Hu S Y
Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Am J Chin Med. 1997;25(1):103-34. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X97000147.
Commercial Chinese herbal tea is the development of the populace in tropical and subtropical China consequential to their fight against infectious diseases and their struggle to explore local plants to relieve fever, to alleviate pain, to restore strength and to modulate immunity against viral epidemics. From these ethnomedical experiences, two types of herbal teas were commercialized, namely, liangcha and medicated teas. Liangcha refers to a ready-made decoction infused from wild plants served in simple stores in cities and towns. Medicated teas are parcelled material prepared from crude drugs with or without tea (Camellia sinensis [L.] O. Ktze,), sold in colorful boxes and bags to people for use at home. Investigations of liangcha were made in Hong Kong and Macao, and studies for medicated teas were done from samples obtained in Chinese stores at Boston. A total of 127 source species of these herbal teas were identified and arranged in two alphabetical lists by the botanical names, each followed by an English common name in parenthesis, part used, frequency in samples, and family. External recognizing characters of medicated teas, discussions of problems encountered in identifying source species, relevant toxicities, and potential new vegetal pharmaceutical resources are given.
中国商业凉茶是中国热带和亚热带地区民众对抗传染病以及探索当地植物以解热、止痛、恢复体力和调节抗病毒免疫力的成果。基于这些民族医学经验，两种凉茶实现了商业化，即凉茶和药茶。凉茶是指由野生植物熬制而成的现成汤剂，在城镇的简易店铺中供应。药茶是用生药制成的成包材料，有无茶叶（茶 [山茶科 L.] 奥·克茨）均可，装在色彩鲜艳的盒子和袋子里卖给人们在家中使用。在香港和澳门对凉茶进行了调查，对药茶的研究则是从波士顿的华人商店获取的样本展开。共鉴定出这些凉茶的127种来源植物，并按植物学名排列成两个字母顺序表，每个学名后括号内为英文通用名、使用部位、样本中的出现频率及所属科。给出了药茶的外部识别特征、识别来源植物时遇到的问题讨论、相关毒性以及潜在的新植物药资源。
