✵The article records information on the herb Baical Skullcap Root, including its English name, Latin name, Pinyin name, property and flavor, and its botanical source as defined in classical herbal texts: one primary plant species, (1) Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi; three other acceptable species, (2) Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright, (3) Scutellaria viscidula Bunge, and (4) Scutellaria likiangensis Diels; and one species used in North America and Europe, (5) Scutellaria lateriflora. It also provides a detailed introduction to the botanical features, growth characteristics, and ecological environments of these five plant species; the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the herb Baical Skullcap Root; and its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guidelines.
Radix Scutellariae (Baical Skullcap Root)
Pinyin Name: Huánɡ Qín
English Name: Baical Skullcap Root
Latin Name:Radix Scutellariae Property and Flavor: Cold, bitter
Brief Introduction:Radix Scutellariae is the dried root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. It is used: (1) to clear heat and dry dampness—treating damp-warm and damp-heat syndromes; (2) to clear lung heat—relieving cough due to lung heat; (3) to purge fire and resolve toxins—treating boils, sores, and painful throat swelling; (4) to cool the blood—stanching hematemesis, epistaxis, and abnormal uterine bleeding; and (5) to stabilize the fetus—preventing miscarriage in cases of threatened abortion. The herb is commonly known as Radix Scutellariae, Baical Skullcap Root, or Huáng Qín.
Botanical Source:Radix Scutellariae is the dried root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, a perennial herb belonging to the genus Scutellaria (skullcaps), family Lamiaceae (Labiatae, mint family), order Lamiales.
Classical herbal works define Radix Scutellariae (Huang Qin) as the dried root of the Lamiaceae family plant Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. Other authoritative herbal classics also accept, as authentic sources of Baical Skullcap Root (Huang Qin), the roots of the following Lamiaceae species: (1) Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, (2) Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright, (3) Scutellaria viscidula Bunge, and (4) Scutellaria likiangensis Diels. Scutellaria lateriflora is used in North America and Europe. These four species commonly used in TCM—and one additional species—are introduced below:
(1) Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi.
Botanical Description:Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Baikal skullcap or Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 30–80 cm tall. The stem is obtusely quadrangular, marked with fine longitudinal stripes, and glabrous or sparsely covered with curved or appressed puberulent hairs; it is green or often purplish. Numerous thin branches arise from the base.
Leaves are decussate; sessile or subsessile; leaf blades are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–4.5 cm long and 3–12 mm wide, with a blunt apex and orbicular base; margins are entire. The upper surface is dark green and glabrous or slightly pilose; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green), puberulent along the midrib, and densely dotted with sunken glandular points.
Inflorescences are terminal or axillary racemes, deflexed to one side, 7–15 cm long. Floral bracts are foliaceous, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 4–11 mm long, and nearly glabrous. The calyx is bilabiate, purplish-green, with an upper lip bearing a peltate appendage that enlarges in fruit; it is membranous. The corolla is bilabiate, bluish-violet to prunose (purplish-red); the upper lip is cassidiate with an emarginate apex; the lower lip is broad, with a triangular-ovoid middle lobe (7.5 mm wide) and lateral lobes converging toward the upper lip. The corolla tube is slender and sharply bent at the base. There are four stamens, slightly exserted; the anther locules bear white beard-like hairs along the dehiscence slits; the anthers are brown, glabrous, and 4-lobed, inserted on a ring-shaped floral disc. The style is slender, with a slightly bifid apex.
Four nutlets, ovoid, 1.5 mm long and 1 mm in diameter, blackish-brown and tuberculate. Flowering occurs from June to September; fruiting from August to October.
Ecological Environment:Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi grows on sunny mountain slopes, hillsides, and wastelands at elevations of 60–2,000 m above sea level. It is commonly found wild in open, sunlit habitats such as summits, slopes, forest margins, and roadsides.
Growth Characteristics:Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi prefers warm–cool climates and is tolerant of cold, drought, and poor soils. The underground parts of mature plants survive winter at temperatures as low as −30 °C (−22 °F) and remain viable at high temperatures up to 35 °C (95 °F); however, prolonged exposure to temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) is detrimental. It is sensitive to waterlogging—excessive soil moisture or heavy rainfall impairs growth. Therefore, it should not be cultivated in poorly drained soils. Optimal cultivation sites receive full sunlight, have deep, fertile, neutral to slightly alkaline loam or sandy loam soils, and avoid continuous cropping.
