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Chapter 5 of 20
本草纲目
This is the 1/3rd section of the main text of a chapter from Compendium of Materia Medica. Please only faithfully and completely translate the following content into English, maintaining the Markdown format and structure, without adding any preface, conclusion, paragraph numbers, or explanatory notes. Output the translation of this section directly:
Compendium of Materia Medica — Herbs (Volume III), Study Notes
This volume records over eighty types of herbal medicines, covering multiple functional categories including activating blood to resolve stasis, warming the meridians to stop bleeding, clearing heat and promoting diuresis, purging and expelling water, and inducing vomiting and interrupting malaria. Below, the herbs are categorized by their functions, with in-depth interpretations of key medicinals.
Overall Paraphrase Mugwort leaf is also known as Bingtai, Yicao, Huangcao, and Aihao (mugwort wormwood). Li Shizhen recorded its nature and flavor as bitter, slightly warm, and non-toxic. Its indications are extremely broad: cold damage with headache, fever; lockjaw due to wind-stroke; swollen and painful throat; epilepsy; neonatal tetanus (umbilical wind); roundworm disease; red and white dysentery; hemorrhoids; vaginal bleeding during pregnancy; fetal restlessness; flooding and spotting (abnormal uterine bleeding); postpartum bleeding; hematemesis; night sweats; eye swelling; black nevi; tinea manuum (goose-foot wind); infantile ulcerative sores; back sores; insect and snake bites; wind-cold toothache—twenty-six conditions in total. Methods of use include oral administration of decoctions, drinking the fresh-pressed juice, using the ash, moxibustion, smoke fumigation, and external application. Among these, the "Jiao Ai Tang" (Gelatin and Mugwort Decoction), composed of mugwort leaf, chuanxiong, licorice, angelica, rehmannia, peony, and donkey-hide gelatin, is a classic gynecological formula for stopping bleeding.
The core function of mugwort leaf lies in warming the meridians to dissipate cold, stopping bleeding, and calming the fetus. Its nature is warm and its flavor is bitter; it enters the Liver, Spleen, and Kidney meridians. The ancients believed that mugwort "can dredge the twelve meridians," and it is particularly adept at warming the lower jiao—the Liver meridian encircles the genitals and governs blood storage; the Kidney is the root of innate constitution and governs reproduction; the Spleen commands blood. By warming and unblocking these meridians, mugwort can regulate qi and blood and secure blood containment. Moxibustion,
Overall Paraphrase Motherwort is also known as Yiming, Zhenwei, Yetianma, Shuma, Yuchoucao, Kudicao, and Xiakucao (Note: This is a different plant from the Xiakucao mentioned later in the text—its classification here is according to the original text, representing a case of same name but different substance), and Tuzhihan. The whole plant is used medicinally: the seeds are acrid, sweet, and slightly warm; the stems and leaves are acrid and slightly warm; the flowers are slightly bitter and sweet; and the roots are sweet. Its primary indications center on various disorders before and after pregnancy and childbirth in women, including fetal restlessness with vaginal bleeding, retained placenta, stillbirth, difficult or malpresented delivery, postpartum fainting due to blood loss, postpartum abdominal pain, postpartum wind-stroke, postpartum dysentery, postpartum retention of urine and stool, and prolonged infertility. "Jiyin Huanhun Dan" and "Yimu Gao" (Motherwort Paste) are its representative formulations. Additionally, it treats hematuria, red and white dysentery, infantile malnutrition with dysentery, hemorrhoidal bleeding, carbuncles, furuncles, and swollen and painful throat.
The core function of motherwort lies in activating blood to regulate menstruation and dispelling stasis to generate new [blood], making it a "key herb for gynecological menstruation and childbirth." According to TCM theory, women are rooted in blood; menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation all rely on blood. The postpartum state is often characterized by "dual deficiency and stasis"—blood loss leads to deficiency, while blood that has left the vessels becomes stasis. Motherwort is bitter, acrid, and slightly cold, entering the Pericardium and Liver meridians. It is capable of both activating blood to resolve stasis to eliminate old blood, and generating new blood to nourish the meridians, making it particularly suitable for conditions such as postpartum blood stasis, prolonged lochea, and abdominal pain.
Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that motherwort contains alkaloids such as leonurine and stachydrine, which exert a stimulatory effect on uterine smooth muscle, promoting uterine contractions—consistent with the ancient experience of "expelling the placenta and hastening childbirth." It also possesses anticoagulant, microcirculation-improving, and diuretic effects. Note: Pregnant women and those with heavy menstrual flow should undergo professional evaluation before use.
As a commonly used medicinal and food homology product in gynecology, motherwort has certain traditional applications in postpartum care. However, health maintenance does not equal self-medication—postpartum care should be conducted under medical guidance, and ancient texts alone should not be relied upon for self-administration. In daily life, maintaining emotional well-being and moderate activity are of general benefit for smooth blood circulation.
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Overall Paraphrase Sweet wormwood is also known as Cao Hao, Fang Kui, and Xiang Hao. The whole plant is used medicinally. Its nature and flavor are bitter, cold, and non-toxic. Its primary indications include consumptive disease (finely chopped and decocted with the urine of a young boy, concentrated into a paste and formed into pills); deficiency fatigue with night sweats, irritability, fever, and dry mouth (juice extracted and concentrated into a paste, combined with ginseng powder and Ophiopogon powder to make "Qinghao Wan" or Sweet Wormwood Pills); malaria with chills and fever (fresh juice taken orally); warm malaria (combined with red lead); red and white dysentery (combined with mugwort leaf and fermented soybean to form "Hao Chi Dan"); hemorrhoids due to alcohol with bloody stool; knife wounds (pounded and applied topically, or combined with hemp leaf and lime into a powder); swollen and painful teeth (decocted in water for mouth rinse); pus draining from the ears (wrapped in cotton and inserted into the ear); nasal polyps (ash combined with alum, cooked into a paste and applied as drops).
The core functions of sweet wormwood are clearing deficiency heat, retreating bone-steaming [tidal fever], and interrupting malaria. TCM divides heat conditions into excess heat and deficiency heat: deficiency heat
most often arises from depletion of yin fluids, generating endogenous deficiency fire, manifesting as afternoon tidal fever, night sweats, dry mouth, etc.—what the ancients called "bone-steaming consumptive fever." Sweet wormwood is bitter, cold, and aromatic in odor. It is capable of both clearing and venting deficiency heat without harming yin fluids, thus it is a key herb for treating deficiency-heat with consumptive steaming. Additionally, sweet wormwood enters the Liver and Gallbladder meridians, enabling it to thoroughly expel pathogenic factors from the Shaoyang [level], providing its unique "malaria-interrupting" action against the alternate chills and fever of malaria.
The discovery of artemisinin is a landmark achievement of modern science drawing from the treasure trove of traditional Chinese medicine. Artemisinin and its derivatives, extracted from sweet wormwood, have become first-line antimalarial drugs recommended by the World Health Organization, having saved the lives of millions of malaria patients worldwide. This fact powerfully demonstrates the scientific value of the ancient herbal record of "interrupting malaria." However, artemisinin requires modern pharmaceutical extraction processes—simply boiling sweet wormwood in water does not substitute for antimalarial drugs. Patients with malaria must seek medical care and receive standardized treatment.
Sweet wormwood has limited application in daily health maintenance, being mainly used as a seasonal heat-clearing product in folk practice in southern regions (e.g., sweet wormwood tea). For the general population, moderate consumption during hot summer months may serve as a cooling beverage, but there is no need to take it as a daily health supplement on a long-term basis. For febrile illnesses, prompt medical attention to identify the cause is essential.
Overall Paraphrase Ephedra is also known as Longsha, Beixiang, and Beiyan. Its stem is bitter, warm, and non-toxic; its root nodes are sweet, neutral, and non-toxic. Its primary indications include: epidemic febrile disease at onset (decocted in water, rice and fermented soybean added to make porridge; recovery follows upon sweating); cold damage with jaundice (Ephedra Wine Decoction); yellow edema with deep pulse and difficult urination (Licorice and Ephedra Decoction); wind-bi with cold pain (combined with cinnamon heart, cooked into a paste); postpartum abdominal pain with unremitting vaginal bleeding; palpitations beneath the heart (Banxia Mahuang Wan, Pinellia and Ephedra Pill); wind-stroke (decocted into a paste); night sweats and yin-type sweating (ephedra root combined with oyster shell powder, dusted onto the body); deficiency-type spontaneous sweating (Huangqi Mahuanggen San, Astragalus and Ephedra Root Powder); yin-scrotal damp sores (ephedra root combined with sulfur and rice flour, applied topically). Li Shizhen specifically noted that Equisetum (horsetail) "shares the same form and nature with ephedra, and thus can also induce sweating and release the muscle layers, and ascend and disperse fire-depression and wind."
