TCM Herbs with Bitter (Ku) Properties

• Invigorates blood, expels blood stasis - dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, lochioschesis.
• Strengthens the sinews, bones, and joints - lower back and knee issues due to deficiency (tonifies the liver and kidneys).
• Clears damp heat in the lower burner - damp-heat pouring downward manifesting as back and knee pain, w/lin.
• Brings blood downward - yin deficiency with fire or hot blood in the upper warmer, vomiting blood, toothache, nosebleed, dizziness, headache, blurred vision (yang rising).

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Warms the womb and stops bleeding - useful in cases of prolonged menstrual bleeding and uterine bleeding due to cold from deficiency patterns.
• Warms the womb and pacifies the fetus - restless fetus syndrome, lower abdominal pain (menstrual), vaginal bleeding as in threatened miscarriage, infertility due to cold womb.
• Used often as moxibustion for tonification and the movement of qi stagnation.

• Moistens the lungs, stops cough - chronic and acute cough, especially for deficient coughs.
• Expels parasites, kills lice - topically for lice, internally for pinworms.

• Nourish the lungs, stop wheezing - cough with copious sputum.
• Eliminate dampness, stop discharges - leukorrhea, turbid/frequent urine, deficiency and damp heat patterns.
• Stabilize the lower burner - urinary frequency, incontinence, spermatorrhea.

• Moisten the lungs, clear heat, and stop coughing - cough from dry lungs or lung heat, sore throat.
• Clear heat and calm the spirit - low fever, insomnia, restlessness, irritability in the aftermath of a febrile disease, palpitations from qi and/or yin deficiency.

• Clears heat, strongly relieve fire toxicity, reduces abscess - for intestinal abscess, toxic sores, ulcerations, swellings, snakebite (internal and external application).
• Clears heat and resolves dampness by promoting urination - lin syndrome, jaundice.

• Stops bleeding from the lungs and stomach - vomiting and/or coughing of blood, nosebleed.
• Reduces swelling and generates flesh - topically for sores, chapped skin, skin ulcers, especially for chronic, nonhealing ulcers.

• Incompatible with Wu Tou

• Calms the liver, anchors the yang - headache, vertigo due to liver yang rising.
• Expels wind-heat, brightens the eyes - red, painful, swelling of the eye.
• Promotes the smooth flow of qi - chest/flank pain and distention, insufficient lactation.
• Expels wind - stops itching.

• Clears heat, relieves toxicity, and expels pus - intestinal abscess, sores, swellings.
• Dispels blood stasis, stops pain - for heat induced blood stasis, especially in the abdomen and chest; also for post-partum pain, post-operative pain.

• Nourishes the blood and regulates menstrual problems due to blood deficiency (pale, lusterless complexion and nails) - menstrual dysfunction, vaginal discharge, uterine bleeding - very common herb for gynecological disorders (Si Wu Tang).
• Calms liver yang, alleviates pain from constrained liver qi or disharmony between the liver and the spleen due to liver yang rising - cramping and spasms (limbs and abdomen), abdominal pain from dysentery, headache and dizziness.
• Preserves yin, adjusts ying and wei levels - vaginal discharge and spermatorrhea, exterior wind-cold from deficiency with continuous sweating, spontaneous sweating, night sweats.

• Incompatible with Li Lu
• Avoid in cases of yang deficiency and cold in the middle jiao - diarrhea, cold sensation in the stomach.

• Clears heat and relieves fire toxicity - dysentery due to damp-heat in the stomach or intestines.

• Clears heat and Cools Blood. Particularly useful for yin deficient fever, summertime fever in children, post partum fever, and within the recovery stage of a febrile disease
• Cools Blood and Promotes Urine. Xue Lin, especially before or after giving birth.
• Relieves toxicity. Toxic sores, swollen and painful throat, snake bite.

• Clears heat, relieves fire toxicity, expels wind, dries dampness - wind-heat or damp-heat sores, carbuncles, rashes with excessive pus, moist skin; also for damp-heat jaundice (only in combination).

• Tonifies the spleen, augments qi, dries dampness - diarrhea, fatigue, lack of appetite, vomiting, edema.
• Stabilizes the exterior and stops sweating - spontaneous sweating due to qi deficiency.
• Calms the fetus - arising from spleen deficiency.

• Drains heat, relieves fire toxicity, cools the blood and benefits the throat - warm-febrile disease, mumps, painful swollen throat.
• Damp-heat jaundice.

• Clears heat, relieves toxicity, invigorates blood, reduces swelling - furuncles, sores, abscesses.
• Recently used for cancers and chronic hepatitis.

• Separates the pure from the turbid - cloudy urine and leukorrhea, either from damp-heat or deficiency.
• Expels wind damp (cold and hot bi syndromes), relaxes the sinews.
• Damp-heat - skin disorders (eczema, pustular sores).

• Clears damp-heat in the bladder - promotes urination, damp-heat lin.
• Expels parasites - intestinal parasites.
• Damp skin lesions - itching.

• Kills parasites - tapeworms, pinworms, roundworms, blood flukes, helps expel body of worms as well.
• Promote movement of Qi, reduce stagnation - drains down and unblocks the bowels, food accumulation, abdominal distention, constipation, tenesmus.
• Promote urination - damp phlegm and malarial disorders.

• Aromatically opens orifices, revives the spirit - fainting, convulsion.
• Clears heat, alleviates pain, dissipates nodules, alleviates itching - topically for pain, swelling of the throat, skin disease, eye disease (photophobia, excessive tearing), regenerates flesh.

• Tonify Kidney, strengthen yang - impotence, premature ejaculation, cold and painful lower back.
• Stabilizes jing and reserves urine - enuresis, incontinence of urine, frequent urination, spermatorrhea.
• Tonify and strengthen spleen yang - cold deficient spleen diarrhea, borborygmus, abdominal pain.
• Aids kidneys to grasp lung qi - wheezing, asthma.
• Apply topically for alopecia, psoriasis, vitiligo.

• Expels wind and damp - bi syndromes, skin disorders with itching.
• Nasal passage obstruction - thick nasal discharge, sinus headache; often combined with Xin Yi Hua and Bai Zhi.

• Strongly dries dampness, strengthens spleen - low appetite, diarrhea, epigastric distention, fatigue, vomiting, greasy tongue coat.
• Expels wind-damp-cold (bi-syndrome) in extremities.
• Clears damp-heat from lower burner (combine with clear-heat herbs, however, as this has a warm nature (for example, Er Miao San) - vaginal discharge, swollen and sore joints.
• Induces sweating, release the exterior.
• Improves vision.

