Chinese mulberry tree

About seventy kinds of new phenolic compounds could be isolated from Japanese cultivated mulberry tree (Morus alba, M. bombycis, and M, Ihou) and Chinese crude drug Sang-Bai-Pi (the root bark of Chinese mulberry tree). Most of them are isoprenylated flavonoids. Among them, kuwanon G (1) was the first isolation of the active substance exhibiting the hypotensive effect from the Japanese Morus alba root bark [9]. Furthermore, kuwanon G (1) and its isoprenylated derivative kuwanon H (2) [10] are considered to be formed through an enzymatic Diels-Alder type reaction of a chalcone and a dehydrokuwanon C or its... 

On the other hand, in Japan, Sang-Bai-Pi (the root bark of Chinese mulberry tree) imported from China has been used as an herbal medicine, hence a study of the components of this crude drug purchased in the Japanese market was undertaken. Its phenolic components are different from those of Japanese mulberry tree. For example, morusin (3) and kuwanon G (1) are the main phenolic components of Japanese mulberry tree, in the case of Sang-Bai-Pi , these components are minor ones, while sanggenons A (4) [16], C (5) [17], and D (33) [61] are the main components [24]. Sanggenons C (5) and D (33) showed the hypotensive effects as follows Sanggenon C (5) caused transient decrease in arterial blood pressure at the doses of 1 mg/kg in pentobarbital-anesthetized rabbit by 15 mm Hg, while at the doses of 5 mg/kg the compound (5) caused a transient decrease by 100 mm Hg, which continued for more... 

The ancient Chinese discovered how to harvest silkworm cocoons, boil them to loosen the tangle, and unravel the silk into a fiber from which elegant clothing could be produced. A single silkworm cocoon can yield nearly a mile-long filament of silk, but the filament is so fine that it takes around 30 mulberry trees to yield enough cocoons to make one kilogram of silk. 

Rice paper is the widely used misnomer for two entirely different materials also made in the form of thin sheets Chinese kung-shu, which is not paper (see text below) and washi. Also known as Japanese rice paper, washi is paper made from the cellulose fibers derived from the bark and branches of mulberry trees (Broussonetia kajinoki) (Inaba and Sugisita 1988 Barrett 1988). 

The first true paper was made in A.D. 105 by Ts ai Lun, a eunuch from the Eastern Han Court of the Chinese emperor Ho Ti. His paper was made from the bark of the mulberry tree on a mold of bamboo strips. 

Hano, Y., H. Kohno, M. Itoh, and T. Nomura Constituents of the Cultivated Mulberry Tree XXIX. Constituents of the Chinese Crude Drug Sang-Bai-Pi Morns Root Bark) VII. Structures of Three New 2-Arylbenzofuran Derivatives from the Chinese Crude Drug Sang-Bai-Pi Moms Root Bark). Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan) 33, 5294 (1985). 

Nomura, T., T. Fukai, and Y. Hano Constituents of the Cultivated Mulberry Tree IX. Constituents of the Chinese Crude Drug Sang-Bai-Pi Morus Root Bark) I. Structure of a New Flavanone Derivative, Sanggenon A, Planta medica 47, 30 (1983). 

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