Synonyms
A. propinguus B. Schischk.

Local names
Astragalus root, hoàng k´y, huang-chi, huangoi, huangqi, huángqi, hwanggi, membranous milkvetch, milkvetch, Mongolian milk-vetch, neimeng huangqi, ogi, ougi, zhongfengnaomaitong

Description
Perennial herb, 25–40 cm tall. Leaves 3–6 cm long; petiole obsolete; stipules free, cauline, green, triangular ovate, sparingly vested on the outside with white hair. Leaflets oblong-obovate, oval or oblong-oval. Racemes oblong-ovoid to ovoid, 4–5cm long, 10–15 flowers; bracts lanceolate. Calyx 8–9mm long, campanulate, strongly oblique, glabrous. Corolla yellowish, 18–20mm long. Ovary glabrous. Root cylindrical or nearly cylindrical with small bases of lateral root dispersed on the surface, and usually not branched; greyish yellow to yellowish brown epidermis and fibrous fracture.

Plant material used
root

Chemical assays
Determination of triterpene saponins (astragalosides I–X) by thin-layer chromatographic analysis. Concentration limits and quantitative methods need to be established for the triterpene saponins (e.g. astragalosides), as well as for the polysaccharides

Major chemical constituents
Major chemical constituents are triterpene saponins (astragalosides I–X and isoastragalosides I–IV), and polysaccharides (e.g. astragalan, astraglucan AMem-P)

Dosage forms
Crude plant material; extracts. Store in a dry environment protected from moisture and insects

Medicinal uses
Uses supported by clinical data
None.

Uses described in pharmacopoeias and well established documents
As adjunctive therapy in the treatment of colds and influenza. The herb is used to enhance the immune system and to increase stamina and endurance. Also in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, oedema, abnormal uterine bleeding, and diabetes mellitus, and as a cardiotonic agent.

Uses described in traditional medicine
Treatment of nephritis, chronic bronchitis, postpartum urine retention, leprosy, and the sequelae of cerebrovascular accidents

Proven pharmacological activity
Animal studies
Immunostimulant

Human studies
Immunostimulant

Toxicology
No adverse effects were observed in mice after oral administration of up to 100g/kg, a dose several hundred times as high as the effective oral dose in humans

Contraindications
No information available.

Warnings
No information available.

Precautions
Carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, impairment of fertility
Extracts of A. membranaceus root were not mutagenic in a modified Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100. Furthermore, an aqueous extract of A. membranaceus was reported to be antimutagenic in that it inhibited benzo[a]pyrene-induced mutagenesis in Salmonella typhimurium TA 100.

Pregnancy: non-teratogenic effects
No data available; therefore Radix Astragali should not be administered during pregnancy.

Nursing mothers
Excretion of the drug into breast milk and its effects on the newborn infant have not been established; therefore the use of the drug during lactation is not recommended.

Other precautions
No information available describing general precautions or precautions related to drug interactions, drug and laboratory test interactions, paediatric use, or teratogenic effects during pregnancy.

Adverse reactions
No information available.

Posology
Root: 9–30g/day for oral use