Smilacaceous Chinese herbs with the commercial name of "the China rhizome" were first imported to Europe as an alternative drug for syphilis treatment at the beginning of the 16th century. Its primary properties in Galenic medicine and pharmacology were designated as hot and dry, its secondary properties were believed removing, cleansing and relieving for inducing urination and perspiration, healing ulcers, and relieving numbness. Its reason for syphilis treatment was believed to be the property of discharging obsolete body fluid by intense sweating. Its processing method was mainly decoction, which had been normally used among western physicians since the 1st century. The interventions with it were medication and dietary therapies, considering the Galenic humoralism with the six "non-naturals elements" and other elements, such as the duration of diseases. It was believed to be neither "a drug for specific effects" nor a "panacea" based on the suppositions in Galenic medicine and pharmacy in terms of a variety of its usages. It was not highly praised by conventional medicine, demonstrating the influence of the debate on exotic drugs during the Period of Renaissance in Europe. The thinking about its usages almost fully came from classic western medicine. This embodies the conflicts between pharmaceutical practice and medical theory.
作为治疗梅毒的替代药物之一，菝葜类中药材以“中国根”作为商品名并在16世纪初次贩运到欧洲。中国根在西方古典医药学或称盖仑医药学体系中的定位是干热药物，有疏通、净化、缓解能力，具有利尿发汗、愈创通痹等多种功用。治疗梅毒的机理据认为是通过发汗驱逐败坏的体液成分。配制方法是西医从公元1世纪起便常常采用的水煎法。治疗过程结合药疗和食疗，并须考虑到体液论的六“非自然”因素和疾病的关键日期。中国根的多种用法可以按照盖仑医药学的逻辑推论而得，它并非现代意义上的“特效药”或“万灵药”。正统的学院派西医对中国根不十分推崇，这种态度反映出文艺复兴时期一场有关外来药物价值的论战的影响。中国根在16世纪欧洲的用药思路完全出自西方古典医药学。此例体现出药学实践与医学理论之间的张力。.