Jiu Jie Chang Pu
StarAnemone altaica Fisch. ex C.A.Mey.
Traditionally used for
- Ears & hearing
- Cough & breathing
- Colds & fever
- Digestion
- Mood & calm
- Nerves & recovery
☯ TCM Properties
Transforms Phlegm, opens the orifices, calms the Shen, awakens the Spleen and resolves toxicity
Traditional Chinese Uses
Jiu Jie Chang Pu, the dried rhizome of Anemone altaica, is classed among the substances that open the orifices. Acrid and warm, entering the Heart, Liver, Spleen and Stomach channels, it transforms turbid Phlegm, opens the sensory orifices, quiets the Shen, awakens the Spleen and resolves toxicity. It is used chiefly for Phlegm clouding the Heart orifices: clouded consciousness, muddled thinking, childhood convulsions and febrile seizures, epilepsy and mania, and for Phlegm-obstruction manifesting as tinnitus, deafness or chest and epigastric fullness.
Despite the shared name "Chang Pu," this Ranunculaceae rhizome is botanically unrelated to true Shi Chang Pu (Acorus) and is a distinct, historically substituted material. Like other buttercup-family plants it carries mild toxicity, so it is given in small, controlled doses.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Jiu Jie Chang Pu (九節菖蒲) is the dried rhizome of Anemone altaica Fisch. ex C.A. Mey. (Ranunculaceae), a small perennial herb of mountain forests in northern and central China, particularly Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Gansu. The plant grows to about 15 cm tall from a slender, jointed, horizontal rhizome marked by conspicuous nodal scars (the 'nine joints' of the name), bearing palmately divided basal leaves and solitary white flowers with 8–10 tepals in early spring. The rhizome is collected in late spring or early summer, washed, fibrous rootlets removed, and dried. In TCM, Jiu Jie Chang Pu is classified as pungent and warm, entering the Heart and Liver channels, and is used to open the orifices, transform phlegm, calm the spirit, and quicken yang for confusion, poor memory, epilepsy, and phlegm-clouded consciousness. It is frequently confused with, but not interchangeable with, Shi Chang Pu (Acorus tatarinowii).
Active Constituents
Ranunculin
Glucoside of a hydroxylated gamma-lactoneConcentration: reported for the genus Anemone; no quantitative figure published for Anemone altaica specifically
Ranunculin is the stable, inert storage form. It is itself harmless, but when the tissue is crushed a plant beta-glucosidase hydrolyses it to protoanemonin, which is the vesicant. This is the same mechanism established across Ranunculaceae for Ranunculus and Pulsatilla, and Anemone is documented as sharing the ranunculin-anemonin-protoanemonin chemistry that is characteristic of Pulsatilla.
Protoanemonin
Unsaturated gamma-lactone (vesicant)Concentration: released only transiently from fresh crushed tissue; not present in the dried rhizome
The blistering agent of the family, formed enzymatically from ranunculin the moment fresh tissue is damaged. It causes contact vesication of skin and mucosa and gastrointestinal irritation if swallowed. It is unstable and does not survive drying: on drying and storage it dimerises to the far less irritant anemonin, which is why the dried medicinal rhizome behaves quite differently from the fresh plant. This is a preparation-dependent toxicity, and the direction of the effect is the opposite of what practitioners usually expect from drying.
Anemonin
Dimeric gamma-lactone (cyclobutane-fused bis-lactone)Concentration: isolated from the roots of this species; not quantified
The cyclodimer of protoanemonin, and the compound actually found in dried Anemone altaica material. Its presence is the chemical fingerprint that the ranunculin pathway operates in this species. It is much less irritant than the monomer it comes from.
Cimigenol-3-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside
Cycloartane triterpene glycosideConcentration: not quantified
One of two cimigenol xylosides isolated from the roots of this species by Zou and Yang, who reported all six of their compounds as first isolations from the genus. Cimigenol glycosides are better known from Cimicifuga, and their presence here reflects the shared Ranunculaceae triterpene chemistry.
Cimigenol-3-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl(1->3)-beta-D-xylopyranoside
Cycloartane triterpene glycosideConcentration: not quantified
The bis-xyloside companion of the preceding compound, isolated from the same n-butanol-soluble fraction of the roots.
Isolariciresinol-9-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside
Lignan glycosideConcentration: not quantified
A lignan glucoside isolated from the roots of this species. No pharmacology has been reported for it in this plant.
Cedrenol
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: 23.69% of the essential oil, which is itself present in very low yield in the dried rhizome
The dominant component of the volatile oil of the dried rhizome. Feng's GC-MS work used this profile to show that the oil of Anemone altaica is plainly different from that of Acorus tatarinowii, and argued from it that the two drugs must not be confused.
