Shui Hong Huang Zi
StarPersicaria orientalis (L.) Spach
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Urinary & fluids
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Before surgery
☯ TCM Properties
Dissipates Blood Stasis and breaks up Stagnation, tonifies the Spleen and promotes diuresis
Traditional Chinese Uses
Shui Hong Huang Zi (Fructus Polygoni Orientalis) is the dried mature fruit of Persicaria orientalis (=Polygonum orientale), prince's-feather. Salty, bitter and cool, entering the Liver and Spleen channels, it is a Blood-regulating medicinal that dissipates Blood Stasis and breaks up stagnation while also softening hardness. Its signature use is for palpable abdominal masses (Zheng Jia Ji Ju), hepatosplenomegaly-type accumulations, scrofula (nodular swellings) and Stasis-related sores.
It additionally tonifies the Spleen and promotes urination, helping abdominal distension, ascites, poor appetite and Damp swelling, and is used for Stasis-type stomach pain. It is decocted, powdered, made into paste or soaked in wine, and combined with other Blood-invigorating or mass-dispersing herbs. Being cool and Blood-moving, it is contraindicated in Spleen-Stomach deficiency-cold.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Shui Hong Huang Zi is the dried mature fruit (achene) of Persicaria orientalis (= Polygonum orientale; Polygonaceae), a robust annual herb 1–2 m tall widespread across temperate to subtropical Asia along riverbanks, ditches and disturbed wet ground. Stems are stout, branched, conspicuously softly pubescent and often tinged red at swollen nodes sheathed by fringed ochreae. Leaves are alternate, broadly ovate, 10–25 cm long, with pointed apex, rounded to subcordate base and pubescent surfaces. The terminal racemes are dense, drooping, 3–12 cm long, with deep rose-pink to red minute perianths. Each flower yields a single shiny, biconvex, dark-brown to nearly black lenticular achene about 3 mm across.
Active Constituents
Taxifolin (dihydroquercetin)
DihydroflavonolConcentration: the pharmacopoeial marker compound for the fruit; absolute content varies with origin and is not fixed by a single published figure
The most abundant flavonoid of the fruit and the compound designated as the quality indicator for Fructus Polygoni Orientalis in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It is absorbed after oral dosing of the fruit extract in rats, reaching plasma Cmax around 1.9 micrograms per millilitre in normal animals, and carries hepatoprotective activity attributed to reduced oxidative stress and suppression of inflammatory mediator release. It is the reasonable single marker for identity of the drug.
Quercetin
FlavonolA consistently reported flavonol of the plant, present in the fruit alongside taxifolin and in higher proportion in the aerial parts. It contributes to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of extracts and is the constituent behind most theoretical drug interaction concerns for this herb.
Protocatechuic acid and gallic acid
Phenolic acidPhenolic acids identified in Persicaria orientalis extracts by HPLC and high-resolution mass spectrometry. They form part of the antioxidant fraction; no individual clinical significance has been established for either in this species.
Orientin, isoorientin and vitexin
Flavone C-glycosideThe characteristic C-glycosyl flavones of the genus. Important caveat on plant part: these were identified as the main flavonoids of the ethyl acetate and ethyl ether extracts of the stems and leaves (the drug Hong Cao), which is the material used in the anti-inflammatory and analgesic pharmacology. Shui Hong Hua Zi is the dried ripe fruit, a different drug from the same plant, and its flavonoid profile is dominated by taxifolin rather than by the C-glycosides.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Drugs cleared by the liver in patients with cirrhosis or fibrosis
This herb is used in China chiefly for liver disease, so it is given to exactly the population in which handling is altered. In rats with porcine-serum-induced liver fibrosis, taxifolin exposure after oral fruit extract was substantially higher than in normal animals: Cmax 2648 versus 1940 nanograms per millilitre, AUC(0-t) 6680 versus 4950 hour-nanograms per millilitre, and mean residence time 3.17 versus 2.46 hours, all statistically significant. The authors conclude explicitly that pharmacokinetics must be considered separately in liver disease patients. No co-administered drug has been studied.
Clinical note: In cirrhosis or established fibrosis, start at the low end of the dose range and do not assume the same herb dose gives the same exposure as in a healthy patient. Monitor liver function alongside any hepatically cleared co-medication.
Antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs
The 2020 Journal of Ethnopharmacology review of Persicaria orientalis lists antithrombotic effects among the activities reported for crude extracts, and the drug is classified in Chinese medicine as one that dissipates blood stasis. No study has quantified an effect on human platelet function, coagulation times or on any anticoagulant drug, so this is a class-and-category inference only and is deliberately not graded higher.
Clinical note: No dose change is indicated on current evidence. Ask about bruising and bleeding as you would for any stasis-dispersing herb, and stop before surgery as a routine precaution rather than because of a documented interaction.
