Identification of real and fake aster

Aster, also known as aster and Ziqian, is the root and rhizome of aster, a Compositae plant It is mostly grown in mountains or riverside grasslands According to the book of Materia Medica, "aster plants in three days are planted with seedlings and leaves Its leaves are connected in three or four ways In May and June, it has yellow, purple and white flowers and black seeds." It can be dug in spring and autumn every year After removing the stems, leaves and soil, its fibrous roots are braided into plaits The commodity is called "aster plait" It can be used as medicine after drying It has the functions of warming the lung, reducing phlegm and stopping coughing It is often used to treat cold cough, asthma, asthenia cough, purulent blood, larynx arthralgia and dysuria It is the medicine of lung blood The root or rhizome of Aster yunnanensis, which belongs to the same family, is used as aster in the market Real product aster: the dried rhizome is round in shape, 2-6cm in length and 1.5cm-3cm in diameter There are traces of stem base and petiole on the top, and there is often an unclean mother root at the bottom Many fine roots are clustered under the pimple head, with purplish red or grayish red root surface The texture is soft, not easy to break, and the section is grayish white with purple edge It smells slightly fragrant, tastes sweet, a little bit Bitterness Faked aster dianensis: it is the rhizome of oxtail ginseng It is irregular and massive There are many cylindrical fine roots at the lower end It is 7-15cm longer than the real one, and its surface is light brown or brown yellow It is solid and brittle, easy to break, and the broken surface is slightly powdery It smells special, tastes light, bitter and cold From the above characteristics, we can distinguish whether aster is genuine or not Modern pharmacological studies show that aster has significant expectorant and antitussive effects, and its efficacy can last for more than 4 hours; it has a certain inhibitory effect on a variety of pathogenic bacteria It has also been reported that the episteric uninhibited terpenol isolated from Aster has a certain anti-cancer effect on Ehrlich ascites cancer, while the fake aster dianensis, although it belongs to the same family as the real aster, does not have the above-mentioned effect of the real aster, so it can not be used as a substitute for aster.