The core functions of ephedra are inducing sweating to release the exterior, diffusing the Lung to calm wheezing, and promoting diuresis to reduce edema. Ephedra is warm in nature and acrid in flavor, entering the Lung and Urinary Bladder meridians. Its character is ascending, dispersing, and penetrating, adept at opening the interstitial spaces (cou li) and venting the pores, allowing external pathogenic factors to be resolved through sweating. The Lung governs the skin and body hair; thus, diffusing the Lung opens the exterior and induces sweating. As the Lung is the upper source of water, diffusing the Lung can also regulate the water passages and direct fluids downward to the Urinary Bladder to promote diuresis. The key to ephedra's ability to treat wheezing lies in "diffusing the Lung"—when Lung qi becomes congested and blocked, wheezing ensues; ephedra can open and disperse Lung qi, restoring smooth qi movement and naturally calming the wheeze. The ancient experience that "ephedra stem induces sweating, while the root stops sweating" reflects a refined understanding of how different parts of the same plant can have opposite therapeutic effects.
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Overall Paraphrase Rehmannia root is also known as Di Sui. Fresh rehmannia (Sheng Dihuang) is sweet, cold, and non-toxic; processed rehmannia (Shu Dihuang) is sweet, slightly bitter, slightly warm, and non-toxic. Its indications are extremely extensive: hematemesis and blood-spitting, supplementing deficiency, clearing heat, and eliminating carbuncles and furuncles ("Dihuang Jian," Rehmannia Decoction); benefiting blood and generating essence ("Dihuang Zhou," Rehmannia Porridge); brightening the eyes and tonifying the Kidneys (combined with Sichuan pepper, formed into pills); deficiency consumption (manifesting as pale complexion, aching bones and flesh, weakness of breath, etc.); post-illness spontaneous sweating; coughing with blood-spitting, carbuncles, and consumptive disorders ("Yu Gao," Jade Paste); hematemesis and hemafecia; blood in the urine; incessant menstruation; irregular menstruation with prolonged infertility; vaginal bleeding during pregnancy (threatened miscarriage); fetal restlessness; postpartum abdominal pain ("Hei Shen San," Black Spirit Powder); postpartum wind-stroke; retained placenta; heat-induced confusion and coma; furuncles and mammary carbuncles; traumatic injury with blood stasis in the abdomen; red and painful eyes; gingival ulceration with purulent blood; loose and trembling teeth; persistent tinnitus; and dog bites—twenty-three conditions in total. Both the fresh and processed forms are used, administered internally and applied externally.
Rehmannia is the representative herb of TCM for nourishing yin and supplementing blood, with an important distinction between the different uses of the fresh and processed forms: Fresh rehmannia is sweet and cold, excelling in clearing heat and cooling the blood, nourishing yin and generating fluids, and is suitable for bleeding due to blood heat driving blood recklessly, yin deficiency with internal heat, and thirst due to fluid damage. Processed rehmannia, after steaming and drying, becomes slightly warm in nature and excels in supplementing blood and nourishing yin, benefiting essence and filling the marrow, and is suitable for blood deficiency with sallow complexion, Liver and Kidney yin deficiency, sore and weak loins and knees, and irregular menstruation. One clears, the other supplements—this embodies the exquisite wisdom of Chinese materia medica processing, namely "altering medicinal properties": the same herb, processed through different methods, yields markedly different therapeutic directions.
Modern pharmacological research indicates that rehmannia contains catalpol, rehmannia polysaccharides, acteoside, and other components, exhibiting hematopoietic-promoting, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, and anti-aging effects. The blood-supplementing effect of processed rehmannia has been partially corroborated by modern hematological research. However, caution is advised: rehmannia is sticky and cloying in nature; those with Spleen-Stomach deficiency cold or poor digestion should not take it in large doses over extended periods. Do not indiscriminately use rehmannia for "blood tonification" simply because of its reputation.
