Yi Zhi Huang Hua
StarSolidago decurrens Lour.
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Colds & fever
- Urinary & fluids
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Liver conditions
- Allergy risk
☯ TCM Properties
Relieves pain, reduces inflammation and opens the channels and collaterals; Reduces swelling and eliminates toxins
Traditional Chinese Uses
Yi Zhi Huang Hua, the whole flowering herb of Solidago decurrens (Chinese goldenrod), is a wind-damp dispelling and heat-clearing herb. Bitter, slightly sweet and cold, entering the Lung, Liver, Bladder and Kidney channels, it clears Heat, relieves toxicity, disperses Wind-Heat, reduces swelling and unblocks the channels to relieve pain.
It is used chiefly for wind-heat common cold, sore and swollen throat, tonsillitis, and for sores, boils and carbuncles taken internally or applied as a wash. Its diuretic, damp-clearing action also addresses damp-heat of the urinary tract and helps expel gravel and stones. As a folk and southern-Chinese remedy it is often decocted alone or pounded fresh for topical use on snakebite, swellings and traumatic injury.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Yi Zhi Huang Hua (一枝黃花) is the whole aerial plant or dried herb of Solidago decurrens Lour. (Asteraceae), a perennial goldenrod widely distributed in central, southern, and eastern China, where it grows in hillsides, grassy slopes, and forest margins to about 1 meter tall. Stems are erect with alternate lanceolate to oblanceolate serrate leaves, terminating in narrow panicles of small golden-yellow capitula in late summer and autumn. The whole plant is harvested at flowering and dried. In TCM, it is classified as pungent, bitter, and cool, entering the Lung and Liver channels, and is used to clear heat, detoxify, dispel wind, and reduce swelling for sore throat, common cold, and skin infections. Western herbal goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea and allies) shares diuretic and urinary-tract uses.
Active Constituents
Rutin
Flavonol O-glycosideConcentration: Not less than 0.10 percent anhydrous rutin in the dried whole herb - the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020 assay marker for this drug
Quercetin 3-O-rutinoside, the official potency marker for Herba Solidaginis in China. Contributes antioxidant and capillary-stabilising activity, and its assay is the practical way to distinguish adequately grown and dried material from exhausted or adulterated lots.
Quercetin
Flavonol aglyconeConcentration: Present as aglycone and as the aglycone of rutin and quercitrin; not separately specified by the Pharmacopoeia
Identified by UHPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap mass spectrometry in Solidago decurrens and picked out, with kaempferol, as one of the two compounds most likely to carry the herb's activity against lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury in a network pharmacology analysis.
Kaempferol
Flavonol aglyconeConcentration: Identified in the herb by UHPLC-Orbitrap mass spectrometry
The second of the two flavonols implicated in the anti-inflammatory activity of the whole herb, with TNF, IL6 and IL1B as the predicted core targets.
Chlorogenic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acid (caffeoylquinic acid)Concentration: Routinely determined together with rutin and quercetin in Herba Solidaginis quality-control assays
The principal phenolic acid of the drug. Contributes antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and is used with rutin as an identity and content marker.
delta-Elemene
Sesquiterpene hydrocarbon (essential oil)Concentration: 30.8 percent of the leaf essential oil, itself 0.37 percent yield by hydrodistillation from fresh leaf
The dominant volatile of Solidago decurrens leaf and the compound that most clearly separates this species chemically from the European Solidago virgaurea, whose oil is dominated by different terpenes. Elemene-type sesquiterpenes carry antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity in vitro.
beta-Caryophyllene
Bicyclic sesquiterpene (essential oil)Concentration: 15.4 percent of the leaf essential oil
A dietary cannabinoid CB2 receptor agonist with well-documented anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity, and a plausible contributor to the pain-relieving action attributed to the herb.
