The traditional Uigur drugs

Traditional Uigur medicine has a long history. It is formed and developed by collected good points of Arabic medicine, ancient Greek medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. It is an independence branch of Chinese national medicine and plays an important role for nationality prosperous in the Western China.

The application of traditional Uigur drugs was limited in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. According to the investigation, there are 600 kinds of traditional Uigur drugs in the region, 360 kinds of them are common used drugs, and 27% of them (about 160 kinds) come from the local resources. 124 kinds of drugs were collected in Xin Jiang Wei Wu Re Yao Zi (History of the Xinjiang Uigur Drugs).

Among 30 kinds of common used traditional Uigur drugs, the following are only used by traditional Uigur medical doctors, including Prunus amygdalus (Badanxing), Vitis vinifera (Suosuo putao), Cuminum cyminum (Ziran), Vernonia solanifolia (Qucong banjiuju), Alhagi pscudalhagi (Citang), Matricaria chamomilla (Yan ganju), Anethum graveolens (Shiluo), Ziziphora clinopodioides (Cunxiangcao), Cicer arietinum (Xinjiang yingzueidou), Dracocephalum heterophyllum (Yiye qinglan), Saussurea laniceps or S. involucrate or S. medusa (Xuelianhua), Populus diversifolia (Huyang), (Hutonglei), etc.

The aromatic drugs, such as Moschus moschiferus (Shexiang), Physeter catodon (Longxianxiang), Viverra zibztha (Hailixiang), (Daiyicao), Syzygium aromaticum (Dingxiang), Amomum cardamomum (Doukou), and Piper longum (Bibo), are usually used in the traditional Uigur medicine. Beside, some drugs with strong toxity are often used as Uigur durgs, such as Strychnos nux-vomica (Maqianzi), Datura metel or D. innoxia (Mantuoluo), Hyoscyamus niger (Tianxianzi), Peganum harmala (Luotuopeng), etc.

Also the names of many traditional Uigur drugs are same as the traditional Chinese crude medicines, but the original resources of them could be different. Most of traditional Uigur drugs come from the local resources. For example, Polygonatum odoratum (Yuzhu) used in traditional Uigur medicineis is Xinjiang Polygonatum (Xinjiang huangjin), Dictamnus dasycarpus (Baixianpi) is (Xianye baixian), Leonurus heterophyllus (Yimucao) is Xinjiang Leonurus (Xinjiang yimucao), Nelumbo nucifera (Hehua) is Nymphaea tetragna (Shuilian) in fact. There are some other drugs in the same situation, such as Saposhnikovia divaricata (Fangfeng), Paeonia lactiflora or P. obovata or P. veitchii (Chishao), Notopterygium incisum or N. forbesii or N. franchetii (Qianghuo), Angelica pubescens or A. dahurica or A. porphyrocaulis or Heracleum hemsleyanum or H. lanatum or Aralia cordata (Duhuo), Aucklandia lappa (Muxiang), Rubia cordifolia (Qiancao), Codonopsis pi'osula (Dangshen), Rhizoma ligustici (Gaoben), Ephedra sinica or E. equisetina or E. intermedia (Mahuang), Clematis chinensis (Weilingxian), etc.