Characteristics of the Herb: The dried root is conical and often twisted, 5–25 cm long and 1–3 cm in diameter. The surface is brownish-yellow or deep yellow, rough, with prominent longitudinal wrinkles or irregular reticulate patterns; lateral root scars are visible, and the apex bears stem remnants or a persistent basal stem segment. The texture is hard and brittle, breaking easily; the fracture surface is yellow, with a reddish-brown central zone. In older roots, the xylem is withered or hollow; roots exhibiting central browning or hollowness are termed "Ku Qin" (withered skullcap root). The herb has a faint odor and a distinctly bitter taste.
Cultivated specimens are slender and highly branched. The surface is light yellow-brown; the cortex is tightly adherent, and longitudinal wrinkles are fine and smooth. The fracture surface is yellow or light yellow, slightly corneous, and the taste is mildly bitter.
Pharmacological Actions: (1) inhibitory activity against Shigella dysenteriae, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., and other pathogens; (2) efficacy against laryngeal carriage and meningococcal carriers; notably, even penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus remains sensitive to Scutellaria baicalensis; (3) anti-inflammatory; (4) anti-allergic; (5) antipyretic; etc.
Medicinal efficacy: Clears heat and dries dampness; drains fire and detoxifies; cools blood and stops bleeding; stabilizes pregnancy. Indicated for damp-heat syndromes, heat-warmth with chest tightness and nausea, damp-heat edema, dysentery, jaundice, lung-heat cough, high fever with excessive thirst, vertigo, liver-fire headache, red, swollen, painful eyes, damp-heat jaundice and dysentery, febrile strangury, blood-heat epistaxis, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, carbuncles and swellings, ulcerated sores and toxic abscesses, and threatened abortion.
Administration of Radix Scutellariae (Huánɡ Qín):
Reference:
Administration Guide for Radix Scutellariae (Huánɡ Qín)
TCM Books:
(1) Internally: 3–9 grams; (2) Internally:water decoction, 1–3 qián (≈3–9 grams), or prepared as pills or powder; topical use: wash with water decoction, or apply powdered herb externally; (3) Internally: water decoction, 3–9 grams, or prepared as pills or powder; topical use: apply appropriate amount of water decoction or powdered herb externally.
Contraindications, Precautions, and Adverse Reactions: Radix Scutellariae is contraindicated with Allium fistulosum seed (Welsh onion seed), Cinnabar (Zhū Shā), Paeonia suffruticosa root bark (Tree Peony Bark), and Veratrum nigrum (Black False Hellebore).
(2) Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright
Botanical Description:Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria amoena, Xi Nan Huang Qin, Dian Huang Qin, or Tu Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 20–35 cm tall. The stem is sharply quadrangular, slightly grooved, sparsely hairy along the angles and edges, and either ramified or unbranched; it is often purplish. Leaves are opposite; petioles are short, 1–2 mm long; leaf blades are herbaceous, oblong-ovate to oblong, often folded, 1.4–3.5 cm long and 7–14 mm wide, with a blunt apex and a circular to cuneate or shallowly cordate base; margins are inconspicuously crenulate to entire. The upper surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely covered with soft hairs; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green), densely dotted with sunken glandular points and sparsely hairy along the midrib.
Flowers are opposite and arranged in terminal racemes up to 5–14 cm long; floral bracts are foliaceous, lance-oblong, 5–10 mm long; the calyx is bilabiate, often purplish, with a membranous scutellum on the dorsal surface that enlarges in fruit; the corolla is bilabiate, purple or bluish-violet (blue-purple), 2.4–3 cm long, and externally covered with glandular trichomes; there are four stamens, with oblate filaments; the ovary is glabrous, the style is slender, and the stigma is slightly bilobed.
Nutlets are ovoid, 1.25 mm long and 1 mm wide, tan (chocolate brown), and tuberculate. Flowering occurs from May to September; fruiting from July to October.
Ecological Environment:Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright grows in grasslands or pine forests at elevations of 1,300–3,000 m above sea level.
