Traditionally used for
- Eye health
- Nose & throat
- Teeth & mouth
- Cough & breathing
- Pain & joints
- Heart & circulation
- Skin
- Liver & jaundice
Cautions & contraindications
- Toxic — professional use only
☯ TCM Properties
Anchors Liver Yang, eliminates toxins, reduces inflammation and relieves pain; Removes Heat, eliminates Dampness and disperses Stagnation
Traditional Chinese Uses
Huang Shui Qie (Herba Solani, from Solanum surattense / S. xanthocarpum, syn. S. virginianum, the yellow-berried nightshade or Kantakari) is a pungent, bitter, cold heat-clearing herb entering the Liver channel. It clears Heat, resolves toxicity, and reduces inflammation and swelling while relieving pain, and it settles ascendant Liver Yang. Traditionally the aerial parts are used for Liver-heat disorders including hepatitis, heat-type eye disorders, and itchy skin with heat signs.
Shared with its Ayurvedic use as Kantakari, it is valued for cough, wheezing, asthma, chest pain, and sore throat, dispersing stagnation and Damp-Heat and easing painful obstruction and toothache. It is generally given in decoction of the aerial parts. Caution is warranted because the plant is a solanaceous species whose berries are toxic; the poisonous fruit is excluded and dosing should follow professional guidance.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Huang Shui Qie is a folk Chinese name commonly applied to Solanum surattense Burm.f. (synonym S. virginianum, S. xanthocarpum) of the Solanaceae, a low spreading, much-branched, prickly perennial herb 30-75 cm tall. The stems and leaf veins bear stout straight yellow prickles. Alternate, ovate to elliptic leaves are deeply sinuate-lobed, 5-10 cm long, with sharp prickles on both surfaces. Pale violet, star-shaped, five-lobed flowers 1.5-2.5 cm across appear in lateral cymes and produce globose berries 1-1.5 cm across that turn from green-streaked to glossy yellow at maturity. Widespread through southern China, India, and Southeast Asia, the plant is moderately toxic owing to steroidal glycoalkaloids (solanine, solasodine). In Chinese folk and ethnic minority medicine the herb is used for cough, sore throat, toothache, and rheumatic pain; in Ayurveda the same species is recognized as Kantakari, one of the Dashamoola roots.
Active Constituents
Solasodine
Steroidal alkaloid (spirosolane aglycone)The aglycone shared by the plant's principal glycoalkaloids and the compound most often quantified in this species. Crystalline solasodine has been isolated from the fruit. It is also the industrial starting material for steroid semisynthesis, which is why this plant has been studied more as a raw material than as a medicine.
Solasonine
Steroidal glycoalkaloidSolasodine carrying a solatriose sugar chain. Present chiefly in the fruit. Along with solamargine it accounts for the toxicity of the unripe berries, acting by membrane disruption and cholinesterase inhibition.
Solamargine
Steroidal glycoalkaloidSolasodine carrying a chacotriose sugar chain, differing from solasonine only in that sugar. It is the more membrane-active of the pair and is the constituent behind most of the cytotoxicity reported for Solanum fruit extracts.
Apigenin
FlavoneOne of the flavonoids reported from the plant. It is not species-specific and is unlikely to account for the traditional indications on its own.
Caffeic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acidA common phenolic acid reported from the fruit, contributing to the antioxidant activity measured in fruit extracts.
Aesculetin
CoumarinReported from the fruit together with its glucoside aesculin. Coumarins of this simple hydroxylated type are not anticoagulant, and should not be confused with the 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulant pharmacophore.
Carpesterol
Sterol esterA benzoylated sterol characteristic of this and related Solanum species, reported from the fruit.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Bronchodilators (theophylline, aminophylline, salbutamol)
The two published clinical trials in this plant tested exactly this pharmacological axis: a single 300 mg dose of whole-plant powder measurably improved FVC, FEV1, PEFR and FEF25-75 in asthmatic subjects, with salbutamol 4 mg and deriphylline 200 mg as comparators. The herb's effect was smaller than either drug's, but it acts in the same direction, so co-administration is additive rather than neutral.
Clinical note: In a patient already on a bronchodilator this is usually a benefit rather than a hazard, but do not treat the herb as inert when titrating theophylline, and warn the patient not to substitute it for rescue medication.
Cholinesterase inhibitors and other cholinergic drugs
The steroidal glycoalkaloids of Solanum species, solasonine and solamargine among them, inhibit cholinesterase and disrupt cell membranes in vitro, and this is the recognised mechanism of Solanum glycoalkaloid poisoning. No case of a clinically significant interaction with a cholinesterase inhibitor has been published for this species; the concern is extrapolated from the general glycoalkaloid toxicology and applies mainly to the fruit and to overdose.
Clinical note: Keep to the traditional dose and the traditional plant part. Unripe fruit eaten in quantity is the recognised route to glycoalkaloid toxicity in this genus, and there is no therapeutic reason to use it that way.
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 2 studiesRecorded 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
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Other clinical trial
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
0
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
A pilot study on the clinical efficacy of Solanum xanthocarpum and Solanum trilobatum in bronchial asthma
Respiratory function (FVC, FEV1, PEFR, FEF25-75) was measured by spirometer before and two hours after a single oral 300 mg dose of whole-plant powder of either Solanum xanthocarpum or Solanum trilobatum in mild to moderate bronchial asthma, against salbutamol 4 mg and deriphylline 200 mg. Both herbs significantly improved pulmonary function, though less than either comparator drug. Solanum xanthocarpum is a synonym of Solanum virginianum, so this trial is on the species in this record; Solanum trilobatum is a separate species and its results do not transfer.
Further studies on the clinical efficacy of Solanum xanthocarpum and Solanum trilobatum in bronchial asthma.
The follow-up to the 1999 pilot, extending the clinical assessment of the same two Solanum species in bronchial asthma. Together the two papers are the only controlled human data on this plant, and both are small, single-centre and short.
Historical Texts
Charaka Samhita
Classical Ayurvedic periodBhavaprakasha Nighantu
Mughal-era IndiaThis 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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