Persicaria orientalis aerial parts (Hong Cao) supplied as the fruit
Three distinct drugs come from this one plant: the dried ripe fruit (Shui Hong Hua Zi, Fructus Polygoni Orientalis), the stems and leaves (Hong Cao), and the inflorescence. The published pharmacology is not interchangeable between them: the anti-inflammatory and analgesic work was on stem-and-leaf extracts dominated by orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, luteolin and quercetin, while the pharmacopoeial fruit is standardised on taxifolin and is used for abdominal masses, oedema and liver disease. Substituting one for the other changes both the chemistry and the indication.
Clinical note: Confirm that a supplier's Shui Hong Hua Zi is the fruit and not the herb. A certificate quoting orientin or vitexin rather than taxifolin suggests aerial material.
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 4 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
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
4
1 verified · 3 unverified
Show 4 studies
- Comparative Pharmacokinetic Study of Taxifolin after Oral Administration of Fructus Polygoni Orientalis Extract in Normal and Fibrotic Rats by UPLC-MS/MS
- Investigating the medicinal potential, material basis and mechanism of Polygoni Orientalis Fructus based on multi-technology integrated network pharmacology
- Network pharmacology combined with metabolomics to reveal the anti-fibrotic mechanism of Polygoni Orientalis Fructus in CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis rats
- Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic Effects of Polygonum orientale L. Extracts
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
Comparative Pharmacokinetic Study of Taxifolin after Oral Administration of Fructus Polygoni Orientalis Extract in Normal and Fibrotic Rats by UPLC-MS/MS
Taxifolin was confirmed to be absorbed into blood after oral dosing of Fructus Polygoni Orientalis extract, and its pharmacokinetics differed significantly between normal rats and rats with porcine-serum-induced liver fibrosis. Cmax rose from 1940 to 2648 nanograms per millilitre, AUC(0-t) from 4950 to 6680 hour-nanograms per millilitre, AUC(0-infinity) from 5049 to 7095, and mean residence time from 2.46 to 3.17 hours. The authors conclude that dosing of this herb should take liver disease status into account.
Investigating the medicinal potential, material basis and mechanism of Polygoni Orientalis Fructus based on multi-technology integrated network pharmacology
Thirty phytochemical constituents were characterised in the fruit by LC-MS, of which eighteen yielded 277 potential targets. Pattern recognition across 23 candidate diseases selected non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as the best-matched indication, with PPARG, IL6, TNF, IL1B, IKBKB and RELA as leading targets. In free-fatty-acid-treated LO2 hepatocytes the fruit extract reduced steatosis, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation via AMPK activation and NF-kappaB suppression. This is target prediction with cell-based confirmation, not clinical evidence.
Network pharmacology combined with metabolomics to reveal the anti-fibrotic mechanism of Polygoni Orientalis Fructus in CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis rats
The fruit drug was tested in carbon-tetrachloride-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats, with network pharmacology and metabolomics used together to identify the pathways involved. The study supports the traditional Chinese clinical use of this fruit in liver fibrosis at the level of animal evidence; it does not establish efficacy in patients.
Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic Effects of Polygonum orientale L. Extracts
Ethyl acetate and ethyl ether extracts of the stems and leaves, containing orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, luteolin and quercetin, reduced xylene-induced ear oedema, carrageenan- and Freund's-adjuvant-induced paw oedema and cotton-pellet granuloma in rats, and reduced pain responses in the writhing, formaldehyde and hot-plate tests, with significant falls in serum TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6 and PGE2. Recorded here because it is the main pharmacology for this species, but note the material was the aerial part (Hong Cao), not the fruit that constitutes Shui Hong Hua Zi.
Historical Texts
Ming Yi Bie Lu
Han to Six Dynasties, c. 3rd-5th centuryBen Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty, 1578References
- Gou Kai-Jun, Zeng Rui, Ma Yue, Li Ai-Nuan, Yang Kai, Yan Heng-Xiu, Jin Shen-rui, Qu Yan. Traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology of Persicaria orientalis (L.) Spach - A review . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2020) [DOI]
- Zhang Xiaorui, Zhang Mingshuo, Wang Zhixin, Zhu Na, Zhang Jinfang, Sha Zijun, Li Zhiyong, Huang Xiulan. A review of the traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology and quality control of the ethnic medicinal plant Persicaria orientalis (L.) Spach in China . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2021) [DOI]
- KUROYANAGI MASANORI, FUKUSHIMA SEIGO. Highly oxygenated flavonoids from Polygonum orientale. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1982) [DOI]
- Shin Hyeji, Park Yeeun, Jeon Young Ho, Yan Xi-Tao, Lee Ki Yong. Identification of Polygonum orientale constituents using high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry . Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry (2018) [DOI]
- Cai Jin, Wang Shiqin, Wang Qi. Antibacterial Activity of Dihydroquercetin Separated from Fructus Polygoni orientalis against Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus via Damaging Cell Membrane . Foods (2023) [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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