Peng Lai Cao
StarPhyla nodiflora (L.) Greene
Synonyms: Lippia nodiflora (L.) Michx., Verbena nodiflora L.
Also known as: P'êng Lai Ts'ao · Wade–Giles
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
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Urinary & fluids
- Menstrual & women's health
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat, reduces inflammation and regulates menstruation; Expels Wind, removes toxin and disperses swelling
Traditional Chinese Uses
Peng Lai Cao is the whole herb of Phyla nodiflora (Verbenaceae), a creeping mat-forming plant used in southern Chinese and Taiwanese folk medicine. Pungent, bitter and cool, entering the Liver, Kidney, Lung, Heart and Small Intestine channels, it clears Heat, reduces inflammation and swelling, expels Wind and relieves toxicity. It is taken in herbal teas and decoctions for feverish and inflammatory complaints, sore throat, cough with Lung Heat, painful or hot urinary dribbling, and menstrual irregularity, and is applied topically for toxic swellings, sores and skin irritation.
Because it is largely a regional folk medicine rather than a classical materia medica staple, its indications rest on ethnomedical use; it should be used under qualified guidance and avoided in pregnancy without supervision.
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Botanical Description
Phyla nodiflora is a low, mat-forming perennial herb of the Verbenaceae (frogfruit / turkey-tangle), rooting at the nodes of prostrate, four-angled, finely appressed-hairy stems. The small opposite leaves are spatulate to obovate, wedge-shaped at the base and coarsely toothed toward the rounded apex. Tiny white to pale pink or purplish flowers are crowded in dense, long-stalked axillary heads that elongate into cylindrical spikes as they mature. The whole herb (Herba Lippiae), gathered in summer and autumn and used fresh or dried, is the medicinal part, employed to clear heat, reduce inflammation, regulate menstruation, expel wind, resolve toxicity, and disperse swelling.
Damp open sandy ground, riverbanks, lawns, roadsides, ditches and waste places in tropical to warm-temperate lowlands.
Active Constituents
Nodifloretin
Flavone (6-hydroxylated flavone aglycone)Concentration: Isolated from the most active fraction of the whole-plant methanol extract; no validated percentage of the crude drug has been published
The species-characteristic flavone, named for the plant. It inhibits xanthine oxidase in vitro and produced a 55.97% reduction in serum uric acid in potassium oxonate- and hypoxanthine-induced hyperuricaemic rats at 0.2 mmol/kg, the second largest effect of the five isolated compounds. It also occurs in the plant as the 7-sulfate and 6,7-disulfate.
6-Hydroxyluteolin
FlavoneConcentration: Isolated from the bioactive fraction; not quantified as a percentage of the crude drug
The most potent constituent isolated from this plant against xanthine oxidase and the most effective in vivo, lowering serum uric acid by 66.94% in hyperuricaemic rats at 0.2 mmol/kg with a dose-dependent response from 0.05 to 0.3 mmol/kg. It did not lower uric acid in normouricaemic rats, which suggests the effect is confined to the pathological state.
6-Hydroxyluteolin-7-O-glucoside
Flavone glycosideConcentration: Isolated from the bioactive fraction; not quantified as a percentage of the crude drug
The glycoside of the most active aglycone, reducing serum uric acid by 49.16% in hyperuricaemic rats at 0.2 mmol/kg. As a glycoside it is more water-soluble and therefore better represented in a decoction than the free aglycone.
Verbascoside (acteoside)
Phenylethanoid glycosideConcentration: Isolated from the bioactive fraction; not quantified as a percentage of the crude drug
A widely distributed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phenylethanoid glycoside. In this plant it contributes a modest 29.03% serum uric acid reduction in hyperuricaemic rats at 0.2 mmol/kg, less than the flavones.
