[Historical and herbological investigation of Yinchenhao]

The description of "Yinchenhao" in Chinese and Japanese medical and pharmaceutical literature, Bencao, was historically examined.Yinchenhao was consistently considered an indispensable medicine for treating jaundice. It was estimated that in China, a shrubby Artemisia plant just like the Artemisia capillaris, or a related plant, was utilized as Yinchenhao in the Liuchao and Song dynasties. Further, several kinds of. plants, including Artemisia, were used in the Song Dynasty and probably thereafter. Until the Song Dynasty, the leaves and stems of elongated aerial parts of the plants described above were used, while young (non-elongated) shoots on the stems of the previous year, which were called Mianyinchen after the Qing Dynasty, were found to be already utilized in the Ming Dynasty. In Japan, the botanical source of Yinchenhao was believed to be A. capillaris since the Edo era, without any differentiation in opinion. In the early Edo era, the leaves and stems of the plant seem to have been used. But late in Edo era, the flower heads of the plant gradually prevailed in the market.