• Cools blood, stops bleeding - vomiting blood, bleeding gums, coughing blood, blood in the stool or urine, uterine bleeding, bloody dysentery.
• Stops cough, expels phlegm - lung heat patterns (cough w/phlegm), thick bloody sputum that is difficult to expectorate.
• Promote healing of burns - topically in powdered form for early stages.

• Clears shao yang disorders and reduces fever - alternating chills and fever, bitter taste in the mouth, irritability, vomiting, stifling sensation in the chest.
• Relieves liver qi stagnation (often used with Bai Shao) - vertigo, menstrual disorders, chest and flank pain, the most common herb to treat stress, irritability, depression, etc.; also for liver and spleen disharmony - bloating, nausea, indigestion, flank pain.
• Raises yang qi in spleen and stomach deficiency patterns (often used with Sheng Ma) - prolapsed organ, diarrhea, hemorrhoids.

• Due to its rising and dispersing nature avoid in yin deficiency or liver yang rising.
• May cause nausea or vomiting - use a smaller dose if necessary.

• Checks malarial conditions.
• Induces vomiting to expel phlegm in the chest.

• The is the dry fried version of Huang Bai.  For general indications see the Huang Bai page.  Dry frying helps to moderate the bitter and cold properties of this herb.

• Regulates Qi, improves transportive function of the spleen, relieves diaphragm - epigastric/abdominal distention, fullness, bloating, belching, nausea, vomiting (promotes movement of qi in general; specifically directing it downward - good for different types of nausea/vomiting).
• Important herb for drying dampness and the transformation of phlegm - coughs with stifling sensation in the chest/diaphragm, and copious viscous sputum (qi-level herb).
• Prevents stagnation - prevents cloying of tonifying herbs.
• Ju Hong is the red part of the tangerine peel - it is more drying and aromatic.

• Promotes the movement of Qi, alleviates pain - distention and pain in abdominal region due to cold from deficiency or blood stasis.
• Directs rebellious Qi downward - excess/deficiency wheezing, vomiting, belching, hiccups due to cold from deficiency of the middle jiao.
• Helps the kidneys grasp Qi - asthma and wheezing.

• Invigorates blood, dispels stasis (stronger than Mu Dan Pi) - dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, abdominal pain and masses, traumatic pain associated with swelling, early stages of abscesses and boils.
• Clears heat, cools the blood (especially for excess heat in the blood) - for heat entering the blood level with fever, purple tongue, skin blotches, bleeding, gyn issues.
• Clears liver fire - for red swollen, painful eyes.

• Incompatible with Li Lu

• Clears heat, transforms phlegm, stops many types of cough (chronic, yin-deficient, difficult to expectorate phlegm, blood streaked sputum); best for cough with stifling sensation in the chest and upper abdomen (constrained qi).
• Clears heat, dissipates nodules due to heat - sores, swellings, scrofula, lung or breast abscess.

• Incompatible with Wu Tou.

• Promotes the movement of Qi and stops pain - flank, rib, abdominal pain due to liver qi stagnation or liver-stomach disharmony; hernial disorders, good w/heat signs.
• Clears heat, dries dampness, regulates qi, alleviates pain due to damp-heat stagnant qi - same symptoms as above.
• Kills parasites and stops pain - roundworms and tape worms (primarily for pain).
• Compare with Xia Ku Cao, Long Dan Cao, Zhi Zi for clearing liver heat function.

• Clears heat and relieves fire toxicity - heat in lungs, throat, urinary tract; sores and carbuncles.
• Clear heat and dries dampness - dysentery, lin syndrome, eczema.

• Clears heat, dries dampness, binds up intestines - chronic diarrhea due to damp-heat, with blood in the stool, chronic vaginal discharge due to damp-heat.
• Kills parasites - roundworms.

• Drains heat and purges accumulations - high fever, profuse sweating, thirst, constipation, abdominal distention and pain, delirium, yellow tongue coating, full pulse which indicates intestinal heat excess or yang ming stage illness.
• Drains heat from the blood - blood in the stool from bleeding hemorrhoids or heat in the intestine; vomting blood or nosebleed accompanied by constipation; painful eyes or fire toxin sores due to heat in the blood level.
• Drains damp-heat via the stool - jaundice, dysentery, lin syndrome.
• Invigorates the blood and dispels blood stasis - amenorrhea, abdominal masses, fixed pain due to blood stasis (recent and long-term blood stasis).
• Clears heat and reduces fire toxicity - for burns, hot skin.

• Avoid During Pregnancy and During Nursing
• Avoid in exterior disorders and deficiency of qi and/or blood

• Clears heat, relieves toxicity - for any contagious febrile disease outbreak; also for fire toxin anywhere, but especially in the throat and lungs.
• Cools the blood, reduces blotches - skin eruptions due to heat in the blood, intense fever, irritability.

• Calms the liver, anchors floating yang, clears liver fire.
• Directs rebellious qi downwards - belching, vomiting, hiccough, wheezing.
• Cools the blood, stops bleeding - vomiting of blood, nosebleed.

• Releases both exterior hot or cold (depending on how it is prepared), also good for exterior disorders with underlying yin deficiency (due to its mild nature).
• Eliminates irritability, restlessness, insomnia following febrile disease.

• Avoid with nursing mothers - may inhibit lactation.

• Transforms phlegm heat, extinguishes wind, stops convulsions - muscle spasms/cramps, infantile convulsions, seizure disorders, facial paralysis, stroke (CVA) from wind and phlegm obstruction.
• Zhi (or Tian) Nan Xing is prepared with fresh ginger and Dan Nan Xing is prepared with cow bile.

• Avoid during pregnancy.

• Invigorate blood, break up blood stasis in lower abdomen - dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, palpable masses, lochioschesis, pain due to blood stasis, chest/epigastric pain, soreness in the ribs due to liver qi stagnation w/blood stasis.
• Clear heat, soothe irritability - restlessness, irritability, insomnia due to heat entering the ying level.