Characteristics of the Herb: The rhizome is transversely or obliquely oriented, with a thickness exceeding 1 cm. The roots are conical to irregularly strap-shaped, often branched, 5–20 cm long and 1–1.6 cm in diameter. The surface is sienna (yellowish-brown) or brownish-yellow, typically bearing rough corky bark and longitudinal wrinkles. Rootlet scars occur at the lower end; the fracture surface is fibrous, canary-yellow (bright yellow), or slightly greenish.
(3) Scutellaria viscidula Bunge.
Botanical Description:Scutellaria viscidula Bunge is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria viscidula, Nian Mao Huang Qin, or Xian Mao Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 8–25 cm tall. Roots are thick, straight or oblique, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, with dark brown periderm. Stems are quadrangular, sparsely to densely covered with glandular hairs, and usually bear numerous appressed branches. Leaves are opposite, subsessile or shortly stipitate; leaf blades are lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, linear-oblong, or linear, 1.5–3 cm long and 2.5–8 mm wide, with a blunt apex and a cuneate to broadly cuneate base; margins are entire and densely fringed with short cilia; both surfaces are pubescent and glandular-pubescent, and densely dotted with yellow glandular points.
Racemes are terminal, 4–7 cm long; floral bracts are foliaceous, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, densely glandular-pilose, ≈5 mm long; the calyx is bilabiate, with a scutellum on the dorsal surface of the upper lip that enlarges in fruit and is membranous; the corolla is bilabiate, yellow or primrose-yellow (pale yellow), with pinkish patches on the lower lip, ≈2.5 cm long, and externally densely covered with glandular hairs and soft hairs; there are four stamens, with oblate filaments bearing sparse hairs; the ovary is 4-lobed, the style is slender, and the apex is 2-lobed.
Nutlets are black, ovoid, and tuberculate. Flowering occurs from May to August; fruiting from July to August.
Ecological Environment:Scutellaria viscidula Bunge grows on gravelly grasslands, farmland, abandoned land, and roadsides, often forming dense clumps.
Characteristics of the Herb: The root is slender and elongated, conical or cylindrical, 7–15 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm in diameter. The surface resembles that of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi; central hollowing or decay is rare.
(4) Scutellaria likiangensis Diels.
Botanical Description:Scutellaria likiangensis Diels is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria likiangensis, Li Jiang Huang Qin, or Xiao Huang Qin ("small skullcap"). The plant grows up to 20–35 cm tall. Roots are hypertrophied, 2–12 mm in diameter, with a yellow fracture surface and often bifurcated. Stems are erect, brownish-purple, quadrangular, and covered with retrorse pubescence; the internodes in the middle portion of the stem measure 1.8–3.6 cm in length. Leaves are decussate; leaf blades are elliptic-ovoid to elliptic, 1.3–3 cm long and 6–15 mm wide, with a blunt or sometimes emarginate apex; margins are inconspicuously crenulate to subentire above the middle; the upper surface is green and sparsely pubescent; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green) and densely dotted with sunken glandular points.
Flowers are opposite and borne in terminal racemes, 6.5–12 cm long; floral bracts are foliaceous, with both surfaces glandular-pubescent; the calyx is bilabiate, often purplish, externally densely glandular-pubescent, with a semicircular scutellum that is erect in fruit and reflexed at maturity; the corolla is bilabiate, yellowish-white to yellow or greenish-yellow, often marked with purple-pink patches or stripes, 2.6–3 cm long, externally glandular-pubescent, with a gibbous corolla tube at the base; there are four stamens; the ovary is 4-lobed, the style is slender, and the stigma is slightly bilobed.
Four nutlets, black, ovoid, and tuberculate. Flowering occurs from May to August; fruiting from July to September.
Ecological Environment:Scutellaria likiangensis Diels grows in open forests, shrublands, and grassy slopes at elevations of 2,500–3,100 m above sea level.
Characteristics of the Herb: The root is cylindrical, bearing lateral rootlets, 8–20 cm long and 0.2–0.5 cm in diameter. The surface is yellowish-brown; the fracture surface is yellow, and the center of older roots is darkish-brown and withered.
(5) Scutellaria lateriflora.
