Herbal Textual Research on Hirudo

By consulting ancient Chinese herbal medicines and medical books, combined with modern documents, the authors conduct textual research on the name, origin, producing area, processing, and toxicity of Hirudo. It provides reference and basis for the development and utilization of Hirudo and its rational clinical application. Through textual research, it can be seen that there are many aliases for Hirudo. Materia Medica books use "Shui Zhi" as their rectification of name. According to ancient Hirudo with "aquatic""bloodsucking" and "small in size" as the principles of medicine, among the four varieties that can be legally used as medicine in China, only the Hirudo nipponica Whitman is consistent with the traditionally recorded Hirudo varieties. It has a wide distribution of resources in China, all over the country have produced. Among them, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places are the main producing areas. Now the wild resources are decreasing year by year, and artificial breeding is beginning to take shape. The processing of Hirudo was first recorded in the boiling of the Han Dynasty, and subsequently appeared a variety of processing methods such as frying and baking. The main purpose of processing Hirudo was to reduce its toxicity, correct odor, and facilitate crushing for clinical application. In terms of toxicity, Materia Medica books have different records on the toxicity of Hirudo. Modern studies have found that its toxicity is mainly due to allergy and bleeding in long-term use, which needs to be further verified by pharmacological and toxicological studies. The above can provide a basis for the correct use of Hirudo and further development and utilization of resources.