Zi Teng
StarWisteria sinensis (Sims) Sweet
Also known as: Tzŭ T'êng · Wade–Giles
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Bowel health
Cautions & contraindications
- Toxic — professional use only
☯ TCM Properties
Relieves Dampness; Treats cancer
Traditional Chinese Uses
Zi Teng (紫藤) is the stem and woody parts of Wisteria sinensis, Chinese wisteria (Caulis Wisteriae Sinensis). It is a minor folk medicinal rather than a mainstream materia medica herb, and classical documentation is limited. In regional Chinese folk use the stem and its galls are taken to relieve dampness and to treat abdominal pain and gastrointestinal complaints, and there are folk and preliminary reports of its use against tumors; this anticancer application is not established in standard references and should be regarded as unproven.
Safety: all parts of the plant, and especially the seeds and pods, contain the toxic glycoside wisterin (wisterine) and a lectin, which can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. It requires caution and should not be self-administered.
Click a node for details · double-click to expand it · Ctrl/⌘ + scroll or two fingers to zoom and pan.
Botanical Description
Zhong Yao Cai (中药材) is not the name of a single medicinal substance but a general Chinese-language term meaning "Chinese medicinal materials" or "crude Chinese drugs" — the broad category that encompasses all plant, animal, and mineral materia medica used in traditional Chinese medicine. The phrase appears throughout pharmacopoeial literature as a heading or category label rather than as a specific item. Because no single species, organ, or substance corresponds to this title, no botanical description can be supplied. The record follows the unidentifiable null-pattern; downstream curation should either reassign the entry to its intended specific substance or remove the placeholder.
Active Constituents
Wistariasapogenol A glycosides
Oleanane-type triterpene saponinsConcentration: Seven oleanane glycosides were isolated from an aqueous-ethanolic extract of the roots, two of them previously unreported; no quantification exists for the stem, which is the part this drug name designates
Structurally close to glycyrrhizin from licorice, and the isolates were assessed for stimulation of the sweet taste receptor TAS1R2 and TAS1R3. This is the only rigorous modern phytochemistry available for this species, and it was performed on the roots. Do not assume the stem carries the same saponin profile.
Wisterin
GlycosideConcentration: Named in the toxicological literature as concentrated in the seeds and pods and low in the petals; no modern quantitative assay or full structural characterisation is available
Conventionally cited as one of the two toxic principles of wisteria, held responsible for the severe vomiting and diarrhoea of wisteria poisoning and hence for the risk of dehydration. Practitioners should know that this compound is named far more often than it is characterised: the clinical toxicity of wisteria seeds is well documented, but the chemical attribution rests on older literature rather than on modern isolation work.
Wisteria seed lectin
LectinConcentration: Reported as concentrated in the seeds and pods; not quantified for Wisteria sinensis specifically
The second conventionally cited toxic principle, a haemagglutinating plant protein of the toxalbumin type that interferes with protein synthesis and agglutinates red cells. The well-characterised wisteria lectin of the research literature is Wisteria floribunda agglutinin, a laboratory reagent from the Japanese congener, not a characterised isolate from Wisteria sinensis. The toxicological attribution for this species is by genus analogy.
⚠ Drug Interactions
All concurrent oral medication during wisteria seed or pod ingestion
Wisteria seeds and pods are poisonous. Seven young children were reported with acute intoxication after ingesting seed of the Japanese congener Wisteria floribunda, and two cases of poisoning specifically attributed to Wistaria chinensis, the older name for this species, were published in the Italian forensic literature in 1956. The clinical picture is acute gastroenteritis with repeated vomiting, abdominal cramping and diarrhoea beginning within about half an hour to three hours, and dehydration is the mechanism of serious harm. Vomiting and diarrhoea of that severity will cause erratic absorption of any concurrent oral drug, and the resulting volume and electrolyte loss is dangerous for anyone on a diuretic, an ACE inhibitor, lithium or digoxin. State this plainly to patients: the ornamental vine in the garden has toxic seeds and pods, and the seed pods are attractive to children.
Clinical note: Never dispense or recommend the seeds or pods. If ingestion is suspected, especially in a child, treat as a plant poisoning and contact a poisons centre rather than managing it as a herb reaction. The medicinal drug named here is the stem, and it must not be supplied with pods or seeds attached.
Insulin, sulfonylureas and other glucose-lowering drugs
A lipophilic extract of the edible flowers of Wisteria sinensis lowered blood glucose in high-fat-diet and streptozotocin-treated diabetic mice and increased glucose uptake in L6 cells through Akt phosphorylation and GLUT4 translocation. The plant part is the flower, not the stem that this drug name designates, and there is no human study. The interaction is recorded here so that a practitioner meets the flower evidence in its proper place rather than importing it into the stem monograph.
Clinical note: Do not transfer the flower data to the stem drug. If a patient is eating wisteria flowers, which is a genuine culinary practice, and is on glucose-lowering therapy, the sensible response is glucose monitoring rather than a prohibition.
Other Chinese vine drugs sold as sliced stem (Ji Xue Teng, Hong Teng, Luo Shi Teng)
Zi Teng is one of a family of Chinese drugs whose names end in teng, meaning vine, and which are dispensed as transverse slices of woody stem. Sliced stems of unrelated species are difficult to tell apart once dried, and Zi Teng is a marginal drug with a very thin published literature, which means little published work exists on how to authenticate it. This is a general identification hazard for the drug class, not a documented adulteration event for this species.
Clinical note: Insist on the binomial rather than the pinyin when ordering, and prefer suppliers who can provide botanical authentication. Given how little is known about this drug, an unverified vine sold as Zi Teng is not worth using.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Zi Teng. Not a prescription.
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
2
2 verified · 0 unverified
In vitro / animal
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
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
Acute intoxication due to Wisteria floribunda seed in seven young children
Seven young children with acute intoxication after ingesting wisteria seed. This is the largest published human series of wisteria poisoning and the strongest evidence that the seeds are genuinely toxic to children. The species is Wisteria floribunda, the Japanese congener, not the Wisteria sinensis of this monograph; the two are close relatives with the same conventionally attributed toxic principles, and the finding is recorded here as genus-level rather than species-specific evidence.
Wisteria toxicity
Clinical toxicology case report on wisteria poisoning. Together with the paediatric series it establishes that wisteria ingestion produces real, reported human toxicity rather than a theoretical hazard inherited from garden-safety lists.
Antidiabetic effects of a lipophilic extract obtained from flowers of Wisteria sinensis by activating Akt/GLUT4 and Akt/GSK3β
A lipophilic extract of the edible flowers of this species improved hyperglycaemia, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia, hepatic steatosis and pancreatic damage in high-fat-diet and streptozotocin-treated diabetic mice, and increased GLUT4 expression and translocation in L6 cells through Akt phosphorylation, with GSK3-beta phosphorylation in liver and skeletal muscle. Correct species, but the flowers rather than the stem named by this drug.
Activation of a Sweet Taste Receptor by Oleanane-Type Glycosides from Wisteria sinensis
Seven oleanane-type glycosides, two of them previously unreported, isolated from an aqueous-ethanolic extract of the roots of this species and evaluated for stimulation of the TAS1R2 and TAS1R3 sweet taste receptor on the basis of their structural similarity to licorice glycyrrhizin. This is the best modern phytochemical characterisation of Wisteria sinensis, and it establishes the root, not the stem, as the source of the saponins.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Ventura R. [Two cases of poisoning with wisteria (Wistaria chinensis Curt); case reports] . Minerva medicolegale; archivio di antropologia criminale, psichiatria, e medicina legale (1956)
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.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Zi Teng.
No notes yet.