Arenarioside
Phenylethanoid glycosideConcentration: Isolated from the bioactive fraction; not quantified as a percentage of the crude drug
The weakest of the five compounds isolated on the uric acid endpoint, giving a 22.08% reduction at 0.2 mmol/kg in hyperuricaemic rats. Its presence alongside verbascoside is chemotaxonomically consistent with the Verbenaceae.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Allopurinol, febuxostat and other xanthine oxidase inhibitors
The flavones and phenylethanoid glycosides of this plant inhibit xanthine oxidase in vitro with IC50 values from 7.52 to 130.00 micromolar, and the methanol extract lowers serum uric acid dose-dependently in hyperuricaemic rats by inhibiting hepatic xanthine oxidase and xanthine dehydrogenase. That is the same enzyme allopurinol and febuxostat inhibit. For scale, allopurinol's IC50 in the same assay was 0.22 micromolar, roughly thirty-fold more potent than the best plant constituent, so any additive effect would be modest. No human study of this plant exists at all, so this interaction is inferred entirely from rodent and enzyme data.
Clinical note: If a patient on urate-lowering therapy also takes this herb, monitor serum urate at the next routine check rather than pre-emptively changing the drug dose. The extract did not lower urate in normouricaemic rats, so hypouricaemia is not an expected outcome.
Azathioprine and mercaptopurine
Xanthine oxidase is the enzyme responsible for inactivating 6-mercaptopurine, and this is the basis of the well-known and dangerous allopurinol-azathioprine interaction. Constituents of this plant inhibit the same enzyme in vitro and in rat liver. However, the plant constituents are far weaker than allopurinol, no human exposure data exist, and no case of this interaction with Phyla nodiflora has been reported. The concern is entirely mechanistic.
Clinical note: Given the severity of thiopurine toxicity when xanthine oxidase is inhibited, avoid this herb in patients on azathioprine or mercaptopurine rather than attempting to monitor around a hazard nobody has quantified.
Loop and thiazide diuretics
The plant is used traditionally for diuresis, urinary disorder, lithiasis and swelling, and the fraction designated F4 significantly increased uric acid excretion in hyperuricaemic rats at 200 mg/kg, indicating a uricosuric as well as an enzyme-inhibitory component. Thiazides and loop diuretics conversely raise serum urate by promoting its tubular reabsorption. No human data exist on either the diuretic magnitude or the urate effect in people.
Clinical note: Consider fluid and electrolyte status if the herb is used at length alongside a diuretic, particularly in older patients. Do not rely on it to offset diuretic-induced hyperuricaemia.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Peng Lai Cao. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
2 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
0
In vitro / animal
2
1 verified · 1 unverified
Show 2 studies
- Flavonoids and phenylethanoid glycosides from Lippia nodiflora as promising antihyperuricemic agents and elucidation of their mechanism of action
- In vitro Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitory Studies of Lippia nodiflora and Isolated Flavonoids and Phenylethanoid Glycosides as Potential Uric Acid-lowering Agents
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
Flavonoids and phenylethanoid glycosides from Lippia nodiflora as promising antihyperuricemic agents and elucidation of their mechanism of action
Work on Lippia nodiflora, a synonym of Phyla nodiflora, in potassium oxonate- and hypoxanthine-induced hyperuricaemic rats. The methanol extract lowered serum uric acid dose-dependently; bioactivity-guided purification of the active fraction yielded arenarioside, verbascoside, 6-hydroxyluteolin, 6-hydroxyluteolin-7-O-glycoside and nodifloretin, with serum urate reductions of 22.08%, 29.03%, 66.94%, 49.16% and 55.97% respectively at 0.2 mmol/kg. The mechanism was inhibition of hepatic xanthine oxidase and xanthine dehydrogenase, with a separate uricosuric contribution from fraction F4. Neither the extract nor the active fraction lowered urate in normouricaemic rats, and no toxicity was seen at 5000 mg/kg of extract in the acute study.
In vitro Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitory Studies of Lippia nodiflora and Isolated Flavonoids and Phenylethanoid Glycosides as Potential Uric Acid-lowering Agents
The whole-plant methanol extract of Lippia nodiflora (Phyla nodiflora) was fractionated against a xanthine oxidase inhibition assay. The most potent fraction yielded five compounds whose IC50 values ranged from 7.52 to 130.00 micromolar, 6-hydroxyluteolin being the most potent. The allopurinol control gave an IC50 of 0.22 micromolar, so the plant constituents are roughly thirty-fold weaker than the standard drug at best - a useful calibration when judging how much of a clinical effect to expect.
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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