As a substance for nourishing yin and enriching blood, rehmannia has certain traditional applications in medicinal cuisine (e.g., Rehmannia Porridge, and the health applications of Liuwei Dihuang Wan, Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill). For members of the general population presenting with yin deficiency and dryness-heat manifestations (such as dry mouth, heat in the hands and feet, uneasy sleep, etc.), moderate consumption of rehmannia-based medicinal foods under professional guidance may be appropriate. However, self-administration in large doses over extended periods should not be undertaken, particularly with caution for those with Spleen-Stomach deficiency cold. The essence of health maintenance still lies in moderation in diet, regularity in daily routine, and harmony of emotion.
Overall Paraphrase Ophiopogon (Maidong) is also known as Yujiu, Yuyuliang, Rendong, Renling, Busicao, and Jieqiancao. Its nature and flavor are sweet and cold, non-toxic. It mainly treats wasting-thirst disorder (combined with bitter melon juice and Coptis as pills), spitting of blood and nosebleed (pounded into juice and taken with honey), bleeding from tooth gaps (decocted for gargling), throat sores (combined with Coptis as pills), dysentery with thirst (combined with Mume and decocted for oral administration).
The core function of Ophiopogon lies in nourishing Yin and moistening the Lungs, benefiting the Stomach and generating fluids, and clearing the Heart to relieve restlessness. Entering the Lung channel above, it moistens Lung dryness and stops coughing; entering the Stomach channel in the middle, it nourishes Stomach Yin and generates fluids; entering the Heart channel below, it clears Heart heat and calms the spirit. It is particularly renowned for nourishing Stomach Yin — the Stomach being the "sea of grains and water," when Stomach Yin is sufficient, the source of fluid generation is abundant. Therefore, it is suitable for wasting-thirst disorder (the ancient term for conditions such as diabetes), dry mouth, and constipation that belong to Yin deficiency with fluid depletion.
Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that Ophiopogon contains ophiopogonin saponins, ophiopogon polysaccharides, and other components, which have immune-enhancing, anti-myocardial ischemia, blood sugar-lowering, and antioxidant effects. Its protective effect on the cardiovascular system has received considerable research attention. However, as a heat-clearing and Yin-nourishing medicine, Ophiopogon is likewise not suitable for long-term use by those with Spleen-Stomach deficiency cold or predominant Phlegm-dampness.
In southern Chinese folk practice, Ophiopogon is commonly used in soup-making and tea brewing (such as Maidong-Yuzhu tea or Shashen-Maidong soup), suitable for general consumption during dry and hot seasons or when feeling dry mouth and throat. However, it is not a health product "suitable for everyone" — those with Yang deficiency and aversion to cold, or with loose stools and diarrhea, should avoid it. Daily water intake remains the foundation for maintaining fluid balance.
Overall Paraphrase Rhubarb is also known as Huangliang, Jiangjun (General), Huoshen, and Furu. Its nature and flavor are bitter and cold, non-toxic. It treats twenty-nine categories of disorders, covering nearly every domain of Chinese medicine clinical practice: spitting of blood and nosebleed (Dahuang Huanglian Xiexin Tang), febrile disease with stuffiness and fullness (Dahuang Huanglian Xiexin Tang), delirious speech in heat disease, wind-pain in the lower back and legs, wind-heat accumulation, Phlegm disorders ("Gun Tan Wan"), abdominal masses, infantile malnutrition with Spleen accumulation, various pediatric heat conditions ("San Huang Wan"), bone-steaming consumptive fever, reddish-white turbid urine with stranguria, constipation, heat dysentery with tenesmus, febrile disease with heat cholera, vomiting immediately after eating, postpartum blood clots, hernia with unilateral swelling, dizziness and blurred vision, wind-heat toothache, oral erosions, nasal sores, traumatic blood stasis, frostbite, scalds and burns, caterpillar bites, early-stage swellings, carbuncles with heat pain, breast abscesses ("Jin Huang San"), and severe leprosy. It is suitable for both internal administration and external application, available in powders, pills, plasters, and pastes.
Rhubarb is called the "General," being one of the most potent and forceful purgatives in Chinese medicine. Its core functions lie in purging accumulation, clearing heat and draining fire, cooling the blood and removing toxins, and breaking blood stasis to unblock the Channels. Rhubarb is bitter and cold, descending in nature, entering the Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine, Liver, and Pericardium channels. "Dispelling the stale to generate the new" is a highly condensed summary of Rhubarb's functions — through purgation it expels retained food and accumulation from the intestines, through breaking stasis it clears blood stasis from the body, and through draining fire it eliminates heat toxins via the stool. Rhubarb's "unblocking" is not limited to bowel movement but constitutes a broad sense of unblocking the Fu-organs, unblocking blood vessels, and unblocking the Channels and Collaterals.
