Bai Tou Weng

Radix Pulsatillae (Baitouweng) Chinese Pulsatilla Root Chinese Pulsatilla Root is the dried root of Pulsatilla chinensis (Bge.) Regel (Fam. Ranunculaceae). The drug is collected in spring and autumn, removed from soil, and dried. Description Subcylindrical or conical, slightly tortuous, 6-20 cm long, 0.5-2 cm in diameter. Externally yellowish-brown or brown, irregularly and longitudinally wrinkled or furrowed, bark easily exfoliated, the exposed wood yellow, some exhibiting reticulated fissures and cracks, usually with decayed depressed holes near root stock. Root stock slightly swollen, white-tomentose, some showing sheathlike pedicel bases. Texture hard and, fracture yellowish-white or pale yellowish-brown in bark and pale yellow in wood. Odour, slight; taste, slightly bitter and astringent. Identification (1) Powder: Greyish-brown. Phloem fibres fusiform or spindle-shaped, 100-390 mm long, 16-42 mm in diameter, with lignified walls. Non-glandular hairs unicellular, 13-33 mm in diame