutic effects, so it was substituted for it. It was removed from the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and prohibited in 2003. A Taiwanese population-based case-control study using national insurance records, covering 4594 incident urinary tract cancer cases against 174 701 controls, found a statistically significant linear dose-response relationship: prescription of more than 60 g of Mu Tong raised the adjusted odds ratio for urinary tract cancer to 1.6 at 61 to 100 g and 2.1 above 200 g, with the effect independent of arsenic exposure. Fatal renal failure attributable to Guan Mu Tong has been documented at autopsy. This species contains no aristolochic acid, and analytical work confirms it is the aristolochic acid content, not the Clematis chemistry, that produced these injuries.
Clinical note: Never accept a herb labelled only Mu Tong. Insist on the qualified name and on botanical confirmation, because the standard pharmacopoeial identification methods are acknowledged not to separate this species from its adulterants reliably. Two workable methods exist: an oleanolic acid identity test by HPTLC and HPLC, and an infrared fingerprint calibrated on 24 samples of this drug, which sets a correlation-coefficient acceptance floor of 0.9926 and against which four Guan Mu Tong samples scored 0.9021 to 0.9404 and three Akebia Mu Tong samples 0.9549 to 0.9789, all correctly rejected. Patients with unexplained interstitial nephritis or urothelial cancer and a history of Chinese herbal use should be asked specifically about Mu Tong. Note that the injury is cumulative and irreversible: there is no safe re-exposure and no monitoring interval that makes substituted material acceptable.
Iodes vitiginea (wei hua teng), a second documented adulterant of this drug
Named alongside Aristolochia manshuriensis in the analytical literature as a species that has been sold as Caulis Clematidis Armandii. It belongs to the Icacinaceae, a family unrelated to either the Ranunculaceae or the Aristolochiaceae, so its pharmacology and its toxicology cannot be inferred from either. It is the less publicised of the two substitutions and does not carry the aristolochic acid problem, but it means that excluding Aristolochia is not by itself sufficient to confirm identity.
Clinical note: Confirm identity positively rather than by exclusion. A negative aristolochic acid screen tells you the material is not Guan Mu Tong; it does not tell you the material is this species. Demand a positive marker.
Mu Tong (Akebiae Caulis, from Akebia species) in dispensing and formula substitution
Since Guan Mu Tong was banned, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia has carried both Akebiae Caulis as Mu Tong and this species with Clematis montana as Chuan Mu Tong, and classical formulas written before the distinction was enforced simply say Mu Tong. Dispensing practice therefore varies by region and by pharmacy. Both are bitter, cold, and used for damp-heat strangury and to clear heart fire, and both are far safer than the Aristolochia they replaced, but they are different plants from different families with different chemistry, and evidence generated for one does not transfer to the other. Molecular methods have been developed specifically to detect which of them a finished patent medicine actually contains, which indicates how often the question is genuinely open.
Clinical note: When reading a classical formula that calls for Mu Tong, decide deliberately which modern drug you intend and write it out in full. When taking a patient history, record which was actually dispensed rather than what the prescription said.
Loop and thiazide diuretics, and lithium
The drug's pharmacopoeial indication is to promote urination and relieve strangury, and the traditional description is of a cold, bitter, downward-draining diuretic. No human pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic study has been done with it and no diuretic effect has been quantified in people, so this is inference from stated indication rather than measured effect. The lithium concern follows the general principle that anything altering renal sodium and water handling can alter lithium clearance, and lithium's margin is narrow enough that even an unquantified effect is worth noting.