Rhubarb contains anthraquinone compounds (emodin, rhein, etc.), with a confirmed laxative effect (stimulating colonic motility). It also possesses antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective and cholagogic, hemostatic, and lipid-lowering pharmacological activities. However, as a stimulant laxative, long-term use may lead to melanosis coli, drug tolerance, and electrolyte disturbances. Patients with constipation should not rely long-term on rhubarb; "detoxification and beauty" products often contain rhubarb components, and consumer vigilance against misuse is essential.
Rhubarb is a medication, not a health product, and must never be used routinely for "colon cleansing and detoxification." For constipation, first adjust dietary structure (increase dietary fiber), physical activity, water intake habits, and bowel habits, and use medication under medical guidance when necessary. Consumers should view the "detoxification and laxative" products flooding the health product market with rationality, not readily believing the claim that "detoxification equals wellness."
Overall Paraphrase Gansui — nature and flavor bitter and cold, toxic. Treats edema with abdominal fullness, generalized facial and body swelling, kidney-water spread with accumulations, urinary and bowel obstruction, water-drum with wheezing, beriberi with swelling and pain, hernia with unilateral swelling, abdominal masses, wasting-thirst disorder, wind-Phlegm confusing the Heart causing epilepsy ("Sui Xin Dan"), pediatric acute fulminant syndrome ("Wu Jia San"), numbness and pain ("Wan Ling Gao"), and sudden deafness.
Daji — nature and flavor bitter and cold, slightly toxic. Treats edema with rapid breathing, water disease with swelling and fullness, edema with abdominal distension, and toothache.
Shanglu — nature and flavor acrid and neutral, toxic. Treats dampness-qi causing weak feet, water-qi with swelling and fullness, abdominal masses, postpartum abdominal hardness and fullness, Five Corpses transmitted pain, and stone carbuncles.
These three herbs are all drastic hydragogues, violent and toxic in nature. Chinese medicine holds that edema has deficiency and excess distinctions: Yang edema (short course, robust constitution) may appropriately use the hydragogue method, expelling large amounts of dampness through both urine and stool; Yin edema (long course, weak constitution) must be primarily tonifying, with both attack and tonification employed, and drastic hydragogues must not be recklessly used. Gansui, Daji, and Shanglu all enter the Lung, Kidney, and Large Intestine channels, being adept at unblocking urination and defecation to drive out water, but all must be processed before use, with strict dosage control. The ancients commonly wrapped them in jujube paste as pills, dry-fried wrapped in dough, or processed with vinegar to reduce toxicity.
Modern research suggests that Gansui contains ingenol ester derivatives with strong irritant and pro-inflammatory effects; Daji and Shanglu also contain toxic components. All three are listed under toxic Chinese medicine management, requiring strict processing, dosage control, and cessation once the condition resolves. Modern clinical application of Gansui and Daji has become extremely limited, mainly at the research level. Shanglu has red and white varieties — red Shanglu is highly toxic and is generally not used internally. These facts corroborate the ancient records of "toxicity."
All three categories are toxic drastic purgatives — any form of self-use, health maintenance, or dietary therapy is strictly prohibited. Modern medicine has clear and mature treatment protocols for edema (cardiogenic, nephrogenic, hepatogenic), and patients with edema must seek medical attention to determine the cause and receive standardized treatment. Any use of Gansui, Daji, or Shanglu in "folk remedies" to "reduce swelling" is extremely dangerous.
Overall Paraphrase Lilu — nature and flavor acrid and cold, toxic. Treats wind-Phlegm (combined with turmeric), wind-stroke with locked jaw, Phlegm-malaria, jaundice with swelling, dental caries pain (powder packed into the tooth cavity), head wind with white dandruff, scabies and ringworm with insect sores, and accidental ingestion of leeches (roasted, powdered, and taken with water to cause vomiting of the leech).
