Top quality Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge.

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. is a traditional Chinese herb that is commonly used by TCM practitioners. To this date, this herb has more than 2000-year history of mature application. And it is also one of important commodities in the international medicine market. In China it is better known as Dan Shen, which was initially documented and classified as top grade herbs in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica), one of the classics and oldest works on Chinese Herbalism. As a matter of fact, there are tons of herbs that are named after “Shen” in Chinese. But it is so wrong to think that they are the same thing and it is dangerous to abuse them for the sake of treatment or simply supplementing. For example, Dan Shen (Salvia), Ren Shen (Ginseng), and Dang Shen (Codonopsis) are so different if viewed from the perspectives of ingredients, pharmacology, and efficacy.
What is salvia miltiorrhiza?Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae has a few different common names, among which the most common ones are Chinese sage, Radix Salviae miltiorrhiza, red sage, danshen, and Tan Shen. Medicinally it mainly means the dried root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, in the family Labiatae. But some other congeneric plants in different regions are also used for medicine, including Salvia bowleyana Dunn, Salvia przewalskii Maxim., Salvia przewalskii Maxim. var. mandarinorum（Diels）Stib., Salvia yunnanensis C. H. Wright, Salvia kiaometiensis Levl., f. pubescens Stib., Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge var. alba C. Y. Wu et H. W. Li, mss., Salvia digitaloides Diels, S. trijuga Diels, and S. plectranthoides Girff. It is reported that there are more than 100 medicines based on salvia. Given the fact that the wild resources of wild salvia is dwindling, it fails to meet the clinical needs. Thankfully, so far the cultivation technology has developed rapidly and cultivated salvia miltiorrhiza becomes a good alternative source. However, conventional wisdom tends to believe that wild ones are better than cultivated ones on quality. The medicinal root is usually dug in spring and autumn. Next remove the dirt and then dry them in the sun.