Botanical Description:Scutellaria lateriflora is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria lateriflora (syn. Scutellaria laterifolia) and by numerous vernacular names: Blue Pimpernel, Helmetflower, Hoodwort, Mad-Dog Weed, Madweed, Quaker Bonnet, skullcap, Side-Flowering Skullcap, Virginia Skullcap, and Virginian Skullcap.
Stems are light green to pale reddish-green, tetragonal, glabrous or sparsely canescent, and often decumbent or sprawling. Opposite leaves have cordate-ovate to broadly lanceolate blades, up to 7.6 cm long and 5.1 cm wide, glabrous and coarsely serrate along the margins; the upper surface exhibits a conspicuous reticulate venation. Petioles are light green to pale reddish-green, slender, and up to 2.5 cm long. Terminal and axillary racemes arise from the upper stems; each slender raceme reaches up to 15.2 cm in length and bears approximately 6–7 pairs of flowers; axillary racemes diverge outward from the stem. A short, foliaceous bract subtends each flower.
The fruit is a schizocarp composed of two connate mericarps that are somewhat flattened and rounded at the margins; they are joined at the base but diverge slightly at the apex. The root system consists of a taproot accompanied by rhizomes or stolons; small clonal colonies commonly arise from these underground structures.
Flowering occurs from June to September.
Ecological Environment:Scutellaria lateriflora grows in moist sedge meadows, openings in floodplain woodlands, soggy thickets, swamps, bogs, seeps, springs, edges of vernal pools and ponds, moist depressions in limestone glades, and shaded cliff faces.
✵The article records information on the herb Baical Skullcap Root, including its English name, Latin name, Pinyin name, property and flavor, and its botanical source as defined in classical herbal texts: one primary plant species, (1) Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi; three other acceptable species, (2) Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright, (3) Scutellaria viscidula Bunge, and (4) Scutellaria likiangensis Diels; and one species used in North America and Europe, (5) Scutellaria lateriflora. It also provides a detailed introduction to the botanical features, growth characteristics, and ecological environments of these five plant species; the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the herb Baical Skullcap Root; and its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guidelines.
Pinyin Name: Huánɡ Qín
Botanical Description: Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Baikal skullcap or Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 30–80 cm tall. The stem is obtusely quadrangular, marked with fine longitudinal stripes, and glabrous or sparsely covered with curved or appressed puberulent hairs; it is green or often purplish. Numerous thin branches arise from the base.
Leaves are decussate; sessile or subsessile; leaf blades are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–4.5 cm long and 3–12 mm wide, with a blunt apex and orbicular base; margins are entire. The upper surface is dark green and glabrous or slightly pilose; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green), puberulent along the midrib, and densely dotted with sunken glandular points.
Inflorescences are terminal or axillary racemes, deflexed to one side, 7–15 cm long. Floral bracts are foliaceous, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 4–11 mm long, and nearly glabrous. The calyx is bilabiate, purplish-green, with an upper lip bearing a peltate appendage that enlarges in fruit; it is membranous. The corolla is bilabiate, bluish-violet to prunose (purplish-red); the upper lip is cassidiate with an emarginate apex; the lower lip is broad, with a triangular-ovoid middle lobe (7.5 mm wide) and lateral lobes converging toward the upper lip. The corolla tube is slender and sharply bent at the base. There are four stamens, slightly exserted; the anther locules bear white beard-like hairs along the dehiscence slits; the anthers are brown, glabrous, and 4-lobed, inserted on a ring-shaped floral disc. The style is slender, with a slightly bifid apex.
Ecological Environment: Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi grows on sunny mountain slopes, hillsides, and wastelands at elevations of 60–2,000 m above sea level. It is commonly found wild in open, sunlit habitats such as summits, slopes, forest margins, and roadsides.
Characteristics of the Herb: The dried root is conical and often twisted, 5–25 cm long and 1–3 cm in diameter. The surface is brownish-yellow or deep yellow, rough, with prominent longitudinal wrinkles or irregular reticulate patterns; lateral root scars are visible, and the apex bears stem remnants or a persistent basal stem segment. The texture is hard and brittle, breaking easily; the fracture surface is yellow, with a reddish-brown central zone. In older roots, the xylem is withered or hollow; roots exhibiting central browning or hollowness are termed "Ku Qin" (withered skullcap root). The herb has a faint odor and a distinctly bitter taste.