Lilu is the representative emetic drug in Chinese medicine. The emetic method originates from the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) theory "That which is high, expel it upward" — when pathogens are lodged in the Upper Jiao (such as Phlegm obstructing the throat or retained food in the upper Stomach), they can be expelled through the mouth by inducing vomiting. Lilu is acrid and cold, adept at expelling wind-Phlegm through vomiting, exerting an "opening" effect on wind-stroke with profuse phlegm and epilepsy with excessive phlegm. However, the emetic method is violent in action and can easily damage Stomach Qi; the ancients used it with extreme caution, typically only for those "of strong constitution with excess pathogens," and ceased immediately once the condition resolved.
Lilu contains multiple alkaloids (such as veratrine), with strong irritant and toxic properties, causing intense stimulation to the gastrointestinal mucosa; overdose can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cardiac arrhythmias, and even death. Modern clinical practice has essentially abandoned its internal emetic use, with only cautious application in ophthalmic external preparations and certain topical formulations. Lilu has compatibility contraindications with many drugs (such as Ginseng, Glehnia Root, Salvia Miltiorrhiza) under the "Eighteen Incompatibilities."
Lilu is a toxic Chinese medicine — strictly prohibited for internal use, and absolutely not for "detoxification by vomiting" or any similar purpose. Any vomiting induction is risky, potentially leading to aspiration, esophageal damage, electrolyte disturbances, and other life-threatening complications. If toxic substances are accidentally ingested, seek immediate medical attention, and let professional physicians decide whether gastric lavage or induced vomiting is needed — never self-administer emetic drugs.
Overall Paraphrase Shuqi is the sprout of Changshan (Dichroa root), with functions identical to Changshan. Its nature and flavor are acrid and neutral, toxic. It treats all types of malaria: various antimalarial decoctions (used with Changshan, taken before the attack), various antimalarial wines (Changshan steeped in wine), various antimalarial pills (such as "Hengshan Wan," "Dansha Wan," "Huangdan Wan," "Zhanyang Wan," "Shengjin Wan," "Ersheng Wan," etc.). It also treats female malaria (chills only without fever, combined with Dragon Bone as "Shuqi San"), male malaria (fever only), malaria during pregnancy, and pediatric fright-induced sudden death ("Qianjin Tang").
Changshan (Shuqi) is the essential antimalarial drug in Chinese medicine. Malaria with alternating chills and fever was believed by the ancients to result from "malaria pathogens lurking at the half-exterior, half-interior level," where the pivot of the Shaoyang channel qi becomes dysfunctional, and the struggle between Yin and Yang manifests as alternating chills and fever. Changshan is acrid to open and bitter to descend, adept at expelling Phlegm-saliva through vomiting — the ancients believed malaria attacks were related to "Phlegm," hence "no Phlegm, no malaria." By vomiting out Phlegm-saliva, it intercepts the pathological link of malaria onset, hence the term "intercepting malaria." The timing of administration is highly specific: it must be taken before the malaria attack occurs — this reflects the ancients' precise grasp of the periodic rhythm of malaria attacks.
Modern research has confirmed that Changshan contains dichroine (febrifugine), which indeed has significant antimalarial activity, capable of killing Plasmodium parasites. However, it also has a potent emetic effect (which is the origin of the ancient belief that "vomiting indicates effectiveness"), limiting clinical use. Modern antimalarial therapy has completely abandoned Changshan, but the discovery of dichroine provided important clues for antimalarial drug development. Malaria patients must receive standardized modern antimalarial treatment.
Changshan (Shuqi) is a toxic drug with strong emetic effects, absolutely unsuitable for daily wellness practices. Malaria, as a statutorily notifiable infectious disease, already has mature diagnostic and treatment protocols. The key to malaria prevention lies in mosquito control, eliminating mosquitoes, and reducing mosquito bites; when traveling to malaria-endemic areas, chemoprophylaxis and protective measures should be undertaken.
Overall Paraphrase
Jian Zhong Xiao — nature and flavor sour and astringent, slightly toxic. Treats abscesses and swellings, dog bites (pounded and applied as a plaster), and all types of toxic swellings (combined with Baiji, Baillian, Rumex Root, etc., pounded into a cake and applied externally).
Zi Hua Di Ding (Viola) — nature and flavor bitter, acrid, and cold, non-toxic. Treats jaundice with internal heat, carbuncles and malignant sores, deep-rooted carbuncles with dorsal eruptions, furuncles with toxic swelling, and throat impediment with swelling and pain, used both internally and as external application.