• Incompatible with Li Lu

• Tonifies the blood, regulates menses - pallid, ashen complexion, tinnitus, blurred vision, palpitations, irregular menses, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea.
• Invigorates/harmonizes the blood, disperses cold - important herb to stop pain due to blood stasis - abdominal pain, trauma, carbuncles due to blood stasis, chronic bi.
• Moistens dry intestines due to blood deficiency.
• Reduces swellings, expels pus, generates flesh - sores.

• Clears damp heat, promotes urination - lin syndrome due to damp heat in the bladder.
• Expels dampness, stops itching - damp skin disorders, eczema, scabies, damp-heat in the external genitals.

• Do not combine with Hai Piao Xiao

• Cools the blood, stops bleeding in lower burner due to damp heat - bloody dysentery, bleeding hemorrhoids, uterine bleeding.
• Clears heat and generates flesh - topically for burns, carbuncles.

• Dispels wind-cold-damp - bi syndromes, especially lower back and legs (acute/chronic).
• Shao yin stage headache and toothache.

• Breaks up blood stasis, promotes movement of Qi, alleviates pain - abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, abdominal masses, epigastric masses due to blood stasis.
• Dissolve food stagnation, accumulations.

• Do Not Use During Pregnancy

• Drains downward, guides out stagnation - constipation due to heat.
• Can also be used as a diet tea (1.5-3g).

• Avoid During Pregnancy, During Nursing, and During Menstruation

• Regulates and soothes liver Qi - rib pain and distention, belching.
• Harmonizes the stomach and strengthens the spleen - epigastric pain and distention, lack of appetite, belching, vomiting.
• Dries dampness and transforms phlegm - chronic cough with phlegm and chest pain (weak, not well suited for acute conditions).

• Drains water downward, drives out congested fluid - fluid in the chest and abdomen, general edema; violent passing of water through the anus.
• Clears heat, reduces swellings - swollen, painful skin lesions due to damp-heat.

• Incompatible with Gan Cao
• Only for strong individuals.
• Toxic - nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain.

• Tonifies liver and kidneys, strengthens sinews and bones - stiffness, soreness or weakness in lower back, spine, legs.
• Expels wind and dampness - bi syndrome.
• Urinary incontinence and vaginal discharges.

• Tonify kidneys - weak low back and knee, diarrhea, tinnitus, decreased hearing, toothache, bleeding gums due to deficient kidneys.
• Mending sinews and bones due to falls, fractures, contusions, sprains.
• Stimulates growth of hair - used topically as a tincture for alopecia.

• Kills parasites - tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms.
• Drains heat and relieves fire toxicity - wind-heat colds, damp-heat induced sores, carbuncles.
• Cools the blood and stops bleeding - bleeding due to hot blood, uterine bleeding.

• Expels wind-damp-heat - diffuse aches and pains, thirst, yellow, greasy tongue coat.
• Promotes urination and reduces edema (facial or systemic) with wheezing or leg qi.

• Toxic - can lead to renal failure.

• Dispels wind-cold-damp bi such as stiff joints, lower back pain, sore knees, cramping of muscles and sinews.
• Disperses cold and alleviates pain - epigastric and abdominal pain and diarrhea due to cold in the spleen and stomach.

• Clears heat, directs lung qi downwards, transforms phlegm - lung-heat cough with thick sputum (difficult to expectorate), chest or rib pain.
• Softens hardness, dissipates nodules - phlegm fire goiter and scrofula.
• Promotes urination, expels dampness - turbid painful urinary dysfunction and vaginal discharge.
• Epigastric pain, acid reflux - calcined powdered form).

• Dispels wind-damp (hot or cold), unblocks the channels - bi syndromes, especially in the lower back and/or knees or spasms of the extremities.
• Promotes urination, reduces edema - superficial edema due to dampness.
• Itchy skin - lesions, scabies.

• Clears heat, reduces phlegm nodules - goiter, scrofula.
• Promotes urination (adjunctive herb) - reduces edema, particularly in the leg and floating type.

• Incompatible with Gan Cao.

• Promotes urination, reduces edema - lower extremity edema, borborygmus, abdominal distention, ascites from lower jiao damp accumulation.
• Expels wind-damp-heat, alleviates pain - fever, red, swollen, hot, painful joints.

• Tonifies liver and kidney, nourishes blood, augments essence - yin and/or blood deficiency w/dizziness, blurred vision, prematurely grey hair, weakness in the lower back and knees, sore limbs, insomnia, nocturnal emission, spermatorrhea, vaginal discharge; neither cold, drying, nor too cloying.
• Relieves toxic fire - carbuncles, sores, scrofula, neck lumps.
• Moistens intestines - constipation associated with blood deficiency.
• Expels wind from skin by nourishing the blood.
• Chronic malaria w/qi and blood deficiency.

• Treats summerheat patterns - fever, irritability, excessive sweating, scanty urine, diarrhea due to summerheat.
• Raises and clears the spleen yang - diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, especially after summer-heat.
• Stops bleeding - lower burner bleeding due to heat or stagnation, also for vomiting blood.

• Binds the intestines - hot or cold diarrhea, dysentery.
• Leakage of lung qi - cough, wheezing, loss of voice.

• Clears heat, relieves toxicity, reduces abscesses, and stops pain - for intestinal abscesses and skin lesions with heat, swelling, and pain.
• Invigorates the blood, disperses stasis - trauma, dysmenorrhea, joint pain.

• Promotes movement of Qi, transforms dampness, resolves stagnation - dampness in spleen/stomach, food stagnation, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal distention (*important herb for this).
• Warms and transforms phlegm and directs rebellious lung Qi downward - wheezing, phlegm with coughing, stifling sensation in the chest.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Drains damp-heat - dysentery, sores.
• Clears deficient heat - yin deficiency heat symptoms.
• Clears heat and reduces childhood nutritional impairment - abdominal distention, afternoon fever, dysentery.

• Invigorates blood and dispels stasis - amenorrhea, wind-damp painful obstruction, traumatic injury.
• Clears heat and resolves dampness - damp heat jaundice, turbid vaginal discharge.
• Drains heat, transforms phlegm - cough due to lung heat, constipation.
• Discharges toxins - burns, carbuncles (topically).

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Cools the blood, stops bleeding - damp-heat in the large intestine - bloody dysentery, bleeding hemorrhoids.
• Cools liver fire - red eyes, dizziness.