Botanical Description: Scutellaria amoena C. H. Wright is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria amoena, Xi Nan Huang Qin, Dian Huang Qin, or Tu Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 20–35 cm tall. The stem is sharply quadrangular, slightly grooved, sparsely hairy along the angles and edges, and either ramified or unbranched; it is often purplish. Leaves are opposite; petioles are short, 1–2 mm long; leaf blades are herbaceous, oblong-ovate to oblong, often folded, 1.4–3.5 cm long and 7–14 mm wide, with a blunt apex and a circular to cuneate or shallowly cordate base; margins are inconspicuously crenulate to entire. The upper surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely covered with soft hairs; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green), densely dotted with sunken glandular points and sparsely hairy along the midrib.
Flowers are opposite and arranged in terminal racemes up to 5–14 cm long; floral bracts are foliaceous, lance-oblong, 5–10 mm long; the calyx is bilabiate, often purplish, with a membranous scutellum on the dorsal surface that enlarges in fruit; the corolla is bilabiate, purple or bluish-violet (blue-purple), 2.4–3 cm long, and externally covered with glandular trichomes; there are four stamens, with oblate filaments; the ovary is glabrous, the style is slender, and the stigma is slightly bilobed.
Nutlets are ovoid, 1.25 mm long and 1 mm wide, tan (chocolate brown), and tuberculate. Flowering occurs from May to September; fruiting from July to October.
Botanical Description: Scutellaria viscidula Bunge is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria viscidula, Nian Mao Huang Qin, or Xian Mao Huang Qin. The plant grows up to 8–25 cm tall. Roots are thick, straight or oblique, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, with dark brown periderm. Stems are quadrangular, sparsely to densely covered with glandular hairs, and usually bear numerous appressed branches. Leaves are opposite, subsessile or shortly stipitate; leaf blades are lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, linear-oblong, or linear, 1.5–3 cm long and 2.5–8 mm wide, with a blunt apex and a cuneate to broadly cuneate base; margins are entire and densely fringed with short cilia; both surfaces are pubescent and glandular-pubescent, and densely dotted with yellow glandular points.
Botanical Description: Scutellaria likiangensis Diels is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria likiangensis, Li Jiang Huang Qin, or Xiao Huang Qin ("small skullcap"). The plant grows up to 20–35 cm tall. Roots are hypertrophied, 2–12 mm in diameter, with a yellow fracture surface and often bifurcated. Stems are erect, brownish-purple, quadrangular, and covered with retrorse pubescence; the internodes in the middle portion of the stem measure 1.8–3.6 cm in length. Leaves are decussate; leaf blades are elliptic-ovoid to elliptic, 1.3–3 cm long and 6–15 mm wide, with a blunt or sometimes emarginate apex; margins are inconspicuously crenulate to subentire above the middle; the upper surface is green and sparsely pubescent; the lower surface is pale green (pea-green) and densely dotted with sunken glandular points.
Botanical Description: Scutellaria lateriflora is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family (formerly Labiatae, the mint family) in the genus Scutellaria L. It is commonly known as Scutellaria lateriflora (syn. Scutellaria laterifolia) and by numerous vernacular names: Blue Pimpernel, Helmetflower, Hoodwort, Mad-Dog Weed, Madweed, Quaker Bonnet, skullcap, Side-Flowering Skullcap, Virginia Skullcap, and Virginian Skullcap.
Stems are light green to pale reddish-green, tetragonal, glabrous or sparsely canescent, and often decumbent or sprawling. Opposite leaves have cordate-ovate to broadly lanceolate blades, up to 7.6 cm long and 5.1 cm wide, glabrous and coarsely serrate along the margins; the upper surface exhibits a conspicuous reticulate venation. Petioles are light green to pale reddish-green, slender, and up to 2.5 cm long. Terminal and axillary racemes arise from the upper stems; each slender raceme reaches up to 15.2 cm in length and bears approximately 6–7 pairs of flowers; axillary racemes diverge outward from the stem. A short, foliaceous bract subtends each flower.
The fruit is a schizocarp composed of two connate mericarps that are somewhat flattened and rounded at the margins; they are joined at the base but diverge slightly at the apex. The root system consists of a taproot accompanied by rhizomes or stolons; small clonal colonies commonly arise from these underground structures.
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