Under the guidance of Chinese traditional medical theory, drugs collected, processed, prepared, explained the mechanism of action and guided clinical application are collectively referred to as traditional Chinese medicine. In short, traditional Chinese medicine refers to substances that are used to prevent, treat and diagnose diseases and have rehabilitation and health care functions under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory.
Traditional Chinese medicine mainly comes from natural medicines and their processed products, including plant medicines, animal medicines, mineral medicines and some chemical and biological products. Because most Chinese medicines are plant medicines, there is a saying that "all medicines are based on grass".
The distribution and production of natural medicinal materials can not be separated from certain natural conditions. The production of various medicinal materials, regardless of variety, yield and quality, has certain regional characteristics. Therefore, since ancient times, physicians have attached great importance to authentic medicinal materials.
The so-called authentic medicinal materials, also known as authentic medicinal materials, are special terms for high-quality pure medicinal materials, which refer to medicinal materials with a long history, suitable origin, excellent varieties, rich output, exquisite processing, outstanding curative effect and regional characteristics. Such as angelica in Gansu, Lycium barbarum in Ningxia, rhubarb in Qinghai, astragalus in Inner Mongolia, ginseng in Northeast China, asarum, Schisandra chinensis, codonopsis pilosula in Shanxi, Rehmannia glutinosa in Henan, Achyranthes bidentata, yam and chrysanthemum.
The harvesting time and method of traditional Chinese medicine are closely related to ensuring the quality of medicinal materials. Because the effective components and harmful components in the medicinal parts of animals and plants are different at different stages of their growth and development, the curative effect and toxic and side effects of drugs are often very different, so the collection of medicinal materials must be carried out at the right time.