• Drains damp heat from the lower jiao - thick-yellow leukorrhea, foul-smelling diarrhea, dysentery; damp-heat pouring downward or hot leg qi - red, swollen, painful knees, legs, and/or feet; damp-heat jaundice.
• Drains kidney fire with signs of yin deficiency - steaming bone disorder, night sweats, afternoon fever and sweating, nocturnal emissions, spermatorrhea.
• Drains fire, relieves toxicity - sores and lesions of the skin.

• Drains fire, relieves toxicity - high fever, irritability, disorientation, delirium, painful, red eyes, red tongue, sore throat, boils, carbuncles, abscesses.
• Clears heat, drains dampness - for damp-heat in the stomach or intestine, diarrhea or dysenteric disorder, vomiting and/or acid regurgitation due to stomach heat.
• Clears heart fire - irritability, insomnia.
• Clears heat and stops bleeding - nosebleed, blood in the urine, stool, vomiting due to hot blood.
• Topically for red, painful eyes and ulcerations of the tongue and mouth.

• Clears heat, drains fire, especially from the upper warmer - heat patterns with fever, irritability, thirst, cough, thick, yellow sputum, hot sores and swellings.
• Clears heat, dries dampness - damp-heat in the stomach or intestines, diarrhea, dysentery; damp warm-febrile disease with fever, stifling sensation in the chest, thirst with no desire to drink; damp-heat in the lower jiao - lin syndrome; damp-heat jaundice.
• Clears heat, stops bleeding - vomiting and/or coughing of blood, nosebleed, blood in the stool.
• Clears heat, calms the fetus - restless fetus due to heat.
• Sedates liver yang rising - headache, irritability, red eyes, bitter taste, flushed face.

• Dissipates nodules and reduces massage - goiter, cancer.
• Cools the blood and stops bleeding - vomiting blood, coughing up blood, uterine bleeding.
• Reduces toxicity of toxic swellings (topically).

• Useful for gastrointestinal disorders related to damp heat - pain, dysentery, enteritis.  Liver involved symptoms such as jaundice.
• Diarrhea from summerheat.
• Cools the blood and stops bleeding - nosebleeds, bleeding in the urine, uterine bleeding.
• Useful to clear heat from the liver and benefit the eyes - glaucoma, cataracts, pinkeye.

• Use with caution in pregnancy.

• Promotes the movement of blood, tonify the blood - blood deficiency patterns such as irregular menses, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, accompanied with abdominal pain.
• Invigorate the channels, relax the sinews - numbness of the extremities, lower back pain, knee pain, damp bi-syndrome, w/blood deficiency or stasis.

• Invigorate blood, unblock menses - chest and abdominal pain, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, pain and swelling due to trauma.
• Promote the movement of Qi, alleviate pain - epigastric and/or abdominal pain.
• Expel wind, promote movement of blood - wind damp painful obstruction w/blood stasis (particularly in the shoulders).

• Opens up and disseminates lung qi, expels phlegm - cough (wind-heat/cold), benefits the throat (sore, loss of voice).
• Promotes discharge of pus.
• Guides other herbs to the upper body.

• This is the wine fried version of zhi mu.  For general usage information see the Zhi Mu page.  Frying helps to moderate the bitter and cold aspects.

• Dispels blood stasis, unblocks menses - amenorrhea, post partum abdominal pain, pain due to trauma.
• Topically - burns, bleeding from wounds, contusions.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• The red part of the tangerine peel (chen pi) - it is more drying and aromatic.

• Disperses wind, clears heat (bitter, cold) - headache, fever.
• Clears liver and the eyes (sweet, cold) - wind-heat in the liver channel manifesting with red, painful, dry eyes or excessive tearing, or yin deficiency of the kidneys and liver with floaters, blurry vision, or dizziness.

• Avoid in qi deficiency with poor appetite/diarrhea.

• Clears the vision and expels wind-heat - itchy, red and painful eyes, sensitivity to light due to wind-heat (stronger action in clearing liver-heat/fire than Qing Xiang Zi and
• Mi Meng Hua; also nourishes kidney yin and liver yin).
• Moistens intestines and unblocks the bowels - dry, chronic constipation especially due to liver yin deficiency.
• Lowers blood pressure and serum cholesterol.

• Do not use with Huo Ma Ren.
• Not recommended for patients with diarrhea.
• Avoid in patients with hypotension (low blood pressure).

• Clears heat, dries dampness - dysentery, leukorrhea, jaundice, sores.
• Expels wind, kills parasites, stops itching - for damp toxin skin lesions or infestations with chronic itching, seepage, and bleeding; genital itching and vaginal discharge.
• Clears heat, promotes urination - for damp-heat in the small intestine, lin syndrome, hot edema.

• Drains heart fire - for warm-febrile disease where heat collapses into the pericardium channel causing confusion, delirium; insomnia and irritability due to excessive heart fire.
• Stops bleeding, binds the essence - vomiting blood, spermatorrhea.

• Avoid in patients with abdominal masses and/or constipation.

• Clear heat and toxins, dissipates nodules - carbuncles and hot sores, neck lumps.
• Expel wind-heat - fever, slight chills, sore throat, headache.

• Drains damp-heat from the liver and gallbladder channels - red, swollen, sore throat, eyes, and/or ears, sudden deafness, jaundice, pain, swelling or dampness in the genital region, or foul smelling vaginal discharge and itching.
• Clears ascending liver fire - headache, red eyes; liver wind-heat with fever, spasms, convulsions, flank pain.

• Drains fire and guides out accumulation - constipation, dizziness, red eyes, irritability; good for chronic cases.
• Kills parasites, strengthens stomach - roundworms and ringworms.
• Clears heat and cools the liver - epigastric discomfort, dizziness, headache, tinnitus, irritability, constipation, and fever due to heat in the liver channel.

• Avoid During Pregnancy and During Menstruation

• Promotes movement of qi and blood, opens middle burner and unblocks the channels - irregular or scanty menses, abdominal pain or distention, pain and stiffness in the lower back and knees (wind-damp painful obstruction).
• Promotes urination - edema with difficult urination.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Dispels wind-hot-damp bi and spasms of the sinews.
• Cools the blood and reduces swellings - toxic sores, sore throat.

• Clears the lungs, transforms phlegm - cough, wheezing due to either lung heat or lung deficiency accompanied by heat signs, as long as there is phlegm clogging the lungs.
• Hypertension, bleeding hemorrhoids.

• Contains Aristolochic Acid.

