Talk:Astragalus (plant)

moving to correct chronology

Translation of Chinese name
In the Chinese name, 黄芪, I don't think the second character means "leader." Wiktionary says it means "celery." Can someone verify the "yellow leader" translation, as found on various websites? Otherwise, I'm going to change the wording. Badagnani 23:49, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

Sources For Medicinal Claims?
-- The URL below does not work. A search of the nih.gov website shows the following URL which might be similar and updated. nih.gov astragalus search

User:AJStadlin 13:00, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

-- I can't find genuine medical evidence that ANY of the medicinal claims printed have been approved by the FDA... the most positive thing I've found so far is Government sites that say "The Claims are unproven", or the "Evidence is unclear". I only bring this up because a lot of hacks are claiming it is an "Ancient Chinese anti-viral" and cure for H5N1 (Avian Flu) and pointing to this Wikipedia article as "proof" that it has ANY medicinal properties at all... again, about the most "Pro" thing I've been able to find at a reputable site is at this URL: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-astragalus.html And even there they say "Unclear scientific evidence for this use" under ALL medicinal claims, other than "It was sometimes used as a thickener in ice cream, an emulsifier, a denture adhesive and an anti-diarrheal agent." It was basically used like we use Corn Starch. I can't find any reputable, verifiable "Uses" in China other than as an expensive imported Spice... we need scientific facts and studies if ANY medicinal uses are going to be claimed. The "Recent Studies" that are claimed in the article, aren't cited. Peace/Love/Harmony 23:20, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I am not sure, but we should discuss the assumed medicinal effects, if there are any, in the respective section of the exact species. Astragalus is a genus, not a species. Such mix ups and irregularities might lead to misidentifications of crude drug materials with possible negative effects on the consumer. ML —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.78.27.80 (talk) 14:12, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

This article is obviously being manipulated by financially interested parties. A review needs to be done to remove all the biased medical information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.64.72.150 (talk) 05:45, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

noeditsection command
I spent a frustrating hour in the sandbox today trying to figure out how to make the section edit commands stop bunching up and blocking text. Taxobox and picture throw them off. So I finally blocked them. If you know how to do this right please leave info on my talk page. Trilobitealive (talk) 01:22, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * It should work now. Message left on your talk page. Cheers, Rkitko (talk) 02:56, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Cool! Thanks!Trilobitealive (talk) 04:14, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Species list
This one seems like a good candidate for splitting the species list onto its own page. (I'm never sure what exactly is supposed to make a species "selected"-worthy. :-) ). Stan (talk) 16:08, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Supplement use
This paragraph: "Popularly found in tea or tablet form as an immune system booster, it strengthens general vitality, improves digestion and builds up the body's defense against viruses." is partially copied off the site it uses as reference, which is a restaurant guide. I can't seem to find any scientific backing for these claims. 77.106.141.89 (talk) 14:03, 3 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I believe you will find a lot of the information on Astragulus, also known as Huang Qi, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) references. One such English work is Xie's Chinese Veterinary Herbology, however, understanding it seems to require a basic "systems" knowledge of TCM.  Another search approach has to do with some keyword fraction of the TH1-TH2 ratio, one such book result.  Web search results also seem to show "scholarly articles" that may be of help.  It appears that there is some scientific basis for your quoted sentence, one such is . Gzuufy (talk) 03:23, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

http://examine.com/supplements/Astragalus+membranaceus/ http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4&chunkiid=21540 http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-963-ASTRAGALUS.aspx ee1518 (talk) 20:01, 3 October 2016 (UTC)


 * None of these remotely meet the requirements of WP:MEDRS. Peter coxhead (talk) 23:14, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

Broken Species Link
The species Astragalus lotoides is broken and just redirects to this page again. I do not know how to fix it, can someone else figure it out? Thanks! Blablabliam (talk) 04:29, 31 May 2016 (UTC)


 * It's a synonym of Astragalus sinicus; redirected to that article. Peter coxhead (talk) 16:53, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Identifying astragalus
Does the astragalus plant contain any veins that have a whitish milk in them, like dandelions? I am having difficulty identifying this plant. Is the only way of identifying it by waiting for it to bloom? What time of year does it produce flowers? 216.99.219.135 (talk) 22:14, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

From what I gather, most of this genus and many of its similar genus bloom in June and July. Blablabliam (talk) 04:26, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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4200 species?
The first line of the article says 4200 species, but gives no reference. Is this a typo for 2400, which is a far more reasonable figure. The Plant List gives 2481 accepted species (here). J. Drobna (2010) gives 2500-3000 (here), L.D. Chaudhary et al. (2008) also say 2500-3000 (here) and M. Schlee et al. (2009) write 2500 (here). Episcophagus (talk) 07:11, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Plants of the World Online here has a much later list than The Plant List. It's tedious to extract long lists from it, unfortunately, but the first 960 entries contain 612 species and 348 synonyms, i.e. 64% species. So if the same proportion applies later, of the 5502 entries, about 3500 should be species. I suspect that neither 2400 nor 4200 are correct, but it's likely that "about 4000" could be. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:47, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
 * POWO has totals on the genus pages. Here it lists 3328 species. Named hybrids are included, e.g. Astragalus × subbarbellatus. —Hyperik ⌜talk⌟ 13:47, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Type species?
The article says that Astragalus onobrychis is the type species of the genus, but gives no reference. According to IPNI the type is Astragalus christianus (link here). Episcophagus (talk) 07:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)


 * My understanding is that Astragalus was one of the Linnaean genera involved in the controversy over accepting typifications made under the American Code before it was reconciled with the ICNafp. Most of these were sorted out in this paper but it says of Astragalus "The Subcommittee was unable to obtain enough information ... to make any proposal". So if Rydberg's 1905 typification is accepted, I haven't yet found where and when. I guess we should go with IPNI, but they're not always right. Peter coxhead (talk) 11:25, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 28 July 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (non-admin closure) - 🔥𝑰𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 (𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌)🔥 12:53, 4 August 2023 (UTC)

Astragalus → Astragalus (plant) – No clear primary topic. Talus bone has |Talus_bone similar pageviews and similar incoming links. A disambiguation page at the base name would serve the reader better. Certes (talk) 11:22, 28 July 2023 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Support per nom.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 18:32, 28 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Support, create DAB at base name.--Ortizesp (talk) 20:19, 28 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Support Move and dab at base. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 08:36, 30 July 2023 (UTC)