白花蛇为常用中药,有祛风湿、通经络的作用,常用于治疗风湿痹痛等症。白花蛇之名,早见于宋代《开宝本草》。明·李时珍著的《本草纲目》对此有较具体的描述:“花蛇湖蜀皆有,今唯以蕲蛇擅名,……其蛇龙头虎口,黑质白花,胁有二十四个方胜纹,腹有念珠斑,口有四长牙,尾上有一佛指甲,长一二分。”所述形态与蝮科的五步蛇相符合,可见古代所用的白花蛇就是五步蛇。此蛇以湖北的蕲州产者著名,习称蕲蛇。根据调查资料,广大地区使用历史较长的除五步蛇外,又习惯用银环蛇的幼体,称金钱白花蛇或小白花蛇。广西、广东、湖南等地使用历史较长的有百花锦蛇,因主产于广西,可称“广西白花蛇”。金环蛇在有些地区如青海也被当作白花蛇使用。为了在使用时便于区别和掌握,现将以上四种白花蛇的原动物及药材分别列表如下,供鉴别时参考。 Baihua snake is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine and has the effect of removing rheumatism and meridians. It is often used to treat rheumatism and pain. The name of the white snake, as early as the Song Dynasty “Kai Bao Materia Medica.” Ming Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica” has a more specific description of this: “There are snakes and lakes, and only snakes and snakes are the best names in the world today....the snake’s leading tiger’s mouth, black and white flowers, and twenty-four threats. Fang Shengwen has a rosary belly on his abdomen, four teeth on his mouth, and one nail on the tail. The pattern is in accordance with the five-step snake of the Polygonaceae. It can be seen that the white snake used in ancient times was a five-step snake. This snake is famous in Hubei’s Chuzhou producers and is known as the snake. According to the survey data, in addition to the five-step snake, which has a long history of use in large areas, it is customary to use the larvae of the silver ring snake and call it the white snake or the white snake. In Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and other places with a long history of the use of Hundred Flowers Chrysanthemum snakes, due to the main production in Guangxi, can be called ”the Guangxi white flower snake." The golden snake is also used as a white snake in some areas such as Qinghai. In order to facilitate the use of distinguishing and mastering, the above four snakes of the original animal and medicinal materials are listed below, for reference when identifying.