• Induce sweating to release the exterior, disperse cold
• Disperse lung qi, wheezing
• Promote urination and reduces edema

• Not for long-term use as sweating will weaken the qi
• Use cautiously in deficiency condition
• May cause and/or contribute to hypertension, insomnia, mental restlessness

• Unblock the channels, disperse clumps - reduces swelling and alleviates pain.
• Abscess, yin-type ulcers, pain due to trauma, wind-damp obstruction.

• Moistens the lungs, stops cough - dry cough, coughing blood.
• Augments stomach yin, generates fluids - dry tongue and mouth.
• Clears heat and eliminates irritability due to yin deficiency or a warm-febrile disease in the ying level - particularly when symptoms are worse at night.
• Moistens the intestines - constipation.

• Disperses wind, clears heat - wind-heat especially with headache or eye pain.
• Wind-heat in the liver channel - excessive tearing, red-painful-swollen eyes, floaters.
• Drains damp, expels wind - supporting herb for stiff, numb, cramping, and/or heavy limbs.

• Avoid in cases of Stomach Qi Deficiency.
• Avoid in headaches or eye problems that arise from yin/blood deficient heat.

• Purges accumulations, guides out stagnation - heat in the stomach and intestines with constipation; moistens dryness and softens hardness.
• Clears heat, reduces swelling - red, swollen, painful eyes, mouth, and/or throat; red, swollen skin lesions including breast problems.

• Avoid during Pregnancy, while nusrsing, during menstruation.
• Avoid in the elderly.
• Avoid in cases of excess heat.

• Promotes the movement of Qi and relieves constraint - liver-stomach disharmony with pain and distention in the flanks and epigastrium, belching, poor appetite.
• Promotes the movement of Qi, harmonizes the Blood, disperses stasis - irregular menses, breast tenderness (PMS), menstrual pain; stasis from trauma.

• Invigorate blood, dispel blood stasis, reduces swelling, alleviate pain - trauma, sores, carbuncles, swellings, abdominal masses, painful obstruction, chest pain, abdominal pain, amenorrhea.
• Promotes healing of chronic non-healing sores.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Clears Heat (excess and deficient), Cools Blood. Nose bleed, bloody sputum or vomit, subcutaneous bleeding, frequent and profuse menses due to heat in the Blood.
• Clear Deficient Fire. Yin deficiency patterns such as steaming bone disorder after a warm-febrile disease particularly those without sweating.
• Clears Liver Blood Stasis. Amenorrhea, abdominal masses, bruises.
• Clears Rising Liver Fire. Headache, eye pain, flank pain, flushing, dysmenorrhea.
• Drains Pus, Reduces Swelling. Used topically for non-draining sores. Used internally for intestinal abscess.

Avoid in Pregnancy, Excess Menses due to Blood moving action.

• Promotes urination, drains heat from the heart through the small intestine - irritability with sores of the mouth or tongue, scanty urination, lin syndrome, edema.
• Promotes lactation, unblocks the blood vessels - insufficient lactation, less commonly for amenorrhea and bi-syndrome.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.
• Toxic - can lead to renal failure (aristolochic acid).

• Promotes the movement of Qi, alleviates pain - stagnant qi of the stomach and/or spleen causing lack of appetite, abdominal pain, distention, nausea; liver or gallbladder qi stagnation causing flank pain, distention.
• Regulates stagnated Qi in the intestines - diarrhea, abdominal pain (common herb to treat tenesmus).
• Strengthens the spleen and prevents stagnation, used with tonifying herbs to reduce side effects.

• Disperses wind-heat and eliminates superficial visual obstruction - red, painful eyes, swelling, blurred vision, pterygium.
• Clears heat, stops bleeding - supporting herb for blood in the stool, hemorrhoids.

• Avoid in patients with urinary frequency.
• Avoid during pregnancy.
• Avoid in cases of qi and/or yin deficiency.

• Expels wind-heat (acrid), benefits throat - fever, cough, sore, red, swollen throat.
• Clears heat (bitter, cold), relieves toxicity, vents rashes - red swellings, carbuncles, mumps, acute febrile rashes, early stages of measles with incomplete expression.
• Moistens intestines (rich plant oil - slippery) - constipation due to wind-heat (cold nature of the herb).

• Avoid in qi deficiency, diarrhea, lack of excess heat.
• Avoid when open sores and/or carbuncles are present.

• Clears the heart, opens the orifices, awakens the spirit, vaporizes phlegm - delirium or coma due to wind-heat or hot diseases with hot phlegm obstructing the pericardium.
• Clears the liver, relieves toxicity, extinguishes wind, stops tremors - spasms, tremors, convulsions with high fever due to heat entering the liver.
• Drains heat and relieves fire toxicity - red, painful, swollen, or ulcerated throat as well as for sores, carbuncles, boils, and a wide variety of hot swellings.

• Do not use during pregnancy.

• Liver and/or kidney yin deficiency - dizziness, floaters, weak knees and back, tinnitus, premature graying of hair.
• Clears deficient heat.
• Improves vision in patients with liver and/or kidney deficiency.

• Transforms phlegm, clears lung heat - lung heat patterns with cough.
• Harmonizes the stomach, clears stomach heat, redirects rebellious stomach qi - nausea, vomiting, hiccups, belching.
• Often fried in honey to strengthen the lung moistening function, or in ginger juice to increase its ability to stop nausea and vomiting.

• Clears heat and relieves fire toxicity - any heat, especially liver heat with red, swollen, painful eyes.
• Dissipates nodules and reduces abscesses - firm, hard sores, especially for breast and intestinal abscesses.
• Promotes lactation - due to heat.
• Clears heat, resolves damp - damp-heat jaundice, lin syndrome.
• Often used for treating breast cancer in TCM

• Cools the blood to stop bleeding - vomiting blood, nosebleed, coughing blood, blood in stool, uterine bleeding, any bleeding due to hot blood.
• Invigorates blood to dispel blood stasis - pain associated with blood stasis, especially chest and flank pain, trauma, joint pain, early stage of carbuncles.

• Re-directs rebellious lung qi downward, expels phlegm - coughing, wheezing with thick sputum due to heat in the lungs.
• Releases wind-heat from the exterior w/cough and copious phlegm.

• Drives out water - for heat accumulation in the stomach or intestines, severe constipation, abdominal distention, urinary difficulty (water is expelled through urine and stool).
• Unblocks the bowels and removes accumulations - constipation due to accumulation and stagnation of damp-heat in the stomach and intestines.
• Drives out phlegm and congested fluids - cough, wheezing, chest fullness.
• Expels intestinal parasites and reduces food stagnation - roundworm or tapeworm infestations and food stagnation.