Clinical note: Monitor fluid balance and electrolytes if combining with a prescription diuretic, particularly in older patients. In a patient on lithium, either avoid the herb or arrange lithium level monitoring around any change in the herbal prescription.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Clematis armandii. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
3 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
In vitro / animal
2
1 verified · 1 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Population-Based Case-Control Study of Chinese Herbal Products Containing Aristolochic Acid and Urinary Tract Cancer Risk
Read this as evidence about the adulterant, not about this species. The study is a Taiwanese population-based case-control analysis of national insurance records, 4594 patients newly diagnosed with urinary tract cancer in 2001 and 2002 against 174 701 population controls, excluding heavy NSAID and paracetamol users and adjusting for arsenic-endemic residence and chronic urinary infection. Prescription of more than 60 g of Mu Tong, and estimated cumulative aristolochic acid exposure above 150 mg, were each independently associated with urinary tract cancer, with adjusted odds ratios rising to 2.1 above 200 g of Mu Tong and 2.0 above 500 mg of aristolochic acid, and a significant linear dose-response for both. The Mu Tong implicated is the aristolochic acid-containing Aristolochia manshuriensis, which this Clematis species was brought in to replace; the study is included here because it quantifies exactly what is at stake if the substitution goes the wrong way.
Lignans from the stems of Clematis armandii (“Chuan-Mu-Tong”) and their anti-neuroinflammatory activities
Phytochemistry with a cell-based bioassay, carried out explicitly on the pharmacopoeial drug. Seventeen lignans were isolated, one previously undescribed, and tested against lipopolysaccharide-activated BV-2 microglia. (7R,8S)-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol inhibited nitric oxide production with an IC50 of 3.9 micromolar and the new 9-acetyl analogue with an IC50 of 9.3 micromolar, both exceeding the L-NMMA positive control, and both also suppressed TNF-alpha release. The authors conclude that lignans are the major components of the drug and that this supports its traditional use in inflammation. It is in vitro work in a cell line, with no animal or human data.
Boehmenan, a lignan from the Chinese medicinal plant Clematis armandii, induces apoptosis in lung cancer cells through modulation of EGF-dependent pathways
Single-compound cell work on an isolated lignan, showing apoptosis in lung cancer lines through epidermal growth factor dependent signalling. It bears on the chemistry of the plant, not on the use of the drug: the crude stem is used for urinary and heart-fire patterns and there is no oncological indication, no animal efficacy work with the crude drug, and no human data.
Historical Texts
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Yaodian (Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China), monograph for Chuan Mu Tong
Modern, editions from 1963 onward; the text described here is the 2020 edition, Volume IShennong Bencao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of Materia Medica), entry for tong cao, the ancestor of the Mu Tong drugs
Han dynasty compilation, first to second century CEReferences
- Ha Minh H, Huynh Ngoc Thuy T, Tran Viet H. Isolation of oleanolic acid from Clematis armandii for differentiation it from adulterants by HPTLC/HPLC . Heliyon (2023) [DOI]
- Zeng ZW, Ji WD, Chen H. Differentiation and Analysis of Nephrotoxicity Between Caulis Clematidis Armandii (Chuan Mu Tong) and Aristolochia Manshuriensis (Guan Mu Tong) . Toxicology Advances (2020) [DOI]
- Shaohua Z, Ananda S, Ruxia Y, Liang R, Xiaorui C, Liang L. Fatal renal failure due to the Chinese herb “GuanMu Tong” (Aristolochia manshuriensis): Autopsy findings and review of literature . Forensic Science International (2010) [DOI]
- Zhu YP. Toxicity of the Chinese Herb Mu Tong (Aristolochia manshuriensis) . Adverse Drug Reactions and Toxicological Reviews (2002) [DOI]
- Yan L, Yang S, Zou Z, Luo X, Xu L. Two New Macrocyclic Compounds from the Stems of Clematis armandii . HETEROCYCLES (2006) [DOI]
- Song Y, Yang Z, Wang P, Song K, Zhang S, Fan T. Next-generation sequencing and targeted quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for detection of Akebiae Caulis in the traditional Chinese medical formula Longdan Xiegan Wan . Annals of Translational Medicine (2022) [DOI]
- Gao SS, Li JR, Wu FB, Wei XM, Bian JH, Chen JB, Cheng SQ, Sun SQ, Lv GH. Development of FTIR fingerprint for identification of armand clematis stem (Chuanmutong) and related herbs . Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi (China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica) (2016) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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