Scutellaria baicalensis


Scutellaria baicalensis, with the common name Baikal skullcap or Chinese skullcap, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae.

Distribution

The plant is native to China, Korea, Mongolia, and Russia in the Russian Far East and Siberia.

Medicinal plant

Traditional Chinese medicine

It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name huángqín. As a Chinese traditional medicine, huang qin usually refers to the dried root of S. baicalensis Georgi, S. viscidula Bge., S. amoena C.H. Wright, and S. ikoninkovii Ju.

Pharmacology

Several chemical compounds have been isolated from the root; baicalein, baicalin, wogonin, norwogonin, oroxylin A and β-sitosterol are the major ones.

Names

It is important to use the Latin name, as the term 'skullcap' is used for over 200 varieties. Sometimes, Scutellaria lateriflora is mistaken for S. baicalensis. This confusion can result in the intake of the S. lateriflora variety which can be processed and contaminated with other plants at high enough levels to be of concern.