OBJECTIVETo study morphological features of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs in hot property.

METHODAltogether 114 traditional Chinese medicinal herbs in hot property were selected as study objects. EpiData 3.02 software was applied to establish a database, and SPSS 18.0 statistical software was used for data analysis.

RESULTIn terms of shape, there were 25 cylindrical herbs, accounting for 21.9%, which was the largest proportion; 12 flaky herbs, taking up 10.5%; 11 sphere herbs, occupying 9.6%; 9 ovate and massive herbs, respectively, accounting for 7.9%; 8 oval herbs, taking up 7.0%; and the rest herbs were distributed dispersedly. By color, there were red cases, accounting for 39.5%, which was the largest proportion; 29 yellow cases, accounting for 25.4%; 16 black cases, accounting for 14.1%; 15 green cases, accounting for 13.2%; and 9 white cases, accounting for 8.9%. By odor, there were 62 cases with aroma (including slight aroma), accounting for 54.4%; 28 cases with slight odor, accounting for 24.6%; 13 cases without odor, accounting for 11.4%; 7 cases with specific odor, taking up 6.1%; 4 fishy cases, taking up 3.5%. By taste, there were 36 cases in pungent taste (including slight pungent), occuping 31.6%; 35 cases in bitter taste (including slight bitter), taking up 30.7%; 19 sweet cases (including slight sweet), occuping 16.6%; 5 salt cases (including slight salt), occuping 4.5%; 4 sour cases (including slight sour), occuping 3.5%; 11 cases in flat taste, occuping 9.6%; 3 astringent cases, occupying 2.6%; and 1 numb-taste case, occuping 0.9%. In terms of texture, hard herbs (including hard and solid ones) occupied 39.4%; crisp herbs occupied 24.6%; light-weigh herbs occupied 12.3%; heavy-weigh herbs occupied 3.5%; loose herbs occupied 2.6%; and tough herbs occupied 5.3%.

CONCLUSIONThe morphologic characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines in hot property show certain regularity. They are mostly cylindrical, red, pungent and hard, with aroma.