OBJECTIVETo determine the medicinal part and varieties of Cannabis Sativa through herbal textual research to Provide bibliographic reference for clinical application.

METHODHerbal textual research of C. Sativa from ancient herbal works and modern data analysis.

RESULTThrough the herbal textual research, the plant of the C. sativa, for Fructus Cannabis used now is identical with that described in ancient herbal literatures. People did not make a sharp distinction on medicinal part of C. sativa in the early stage literatures, female inflorescence and unripe fruit, fruit and kernel of seed were all used. Since Taohongjing realized the toxicity ofpericarp, all the herbal and prescription works indicate that the pericarp shall be removed before usage and only the kernel can be used. However, in modem literatures, both fruit and kernel can be used as medicinal part.

CONCLUSIONThe plants for Fructus Cannabis described in modern and ancient literatures are identical. The base of the original plant is the same either in ancient or modern. And the toxicity of the fruit is more than that of the kernel. The kernel is the exact medicinal part of C. Sativa.