Ledene oxide-(II)
Oxygenated sesquiterpene (essential oil)Concentration: 13.1 percent of the leaf essential oil
Third most abundant volatile of the leaf oil. Of chemotaxonomic value in confirming the identity of the Chinese species against Solidago canadensis and Solidago virgaurea.
Germacrene D
Sesquiterpene hydrocarbon (essential oil)Concentration: 4.5 percent of the leaf essential oil
A minor component here, in contrast to several other Solidago species where it dominates the oil. The difference is a caution against importing Solidago virgaurea or Solidago canadensis essential oil data into this record.
Benzyl benzoate glycosides
Aromatic ester glycosideConcentration: Isolated from the whole herb by Shiraiwa et al.
Aromatic esters of this class were first reported from Solidago decurrens by Bohlmann in 1981 and a benzyl benzoate glycoside was characterised from the species in 2012. They are among the few structural classes securely tied to this binomial rather than to the genus.
3-Deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid derivatives
Ulosonic acid (sugar acid) derivativeConcentration: Isolated from the whole herb by Shiraiwa et al.
An unusual class of plant metabolite, better known as a bacterial lipopolysaccharide core sugar. Its occurrence in Solidago decurrens is chemically notable but has no established clinical significance.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Qian Li Guang (Senecio scandens) as a substituted or admixed herb
Senecio scandens and Solidago decurrens are cut into visually similar herbal pieces: the stems share the same angular form and pith and both species carry abundant white pappus, so the two are confusable in trade. Senecio scandens is not a benign confusion. Li et al. detected nine toxic and two non-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in its aqueous extract, unequivocally identifying neoplatyphylline, senecionine, senecionine N-oxide, seneciphylline, seneciphylline N-oxide and senkirkine, with an estimated total toxic alkaloid content of 10.82 micrograms per gram - above the level several European regulators permit. These alkaloids are bioactivated in the liver to pyrrolic esters that damage sinusoidal endothelium, and senecionine, seneciphylline and senkirkine are tumorigenic in animals. Adonifoline serves as the marker distinguishing Senecio scandens from congeners.
Clinical note: Buy Herba Solidaginis on botanical identification, not appearance, and prefer suppliers who assay rutin to the Pharmacopoeia minimum of 0.10 percent. Do not co-prescribe with Qian Li Guang or with other Senecio drugs, and avoid the herb entirely in patients with existing liver disease or on hepatotoxic medication until identity is confirmed.
Diuretics and lithium
Goldenrod's reputation as an aquaretic rests almost entirely on the European species Solidago virgaurea, which carries the great majority of the pharmacological literature on the genus and is the source of the diuretic and antihypertensive claims. Solidago decurrens differs measurably in chemistry - its leaf oil is dominated by delta-elemene where the European species is not - and no diuretic study exists on it. The interaction is recorded as theoretical precisely so that the Solidago virgaurea evidence is not silently imported into this record.
Clinical note: Do not prescribe this herb as a diuretic on the strength of European goldenrod monographs. In a patient on lithium or a loop diuretic, monitor as usual rather than assuming an interaction, but record the herb so an unexplained change can be attributed.
Asteraceae-family allergens (in patients sensitised to ragweed, chrysanthemum or feverfew)
Solidago is a wind- and insect-pollinated Asteraceae genus closely related to Ambrosia, and cross-reactivity within the family is well described for sesquiterpene lactone and pollen allergens. The whole flowering herb is used, so pollen is present in the drug. This is a patient-factor contraindication rather than a pharmacokinetic interaction, but it changes prescribing.
