Pharmacognosy, i.e. the performance of traditional Chinese medicine, refers to the nature and function of drugs in the process of disease prevention and treatment, and is the theoretical basis for recognizing and using traditional Chinese medicine under the guidance of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as for elucidating the mechanism of drug efficacy. Pharmacognosy mainly includes the four qi, five flavors, attribution, elevation, floating and sinking, and toxicity.
1. The four qi: cold, heat, warmth and coolness, which are conducive to reflecting the nature of the effect of influencing the body’s yin and yang, as well as the pathological changes of heat and cold.
2. Five flavors: pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty, which is helpful to reflect the characteristics of the drug action in tonic, drainage and dispersal.
3. Meridian: “to” refers to the part of the drug can act, “meridian” refers to the meridian and its organs, meridian is conducive to the generalization of the role of the drug on the body treatment as well as the scope of adaptation.
4. Lifting, floating and sinking: upward and outward action can be referred to as floating, downward and inward action can be referred to as sinking, lifting, floating and sinking can reflect the role of drugs in the body presents a direction and trend.
5. Toxicity: the broad sense refers to the bias of the drug, is used to elucidate the mechanism of drug efficacy of the theoretical basis, is one of the main content of the performance of traditional Chinese medicine. The narrow sense refers to the toxic drugs on the body’s injurious.
It should be noted that, in order to use Chinese medicine in a safe and rational manner, it is recommended to use Chinese medicine under the guidance of a doctor or pharmacist.