Family

Ranunculaceae

Genus

Coptis

Common Name

Yun Lian

Plant Figure

Description

Coptis teeta Wallich, a perennial herb of Ranunculaceae, was endemic to Eastern Himalaya with narrow distribution range. It is a shade-tolerant species, mainly distributed in the moist temperate, evergreen, broad-leaved forests in northwest Yunnan, China, and northeast India and it occupied highly specialized niches in temperate oak - rhododendron forests and restricted to elevations between 2350 and 3100 m. The rhizome of this species, known as Yunnan goldthread (Yunlian in Chinese), is important Chinese herbology since the period of Sheng-Nong (3000 B.C.). It has excellent pharmacological activity and was used to treat various diseases such as diarrhea, disorder of glucose metabolism, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebral vessel diseases.