• Antagonist with Ba Dou
• Avoid during Pregnancy.
• Toxic, may cause nausea, vomiting.

• Release exterior, disperse cold - useful with wind-cold and damp associated body/joint pain
• Guiding herb for the GV and Tai Yang Channels

• Avoid in Blood and/or Yin Deficiency
• Avoid with Exterior Deficiency

• Dispels wind-damp bi and cramping, especially in the extremities, for acute/chronic, cold/hot conditions.
• Clears deficient heat - fever, steaming bone disorder.
• Jaundice due to acute damp-heat.
• Counteracts drying action of other herbs that dispel wind-damp - moistens intestines for dry constipation.

• Drains damp-heat - dysentery (bloody).
• Drains liver fire - eyes with redness, swelling, pain, or the formation of superficial visual obstruction.
• Clears wind-damp - painful hot obstruction.

• Clears summer heat - fever, headache, dizziness, stifling sensation in the chest.
• Clears deficient fever - unremitting fever or night fever with no sweating (from blood deficiency or sequel of febrile disease).
• Cools the blood, stops bleeding - purpuric rash, nosebleed due to heat in the blood.
• Malarial disorders - alternating fever and chills.

• Spreads liver Qi and breaks up stagnation - liver Qi stagnation symptoms such as distention and pain in the chest, breast, and/or hypochondriac regions; hernial pain.
• Reduces food stagnation - pain in the epigastrium.
• Dries dampness and transforms phlegm - malarial disorders w/phlegm, dampness, and breast abscesses.
• Raises blood pressure.

• Clears damp heat, promotes urination, unblocks lin syndrome - for any lin, especially xue lin.
• Breaks up blood stasis - amenorrhea due to blood stasis.
• Unblocks the bowels - constipation.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Strongly tonify yuan qi - extreme collapse of qi, shortness of breath, cold limbs, profuse sweating, weak pulse (often used alone for this condition after severe blood loss).
• Tonify lung qi - wheezing, shortness of breath, w/kidneys failing to grasp the qi.
• Strengthen the middle warmer - lethargy, no appetite, chronic diarrhea, prolapse of organs, distended chest/abdomen.
• Generates fluids, stops thirst - xiao ke, damaged fluid due to high dever and profuse sweating.
• Benefits heart qi, calms the spirit - palpitations, anxiety, insomnia, poor memory, restlessness due to qi and/or blood deficiency.

• Avoid tea and turnips while taking ginseng.
• Antagonist with Wu Ling Zhi, Incompatible with Li Lu.
• Avoid with high blood pressure and/or liver yang rising.

• Invigorate blood, dispel blood stasis, alleviate pain - trauma, carbuncles and swellings, chest and/or abdominal pain.
• Relax the sinews, invigorates the channels, alleviates pain - bi syndromes, rigidity, spasms.
• Reduces swellings, generates flesh - topically for sores, carbuncles, traumatic injury.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Breaks up blood stasis, promotes movement of Qi, alleviates pain - amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, post partum abdominal pain, abdominal masses.
• Dissolves food stagnation, accumulations.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Stops bleeding, transforms blood stasis - internal and external bleeding such as vomiting blood, nosebleed, blood in the urine or stool.
• Can stop bleeding without causing blood stasis.
• Traumatic injuries - alleviate pain, reduce swelling from falls, fracture, sprains.
• Invigorates the blood - chest and abdominal pain, joint pain from blood stasis.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Tonify liver and kidney yin, strengthen sinews and bones, expel wind-damp - lower back and knee pain, joint problems, atrophy of sinews and bones, bi-syndromes.
• Nourish blood, calm the womb - uterine bleeding during pregnancy, dry and scaly skin.
• Hypertension.

• Expels wind, clears lung heat - wind-heat with fever, headache, sore throat; also for lung dryness causing dry mouth, dry cough, lung heat with thick and yellow sputum.
• Cools liver and clears the eyes - liver channel eye problems due to wind-heat or yin deficiency, red, sore, dry or painful eyes, floaters.
• Cools the blood and stops bleeding - mild cases of vomiting blood due to heat in the blood.

• Wind-damp bi especially in the upper extremities.
• Reduces edema.

• Moistens the lungs, stops cough - dry, non-productive cough due to lung yin deficiency.
• Nourish the stomach, generate fluids, clear heat (after febrile disease or yin deficiency) - dry mouth or throat.
• Moisten the exterior - dry itchy skin aggravated by cold and dry weather.

• Incompatible with Li Lu

• Clears heat, relieves fire toxicity, improves throat - painful, swollen throat.
• Clears the lungs - cough due to lung heat.
• Damp-heat jaundice.

• Drives out water through the urethra and anus - edema associated with severe constipation and urinary difficulty.
• Reduces sores and carbuncles (topically).

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Dry dampness, kills parasites, stop itch - topically - weeping, itchy skin lesions, scabies, ringworm.
• Warms the kidneys, strengthens yang - impotence, infertility, cold womb.
• Disperses cold, expels wind, dry dampness - leukorrhea, lower back pain.

• Clears heat, relieves toxicity, improves the throat - painful, swollen throat due to fire excess, fire toxin, or phlegm-heat obstruction.
• Transforms phlegm, clears the lungs - cough, wheezing, and phlegm.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Clears Heat, Cools Blood. High fever, thirst, scarlet tongue, hemorrhage due to heat in the Blood.
• Nourishes Yin, Generates Fluids. Yin Deficiency with heat signs with injury to body fluids. Dry mouth, low-grade fever, constipation, throat pain from yin deficiency.
• Cools Ascending Heart Fire (HT, LV). Mouth and tongue sores, irritability, insomnia, malar flush.
• Wasting thirst disorder.

Spleen Deficiency, Yang Deficiency, Damp Phlegm, Digestion Difficulties.

• Directs stomach Qi downward - stops hiccups and belching.

• Clears heat in the lungs - sore throat, cough, asthma, mastitis.
• Damp heat related rheumatoid arthritis, jaundice, pain and/or swelling in the eyes.

• Promotes urination, drains damp-heat from the bladder - hot, stone, xue lin.
• Clears heat and stops bleeding - vomiting, uterine bleeding.
• Clears the lungs, expels phlegm, relieves cough - lung heat, wheezing.

