Stress, fatigue treated with TCM Lophatherum

What is Lophatherum(Dan Zhu Ye)?
Also known as Herba Lophatheri in Latin, Lophatherum herb means the dried stems and leaves of Lophatherum gracile Brongn., a perennial grass in Poaceae family. Its length is between 25 to 75cm. Stems are cylindrical, with joints, yellowish green surface, and hollow sections. Sheath is cracked. Leaves are lanceolate, 5 to 20cm long, 1 to 3.5cm wide, with light green or yellow-green surface. Sometimes leaves are wrinkled and curled. Veins are parallel, with smaller transverse veins, which form a rectangular grid, especially on the lower surface. It is lightweight and flexible, and with slight odor and taste.

As mentioned above, its Chinese counterpart of Dan Zhu Ye may cause dispute because it involves other two different herbs – the leaves of Phyllostachys nigra Munro var. henonis (Miff)Stapf. ex Rehd. and the whole plant of Commelina communis L. As a matter of fact, Lophatherum gracile Brongn. was initially recorded in Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica). As you can see now, Dan Zhu Ye containing formulas that are before Ming Dynasty refers to the leaves of Phyllostachys nigra Munro var. henonis(Miff)Stapf. ex Rehd only, which now are not available in pharmacies and generally replaced with Lophatherum. If fresh bamboo leaves do need, they usually are collected temporarily. As for the Commelina communis L., it has different efficacy and thus should not be mixed with Lophatherum leaf.

Chemical constituents of Lophatherum are mainly the triterpene compound, including Arundoin, Cylindrin, Taraxerol, and Friedelin. In addition, the overground part contains phenolic component, amino acids, organic acids, and sugars. Lophatherum gracile leaf and stem contain arundoin, cylindrin, taraxasterol, friedelin, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, and campesterol. Roots contain arundoin and cylindrin.

Lophatherum benefits
This herb has very high pharmaceutical value. In recent years, Chinese medicine and food science found that its foliage chemistry has good nutrition and health benefits. According to the test conducted, its main functional factors include flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acids, manganese, zinc and other trace elements. And experiments showed that these active ingredients can contribute a lot of health benefits, including removing the body’s reactive oxygen species that prompt human aging, inducing the activity of antioxidant enzymes inside the organism, enhancing the body’s resistance to stress and fatigue, improving memory, and delaying senescence and so on.