ABSTRACT
Pueraria lobata and Pueraria thomsonii are leguminous vines that can grow rapidly in almost every habitat where the weather is warm. They are known as Ge in China. Ge Gen, the root of Ge, is one of the most commonly used medicinal materials in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (The Pharmacopoeia Commission of People’s Republic of China (PRC), 1995). Ge Gen was first described in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Anonymous, c. 200 BC), the first Chinese materia medica, as sweet and acrid in taste, cool in nature and was used as an antipyretic, antidiarrhetic, diaphoretic and antiemetic agent. In Huang Di Nei Jing (Anonymous, c. 100 BC) and Shang Han Lun (Zhang, c. 200 BC), the two classic texts of TCM, Ge Gen was recommended for stiffness and pain of the neck, pain in the eye, febrile diseases, exhaustion and thirst, and for the induction of early measles eruption (Jiang Su Medical College, 1977). Today, it is still widely used in China, by laymen and medical professionals alike, for the treatment of “exo-pathogenic” diseases with symptoms such as fever, headache, stiffness and pain in the neck and back. It is also used for dire thirst in febrile disease, polydipsia in diabetes, and stiffness and pain in the neck resulted from hypertension.