• Breaks up blood stasis, reduces immobile masses - amenorrhea, abdominal masses, trauma.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Strengthen the spleen, augment qi - fatigue, reduced appetite.
• Tonifies lung qi - spontaneous sweating.
• Generates fluids - thirst, injury to fluids after a febrile disease, fever, summerheat in children.

• Breaks up blood stasis (important herb) - menstrual disorders, abdominal pain/masses, trauma, flank pain, lung abscess, intestinal abscess.
• Moistens intestines, unblock bowels - constipation due to dry intestines.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Clears and drains lung heat, transforms phlegm, moistens lung dryness.
• Drains heat, generates fluid (fluids injured) - thirst, irritability, wasting and thirsting disorder, cough, thick sputum.
• Relieves toxicity, expels pus - toxic hot carbuncles, breast abscess.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Nourish kidney yin, clear lung heat - yin deficiency with heat signs in the upper warmer, dryness of mouth, thick or blood-streaked sputum that is difficult to expectorate.
• Moisten the lungs, nourish kidneys, generate fluids - lung and kidney yin deficiency, especially xiao ke, low grade afternoon fever, constipation.

• Dries dampness and expels phlegm - cough and distension in the chest, extremely drying.
• Disperses wind-phlegm in the channels and stops spasms - dizziness, numbness, facial paralysis, spasms in the hands and feet, stroke, seizures, lockjaw.
• Reduces swelling and alleviates pain (topically).

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Drains lung heat, reduces phlegm, calms wheezing - excess type wheezing and coughing with excess sputum and gurgling sound in the throat.
• Moves water, reduces edema - facial edema, fluid accumulation in the chest and abdomen, urinary difficulty.

• Drains fire and relieves toxicity - sore, swollen, and painful throat, especially diphtheria.
• Clears heat toxin - abscesses and skin sores.
• Invigorates blood and dissipates stasis - dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Invigorate blood and channels - upper body - promote lactation, lower body - unblocks menses, amenorrhea due to blood stasis.
• Swelling - breast or testicular swellings with pain.

• Avoid During Pregnancy

• Dispels wind-cold-damp, strengthens the sinews and bones, chronic bi due to liver and kidney deficiency generating weak sinews (motor function development delays in children, elderly).
• Transforms damp, reduces swelling - urinary difficulty, edema, damp-cold leg qi.

• Disperse blood stasis, alleviate pain - amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, post partum abdominal pain, epigastric pain due to blood stasis.
• Transforms stasis, stop bleeding - uterine bleeding, lochioschesis.
• Childhood nutritional impairment with focal distention.
• Use raw to invigorate blood and dry-fry to stop bleeding.

• Antagonist with Ren Shen

• Warms the middle, disperses cold, relieves constraint in the liver channel and alleviates pain - headaches, nausea, cold hernia in the liver channel region.
• Redirects stomach Qi downwards - due to liver and/or stomach disharmony.
• Warms the spleen and expels damp cold, stops diarrhea.
• Leads fire downwards - mouth/tongue canker sores (externally applied to canker sores).

• Clears Heat, Relieves Fire Toxicity, Cools Blood, Arrests Tremors. Erythema, nosebleed, vomiting blood, delirium, convulsions, manic behavior, loss of consciousness.

Pregnancy, Yin Deficiency Fever, Incompatible (antagonist) with Chuan Wu Tou and Cao Wu Tou.

• Dispels wind-heat-damp bi - facial paralysis, hemiplegia.
• Calms the spirit, pacifies the liver - irritability, insomnia, liver yang rising, headache, dizziness.

• Benefits qi, generates fluids, nourishes yin - for yin deficiency with heat signs, weakness, irritability and thirst after a febrile disease.
• Nurtures lung yin and clears fire from the lungs - wheezing, coughing up blood streaked sputum, loss of voice due to lung yin deficiency.

• Clears liver and brightens the eyes - ascending liver fire with red, painful, swollen eyes, headache, dizziness (stronger than Mi Meng Hua, Jue Ming Zi, Qing Xiang Zi in clearing heat).
• Clears heat and dissipates nodules - neck lumps, scrofula, lipoma, goiter, swollen glands due to phlegm fire.
• Hypertension accompanied by liver fire or yang rising.

• Avoid in patients with stomach or spleen deficiency.

• Stops bleeding due to cold, heat, excess, or deficiency patterns - vomiting blood, coughing blood, nosebleed, bleeding gums, blook in the urine, uterine bleeding.
• Alleviates diarrhea, dysentery.
• Kills parasites.

• Spreads and regulates the Qi, soothes the liver - hypochondriac pain, epigastric distention, disharmony between the liver and the spleen.
• Regulates menses, alleviates pain (by resolving liver qi stagnation) - dysmenorrhea, irregular menses.

• Unblocks the yang Qi and disperses cold phlegm - damp-cold bi of the chest due to cold turbid phlegm preventing the flow of yang qi - chest, flank, or upper back pain, dyspnea, coughing, wheezing, stifling sensation in the chest.
• Promotes the movement of Qi and Blood, alleviates pain - epigastric fullness, distention, abdominal pain, chest pain due to blood obstructing the heart channel.
• Directs Qi downward, reduces stagnation - damp stagnation in the large intestine (dysenteric disorders).

• Stops cough and calms wheezing due to hot or cold patterns - especially for dry cough.
• Moistens the intestines, unblocks the bowels.

• Clears heat and alleviates spasms - high fever and convulsions in febrile disease.
• Topically to relieve fire toxicity, hot skin lesions.
• Red, painful eyes due to liver fire.
• Reduces swelling and pain - trauma, sprains, fracture, hemorrhoids.

• Relieves toxicity, kills parasites, stops itching, inflammation, abscess.
• Topically - scabies, ringworm, dam rashes.
• Kills parasites - accumulation symptoms with roundworms.
• Dries dampness, expels phlegm - wheezing, seizures, malarial conditions.

• Generally, Avoid Using This Herb.

• Tonify liver and kidney, strengthen sinews and bones - lower back and/or knee weakness and pain, stiff joints.
• Tonify without causing stagnation.
• Stops uterine bleeding, calms the fetus - bleeding during pregnancy, threatened miscarriage.
• Promote blood circulation, alleviate pain, generate flesh - traumatic injuries in the lower back and legs, external conditions such as sores.

