Zhi Chuan Wu

Zhi Chuan Wu is the processed (detoxified) parent (mother) tuberous root of Aconitum carmichaelii, a stout perennial herb in the Ranunculaceae family native to central and eastern China. The plant produces an erect stem 60-150 cm tall bearing dark green palmately divided leaves with 3-5 deeply lobed segments and a terminal raceme of striking helmet-shaped deep blue-purple flowers in late summer and autumn. Below ground each plant has a conical to elongated dark brown tuberous parent root (Chuan Wu) that typically gives rise during the growing season to one or more attached daughter tubers, harvested separately as Fu Zi. The raw parent root contains highly cardiotoxic diester diterpenoid alkaloids (aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine) and must be processed by prolonged boiling, sometimes with adjuncts, to hydrolyse these alkaloids into far less toxic monoester forms before use.