9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (linoleic acid)
Polyunsaturated fatty acidConcentration: 14.93% of the essential oil
A major fatty-acid component of the volatile fraction, without established pharmacological significance for this drug.
beta-Eudesmol
Sesquiterpene alcoholConcentration: 8.49% of the essential oil
A eudesmane sesquiterpene alcohol of the volatile oil, reported alongside elemol at 2.80% and hexadecanoic acid at 4.77%.
Oleanane-type triterpene saponins
Triterpenoid saponinsConcentration: saponin levels of roughly 0.19-0.75% are reported for Anemone root and rhizome material
Oleanolic acid triterpene saponins are abundant across Anemone species and are the class most often credited with the genus's anticancer and immunomodulatory activity through cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. They are also surface-active and mucosally irritant as a class, which is relevant to oral tolerance of the crude drug.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (Shi Chang Pu, Acorus tatarinowii)
This is the central hazard of this record and it is a naming problem, not a botanical footnote. Jiu Jie Chang Pu is an established alternative name for Shi Chang Pu, the rhizome of Acorus tatarinowii; Feng's Pharmacopoeia-era analysis states outright that Anemone altaica is properly Wai Chang Pu and is only mistakenly called Jiu Jie Chang Pu. Lam and colleagues confirm the confusion is entrenched, noting that recent literature and some early editions of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia listed Anemone altaica under the name Rhizoma Anemones Altaicae, Jiu Jie Chang Pu. The two drugs are unrelated: Acorus is an Acoraceae monocot with an asarone-rich oil and no toxic grading, while Anemone altaica is a Ranunculaceae herb carrying ranunculin, triterpene saponins and a documented toxicity, with different therapeutic actions. Feng's GC-MS comparison showed the volatile oils are obviously different and that Anemone altaica yields very little oil at all.
Clinical note: Never accept Jiu Jie Chang Pu as a synonym in ordering. Specify the binomial. Lam and colleagues give practical microscopic discriminators: Anemone altaica material lacks the crystal fibres that characterise Acorus, and stone cells are present in the Anemone rhizome and absent from Acorus tatarinowii; ITS sequencing settles doubtful lots. If a formula calls for Shi Chang Pu and the label reads Jiu Jie Chang Pu, establish which plant is in the bag before dispensing.
Fresh, undried rhizome used as a poultice, juice or fresh-plant tincture
Crushing fresh Ranunculaceae tissue lets a beta-glucosidase hydrolyse ranunculin to protoanemonin, a vesicant unsaturated lactone. Drying destroys it, because protoanemonin is unstable and dimerises to the far milder anemonin, which is the form actually isolated from Anemone altaica roots. The practical consequence is inverted from the usual expectation: the dried Pharmacopoeia-style rhizome is the safer material and any fresh-plant preparation is the dangerous one. The ranunculin pathway is established for the family and for the genus Anemone; it has not been separately quantified in Anemone altaica, so this entry is graded probable rather than established for this species in isolation.
Clinical note: Use only properly dried rhizome. Do not prepare fresh-plant tinctures, juices or poultices from this species, and handle fresh plant material with gloves. Blistering after fresh-plant contact is a chemical burn and should be treated as one.
Historical Texts
Chinese Pharmacopoeia, early editions (as Rhizoma Anemones Altaicae)
Modern, 20th centuryReferences
- Zhong-jie Zou, Yuesheng Dong, Jun-shan Yang. Chemical Constituents of the Roots of Anemone altaica Fisch. ex C. A. Mey. . Journal of Integrative Plant Biology (2005) [DOI]
- Zou ZJ, Yang JS. [Studies on the chemical constituents of the roots of Anemone altaica] . Zhong Yao Cai (Journal of Chinese Medicinal Materials) 31(1):49-51; PubMed 18589749 (2008)
- Feng X. [Analysis of constituents of essential oil from Anemone altaica Fisch. ex C. A. Mey] . Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 23(12):739-740, 765; PubMed 12242825 (1998)
- Kelly Yin-Ching Lam, Chuen-Fai Ku, Huai-You Wang, Gallant Kar-Lun Chan, Ping Yao, Huang-Quan Lin, Tina Ting-Xia Dong, Hong-Jie Zhang. Authentication of Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (Shi Chang Pu) and its adulterants by morphological distinction, chemical composition and ITS sequencing . Chinese Medicine (2016) [DOI]
- Da-Cheng Hao, Xiaojie Gu, Peigen Xiao. Anemone medicinal plants: ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and biology . Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (2017) [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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