• Redirects lung qi downward, expels cold-phlegm - wheezing and copious sputum.
• Stops vomiting, rebellious qi - from cold due to deficiency of stomach or spleen.

• Clears Heat, Cools Blood. Bleeding, fever, dry mouth, purplish tongue.
• Nourishes Yin. Particularly for the sequel of warm febrile disease with constipation, irritability.
• Drains Fire, Relieves Toxicity. Swollen, red eyes, sore throat.
• Softens Harness (salty), Dissipates phlegm fire nodules. Swollen, sore throat, neck lumps.

Incompatible with Li Lu.

• Treats dysenteric disorders - chronic cold stagnation dysentery, alternating hard and soft stool; protozoan induced dysentery.
• Intermittent fever and chills - malarial disorders.
• Topically for warts and corns.

• Toxic to stomach, liver, and kidneys.

• Invigorate blood, alleviate pain - pain from blood stasis and trauma, dysmenorrhea.
• Promotes movement of Qi and alleviates pain - chest pain, abdominal pain, menstrual pain, hernial disorders, epigastric pain.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Calms the spirit, nourishes the heart and blood - insomnia, irritability, dream disturbed sleep from yin and/or blood deficiency.
• Nourishes the blood and unblocks the channels - generalized weakness, soreness, pain, numbness due to blood deficiency.
• Alleviates itching - external wash for itching and skin rashes.

• Drains fire and relieves toxicity - furuncles, carbuncles, sores, swollen throat, wind-fire causing red eyes.

• Invigorates blood and regulates menses for gynecological issues - PMS, abdominal pain, irregular menses, abdominal masses, infertility, post partum abdominal pain w/lochioschesis, stasis from blood deficiency.
• Promotes urination and reduces swelling - acute systemic edema.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Main herb for Jaundice.
• Clears damp heat from the liver and gallbladder - relieves jaundice (either damp heat or cold).
• Clears heat, shao yang syndrome (intermittent fever and chills, bitter taste, stifling sensation in the chest, flank pain, dizziness, nausea).

• Not for Deficiency Jaundice (pale yellow skin, normal urine, soggy pulse (middle jiao qi deficiency, not from dampness).

• Invigorate blood, break up stasis - used topically and internally for traumatic pain, and to speed healing process of chronic sores.
• Promotes movement of Qi - liver qi stagnation, menstrual pain, chest, flank pain.
• Clears heat, cools blood - hot phlegm obstructs heart orifices with symptoms like anxiety, agitation, seizures.
• Benefits gallbladder - jaundice.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Moistens intestines, unblocks the bowel - constipation due to qi stagnation in intestines.
• Promotes urination and reduces edema in the legs.

• Drains water downward, drives out congested fluid - cathartic and diuretic - fluids in the chest and abdomen.
• Kills parasites - topically for ringworm.

• Incompatible with Gan Cao.
• Avoid during Pregnancy.
• Toxic - may cause tremors and difficulty breathing.

• Calms the spirit, quiets the heart - insomnia, palpitations, anxiety, restlessness.
• Expels phlegm from the lungs, clears the heart orifices - copious sputum, mental confusion, seizures.
• Reduces abscesses, dissipate swellings - boils, sores, painful breasts.

• Promotes movement of blood and menstruation - pain due to blood stasis obstructing menses, post partum abdominal pain from stasis.
• Invigorates blood and dispels blood stasis - topically and interally for pain and swelling from traumatic injury or abscess.
• Promotes urination - post partum edemc or lin, systematic or facial edema.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Clears and transforms phlegm-heat - acute lung heat with productive cough.
• Clears heat, dissipates nodules (better than Chuan Bei Mu - for phlegm-fire congealing and causing neck swellings, lung and breast abscesses and swellings.

• Antagonist with Wu Tou.

• Milder actions - move qi and reduce distention (good for weak patients).

• Clears heat, drains fire - high fever, irritability, thirst, and a rapid flooding pulse in patterns of excessive heat in the lungs and/or stomach; cough due to lung heat with thick yellow sputum.
• Nourishes yin, moistens dryness - deficiency of lung and kidney yin, night sweats, steaming bone disorder, irritability, afternoon or low-grade fevers, bleeding gums, five-center heat; also for kidney heat signs - spermatorrhea, nocturnal emission, high sexual desire.
• Generates fluids and clears heat - oral ulcers and inflammation due to yin deficiency, wasting and thirsting disorder.

• Avoid in patients with diarrhea from spleen deficiency.

• Breaks up Qi stagnation, reduces accumulations, transforms phlegm - epigastric or abdominal pain and distention or indigestion w/focal distention or gas.
• Directs qi downward and unblocks bowels - frequently used for abdominal pain and constipation by accumulation and stagnant Qi.
• Transforms phlegm and expels focal.
• Used with Qi tonifying herbs for the prolapse of organs.
• Raises blood pressure.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• This is the honey fried version of Yuan Zhi.  See the Yuan Zhi page for more usage information.

• Clears heat (Heart and Liver), eliminates irritability - heat patterns with fever, restlessness, insomnia, delirium, stifling sensation in the chest.
• Drains damp heat - lin (urinary dysfunction) syndrome due to damp-heat in the lower warmer, damp-heat and constrained liver and gallbladder causing jaundice, damp-heat in the gall bladder and triple heater channels of the face - eyes, nose, sores in the mouth and face.
• Cools the blood, stops bleeding - nosebleed, blood in vomit, stool, urine; (needs to partially charred).
• Topically for blood stasis due to trauma, reduces swelling.

• Avoid in patients with loose stools and/or loss of appetite due to cold from deficiency.

• Clears heat and fire toxicity - hot swellings, red, swollen eyes, throat, and/or ears; mumps.
• Clears hot sores - sores and abscesses of the head and/or back.

• Dispels blood stasis and promotes healing of bones and sinews - swellings due to trauma, fractures.

• Avoid during Pregnancy.

• Relieves cough and expels phlegm - important herb for stopping coughs of various etiologies, especially chronic, cold induced cough with copious sputum that is difficult to expectorate, or of blood streaked sputum.
• Frying in honey enhances the moistening function of the lungs and stops cough.

• Stops bleeding, both internally and externally - particularly useful for blood in the urine.
• Treatment of burns and sores.

• Binds and stops bleeding - coughing of blood, blood tinged sputum, nosebleed, blood in the stool, uterine bleeding.