Qing Feng Teng

Qing Feng Teng is the dried stem of Sinomenium acutum (Thunb.) Rehder & E.H.Wilson (Menispermaceae), a deciduous twining woody vine of central and southern China, Japan, and Korea reaching 10 to 20 m in length. Stems are cylindrical, longitudinally striated, with a porous yellowish wood whose cross section shows radiating medullary rays; alternate broadly cordate to palmately lobed leaves and small dioecious yellow-green flowers in axillary panicles produce small dark drupes. The chief active constituent, the alkaloid sinomenine, has well-characterized anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and immunomodulatory activity and is the basis of the marketed drug Zheng Qing Feng Tong Ning. In traditional Chinese medicine the stem is bitter, acrid, and neutral, entering the Liver and Spleen channels; it dispels wind-damp, unblocks channels, and promotes urination for rheumatic and arthritic joint pain.