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Eleutherococcus
senticosus (Rupr. & Maxim.) Maxim.
Standardized Common
Name: Eleuthero
Other Common Names: Ciwujia, Siberian
Ginseng, Thorny Ginseng, Ussurian Thorny Pepperbush, Wild Pepper
Family: Araliaceae
Taxonomy: Eleutherococcus
includes about 30 species in eastern Asia, several of which have been used
medicinally. Eleutherococcus senticosus ranges from China to Siberia,
Korea and Japan. A frequently encountered synonym is Acanthopanax senticosus
(Rupr. & Maxim.) Harms.
Description: Shrub, 1–5(–6) m
high; stems multiple, seldom branching; at least the young branches densely
covered with long prickles; prickles slender, often pointing downward. Leaves
alternate, palmately compound, with 5 (rarely 3) leaflets; petioles prickly or
bristly; leaflets elliptic-obovate to oblong, 7–13 cm long, borne on short
petiolules; bases cuneate; apices short-acuminate; margins biserrate.
Inflorescences terminal umbels, single or in groups of 2–4, many-flowered, 3–4
cm in diameter. Flowers whitish, tiny (c. 1.5 mm long), borne on pedicels 1–2
cm long; calyx completely fused or shallowly 5-toothed; petals 5; stamens 5;
ovary 5-loculed with styles fused into a column. Fruit a berrylike drupe,
black, ovoid to subglobose, (6–)8–10 mm long, usually with 5 pyrenes (“seeds”);
pyrenes flattened.
Parts
in Commerce:
Roots and rhizome
Identification:
- Rhizome
irregularly shaped, roughly cylindrical, 1.4–4.2 cm in diameter
- Roots
cylindrical, contorted, occasionally branching, to 12(–15) cm long,
0.3–1.5 cm in diameter
- Outer surface
grayish to blackish brown, sometimes peeling off and exposing
grayish-yellow surface
- Rhizome
longitudinally wrinkled and furrowed; root surfaces wrinkled to nearly
smooth; lenticels transversely oriented
- Fracture hard,
coarsely fibrous
- Fractured
surface yellowish
- Root in
cross-section contains narrow brown cork (usually 5–7 cell layers thick);
narrow yellowish ring of cortex and phloem with scattered small groups of
small brown secretory canals; cambium; large yellowish cylinder of multiradiate
xylem with narrow rays of parenchyma
- Rhizome has pith
at center; bark is thicker than root bark (c. 2 mm) and phloem is more
fibrous than in root; older xylem is pale brown
- Bark does not
separate readily from xylem
- Odor
characteristic, slightly aromatic or acrid
- Taste bitter,
astringent, slightly pungent
Adulterants: Periploca sepium
Bunge (Periploca sepium or Chinese silk vine) is an unrelated Chinese
species that has been reported as an adulterant of E. senticosus.
Although its Chinese name is similar and it is sometimes substituted for E.
senticosus, it is considered to be relatively toxic. The root bark,
including cork, cortex and phloem, is 2–4 mm thick, whereas the bark of E.
senticosus is <2 mm thick, especially on the roots. The outer surface is
grayish to yellowish brown; the cork is soft and often scaly and peeling. The
root diameter is often 1–2 cm, whereas roots of E. senticosus are
<1.5 cm (and usually <1 cm) in diameter.
References:
Hu SY. 1980. Eleutherococcus vs. Acanthopanax.
J Arnold Arbor. 1980;61:107–111. [For nomenclature.]
Li H-L. The Araliaceae of China. Sargentia.
1942;2:1–134.
Pharmacopoeia Commission
of PRC, eds. Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, English ed., vol. 1. Beijing: Chemical
Industry Press; 1997:33 and 132.
Wichtl M, ed. Herbal Drugs and
Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd English
ed. Stuttgart: medpharm Scientific Publishers and Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press;
2004:187–190.
World Health
Organization. WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants. Vol. 2. Geneva: World Health Organization;
1999–2002:83–96.
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