Artemisia Capillaris Flower
Artemisiae Capillaris Flos
Artemisia Capillaris Flower is the capitulum of Artemisia capillaris Thunberg (Compositae).
Description:
Capitulum of ovoid to spherical, capitula, about 1.5 - 2 mm in length, about 2 mm in diameter, with linear leaves, peduncles, and thin stem. Outer surface of capitulum, light green to light yellow-brown in color; peduncle, green-brown to dark brown in color. Under a magnifying glasses, the capitulum; involucral scale, in 3 – 4 succubous rows, outer scale of ovate with obtuse, inner scale of elliptical, 1.5 mm in length, longer than outer one, with keel midrib and thin membranous margin. Floret; tubular, marginal flower of female, disk flower of hermaphrodite. Achene of obovoid, 0.8 mm in length. Light in texture.
Odor, characteristic, slight; taste, slightly acrid, which gives slightly numbing sensation to the tongue.
Identification:
To 0.5 g of pulverized Artemisia Capillaris Flower add 10 mL of methanol, shake for 3 minutes, filter, and use the filtrate as the sample solution. Perform the test with the sample solution as directed under Thin-layer Chromatography. Spot 5 μL of the sample solution on a plate of silica gel for thin-layer chromatography. Develop the plate with a mixture of acetone and n-hexane (1:1) to a distance of about 10 cm, and air-dry the plate. Examine under ultraviolet light (main wavelength: 365 nm): a principal spot with a blue fluorescence appears at an Rf value of about 0.5.
Purity:
Stem-When perform the test of foreign matter, Artemisia Capillaris Flower does not contain any stem more than 2 mm in diameter.
Loss on drying:
Not more than 12.0z (6 hours).
Total ash:
Not more than 9.0z.
Acid-insoluble ash:
Not more than 2.0z.
Extract content:
Dilute ethanol-soluble extract: not less than 15.0z.
Containers and storage:
Containers-Well-closed containers.