Ban Bian Lian (Lobelia) — nature and flavor acrid and neutral, non-toxic. Treats snake bites (juice expressed and drunk, the residue applied as a poultice), wheezing (combined with realgar as pills), and malaria.
She Han (Potentilla) — nature and flavor bitter, slightly cold, non-toxic. Treats postpartum diarrhea with dysentery, knife wounds with bleeding, malignant tinea on body and face, centipede and scorpion stings, carbuncles with swelling, and postpartum blood stasis accumulation ("She Han Gao").
Wang Bu Liu Xing (Vaccaria) — nature and flavor bitter and neutral, non-toxic. Treats persistent nosebleed, bleeding after defecation, knife wounds with blood loss ("Wang Bu Liu Xing San"), insufficient breast milk in women ("Yong Quan San"), head wind with white dandruff, carbuncles with various sores ("Wang Bu Liu Xing Tang"), and early-stage furuncles.
These drugs are primarily used externally, embodying the surgical principle in Chinese medicine of "treating internal diseases externally and external diseases externally." Zi Hua Di Ding, Ban Bian Lian, and She Han are all known for clearing heat and removing toxins, reducing swelling and dissipating masses, applied to carbuncles, furuncles, and venomous snake bites where heat-toxin is exuberant. Wang Bu Liu Xing is notable for invigorating blood and unblocking the Channels, promoting lactation and reducing swelling; its character of "moving without staying" makes it adept at traversing the Channels and Collaterals — its name originates from the saying "even a king's command cannot make it stay its course."
Zi Hua Di Ding and Ban Bian Lian, as heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs, have shown certain antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities in modern pharmacological research, but the sterilizing and disinfecting capacity of external botanicals is far inferior to modern disinfectants. For urgent and severe conditions such as venomous snake bites and carbuncles or furuncles, immediate medical attention is required — one must not rely on herbal external applications. While Wang Bu Liu Xing's "lactation-promoting" effect has folk application traditions, postpartum insufficient breast milk should first be evaluated by professional physicians for causes (such as breastfeeding technique, nutritional status, endocrine factors, etc.).
These drugs do not fall within the category of daily wellness practices. For small areas of general skin redness and swelling, keeping clean, avoiding scratching, and seeking medical attention when necessary are the basic principles. Any claim that "herbal external application cures all diseases" should not be believed. Postpartum breastfeeding issues should seek professional help from obstetricians and lactation consultants.
The eighty-plus medicinal substances recorded in the Division of Herbs (III) of the Compendium of Materia Medica systematically present the functional classification framework of Ming-dynasty pharmacology: ranging from gynecological specifics that warm the channels and arrest bleeding (mugwort, motherwort), to liver-gallbladder specifics that clear heat and promote diuresis (oriental wormwood, sweet wormwood); from drastic and toxic purgatives that drain water (rhubarb, kansui, knoxia root, pokeberry root), to agents with special actions for inducing vomiting and interrupting malarial attacks (veratrum root, dichroa root). This reflects the core diagnostic approach of Chinese medicine—"medication based on pattern discrimination, selecting drugs according to the pattern"—whereby drugs are not chosen merely by the name of a disease, but according to the nature of the pattern (cold, heat, deficiency, excess) and the location of the disease from above to below and from interior to exterior, matching the corresponding medicinal properties to each.
This chapter holds significant historical and documentary value. The actions of certain drugs within it have already received in-depth investigation by modern science (e.g., sweet wormwood → artemisinin, ephedra → ephedrine, dichroa root → febrifugine), confirming that ancient pharmacological records were not fabricated out of thin air. At the same time, however, one must clearly recognize that the "indications" listed in materia medica texts do not equate to modern medical "indications" in the Western sense. Ancient times lacked the precise diagnostic capability for modern diseases, and many descriptions were based on symptomatic observation and empirical generalization. More critically, the safety risks of certain drugs (especially toxic ones) could not be adequately assessed or controlled under the cognitive conditions of antiquity.
The health-related implications of the drugs in this chapter can be summarized as follows:
This content is based on classic ancient texts of traditional Chinese medicine and is provided solely for the study and research of traditional culture. It does not constitute any form of medical diagnosis, medication recommendation, or treatment advice. If you are unwell, please seek medical attention promptly.