Bilobed grewia

Reported for the first time from the genus Grewia in this work. Friedelin is a common structural triterpene of bark and root tissue and is not known to carry the herb's traditional spleen-supplementing action.

The 3-hydroxy reduction product of friedelin, also a first report for the genus. Like friedelin it is a marker compound rather than a demonstrated active principle in this species.

The only phenolic reported from this species. Catechin is a general antioxidant and tannin precursor; nothing links it specifically to the drug's recorded use for chronic diarrhoea and discharge, although astringency from flavan-3-ols is a plausible partial explanation.

A ubiquitous plant sterol. Its presence carries essentially no diagnostic or therapeutic information for this herb.

A structural lipid with no known pharmacology at the concentrations present in a crude drug.

A wax ester, reported as an isolation product rather than an active constituent.

The recorded origin for the drug bian dan gan. The root, or less often the whole plant, is dug in summer and autumn, washed, sliced and sun-dried. Flavour acrid and sweet, nature warm. Actions are to fortify the spleen and boost qi, secure essence and stop vaginal discharge, and dispel wind and damp; indications are childhood food stagnation with malnutrition, chronic diarrhoea from spleen vacuity, seminal emission, flooding and spotting, vaginal discharge, uterine and rectal prolapse, and wind-damp joint pain. Stated dose half to one liang, roughly 15 to 30 grams, and it is also steeped as a medicinal wine.

A regional folk drug of the Yangtze provinces with no entry in the classical canon and no Chinese Pharmacopoeia monograph. The small-flowered variety, Grewia biloba var. parviflora, is gathered and sold under the same name; the two have not been shown to differ chemically, but neither has been shown to be equivalent either.