Extraction Source
Cat's claw (scientific name: Ranunculus ternatus Thunb.) is an annual herb of the Ranunculaceae family. Most of the small fleshy roots are clustered, the top is hard, shaped like a cat's claw, the stems are scattered, up to 20 cm high, multi-branched, soft, mostly glabrous.
Basal leaves have long stalks; leaf shapes are variable, broadly ovate to round-reniform, cauline leaves are sessile, leaves are small, lobes are linear, flowers are solitary on stem tops and branch tops, sepals are sparsely pilose; Petals yellow or later white, obovate, receptacle glabrous. The aggregate fruit is nearly spherical, the achenes are ovoid, and the flowering period is early. It blooms in March in spring and bears fruit from April to July.
Distributed in China's Guangxi, Taiwan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Anhui, Hubei, Henan and other provinces. Japan is also distributed. Born in plain wet grassland or field edge wasteland.
The root tuber is used for medicine, taken orally or applied externally, can dissipate stagnation and blood stasis, and treat mainly lymphatic tuberculosis.