Clinical note: Ask about hay fever and Compositae sensitivity before prescribing. Avoid in patients with known ragweed or chrysanthemum allergy.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 9–15 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 monograph 【一枝黄花】【用法与用量】9~15g。 【性味与归经】辛、苦，凉。归肺、肝经。 — Matched to ChP by romanised drug name (pinyin 'Yi Zhi Huang Hua' → 一枝黄花); the romanisation is unique across all 649 ChP monographs, and the match was cross-checked against this record's own TCM temperature. Quoted verbatim. |
Evidence Tier
Limited 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
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
Show 2 studies
- Solidago decurrens Lour. controls LPS-induced acute lung injury by reducing inflammatory responses and modulating the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway
- Miniaturized centrifugation accelerated pipette-tip matrix solid-phase dispersion based on poly(deep eutectic solvents) surface imprinted graphene oxide composite adsorbent for rapid extraction of anti-adipogenesis markers from Solidago decurrens Lour
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
Solidago decurrens Lour. controls LPS-induced acute lung injury by reducing inflammatory responses and modulating the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway
UHPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap mass spectrometry identified 19 compounds in Solidago decurrens; network pharmacology found 140 targets shared with acute lung injury, with quercetin and kaempferol as the leading compounds and TNF, IL6 and IL1B as core targets. The predictions were then tested experimentally: cell viability, qPCR, ELISA and immunoblotting in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cells, and haematoxylin-eosin staining of lung tissue in vivo. The herb reduced inflammatory signalling through the TLR4, NF-kappaB and NLRP3 axis. This is the strongest species-specific pharmacological evidence available for the drug.
Miniaturized centrifugation accelerated pipette-tip matrix solid-phase dispersion based on poly(deep eutectic solvents) surface imprinted graphene oxide composite adsorbent for rapid extraction of anti-adipogenesis markers from Solidago decurrens Lour
Analytical method development for selective extraction of anti-adipogenic marker compounds from Solidago decurrens using an imprinted graphene oxide composite adsorbent. Its value to a clinical record is as independent confirmation that defined marker constituents can be recovered and quantified from this species, which underpins the identity testing that the Senecio scandens confusion makes necessary.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Liver conditions
- Allergy risk
Contraindications
Its use is cautious in pregnant women.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 73–79.
Historical Texts
Zhi Wu Ming Shi Tu Kao (Illustrated Investigation of the Names and Natures of Plants), Wu Qijun
Qing dynasty, 1848Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, 2020 edition, Part 1
Modern official standard, 2020References
- Ken Shiraiwa; Shen Yuan; Ayako Fujiyama; Yosuke Matsuo; Takashi Tanaka; Zhi-Hong Jiang; Isao Kouno. Benzyl Benzoate Glycoside and 3-Deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic Acid Derivatives from Solidago decurrens . Journal of Natural Products (2012) [DOI]
- Ferdinand Bohlmann; Zhong-Liang Chen; Angelika Schuster. Aromatic esters from Solidago decurrens . Phytochemistry (1981) [DOI]
- Xiwu Zhu; Xiaohan Zhang; Jishuang Chen; Jicai Tan; Haixiang Chen; Fanghao Wan. Chemical Composition of Leaf Essential Oil From Solidago decurrens Lour. . Journal of Essential Oil Research (2009) [DOI]
- Song-Lin Li; Ge Lin; Peter P. Fu; Chi-Leung Chan; Mi Li; Zhi-Hong Jiang; Zhong-Zhen Zhao. Identification of five hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in a commonly used traditional Chinese medicinal herb, Herba Senecionis scandentis (Qianliguang) . Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (2008) [DOI]
- Fang Zhang; Chang-hong Wang; Wan Wang; Lu-xin Chen; Hong-yan Ma; Chao-feng Zhang; Mian Zhang; S. W. Annie Bligh; Zheng-tao Wang. Quantitative analysis by HPLC-MS2 of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid adonifoline in Senecio scandens . Phytochemical Analysis (2008) [DOI]
- Huihui Zhang; Yingzhi Zhang; Jiahao Li; Chuanjiang Fan; Junjie Gu; Yinzhi Jin; Yingpeng Tong. UHPLC Q-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry-Based Molecular Networking for Identification of Chemical Constituents in the Multi-Herb Formula Runyan Mixture . ACS Omega (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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