Haemophilus influenza treated with TCM woad leaves

What are woad leaves(Da Qing Ye)? As a matter of fact, woad is the common name of Isatis tinctoria, which is one of the members in the family Brassicaceae. This herb has high pharmaceutical values and the main medicinal parts are its roots and leaves. And in another our previous article, isatis root or Ban Lan Gen has already been covered. The leaf is also known as indigo leaves or isatis leaves. In terms of TCM, it refers to the leaf of Isatis tinctoria L., I. indigotica Fort., Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek. [Strobilanthes flaccidifolius Nees], Clerodendron cyrtophyllum Turcz., and Polygonum tinctorium Lour. All the leaves of above-mentioned species can be used as a raw material for manufacturing indigo. However, when it comes to the roots, the Indigofera tinctoria is the only one that can’t be used medicinally.

And Isatis indigotica Fortune is the most common one medicinally. As a biennial herb, the woad plants are 50 to 100cm in height, smooth, and covered with pruina. The fleshy root is nearly conical, in diameter of 2 to 3cm, 20 to 30cm long, and with soil yellow surface, short stripes and a few short fibrous roots. Basal leaves are in the shape of rosette, with oblong to broadly oblanceolate leaf blade, 5 to 15cm long, and 1.5 to 4cm wide. Leaf comes with obtuse apex and entire or slightly corrugated margin. The inflorescence is raceme, terminal or axillary, forming cone at branch tip. Silicle is nearly oblong, flattened, glabrous, and with membranous wings on the edge. Seed is only one, oblong, and light brown. It usually blooms from April to May and fruits from May to June.

Woad leaf health benefits
As mentioned previously, woad leaves are more than just a dye. It is widely used in clinical practice to treat a variety of illness. And the following information is for your reference only.

Modern pharmacology
1. Antibiotic effect. In vitro test of the isatis leaf decoction showed that it has a certain inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, catarrhal bacteria, Salmonella typhi, E. coli, Haemophilus influenza, diphtheria bacilli and Shigella.

It inhibits also encephalitis B virus, mumps virus, and influenza virus. In addition, it kills leptospira.

2. Anti-endotoxin effects. In vivo experiments showed that isatis leaves have anti-endotoxin effect on E. coli O111B4.

3. Indirubin has a higher inhibitory rate on leukemia L7212 in mouse.