Pinyin: Mao Dong Qing  Chinese: 毛冬青
Pharmaceutical: Radix Ilicis pubescentis
Taxonomy: Ilex pubescens
English: Wintergreen Root

Tastes: Bitter, astringent, cold
Meridians Entered: Heart and Lung

Actions & Indications:

1. Invigorates the Blood and unblocks the channels and collaterals
   Heart Blood Stasis with chest pain and stroke with hemiplegia
   heart Qi Stagnation
   Chest Bi
2. Clears Heat, resolves toxicity and stops cough
   Lung Heat cough
   Wind-Heat cough
   Swollen, painful throat
   Topically, as a powder for burns

Standard Dosage: 10-30g in decoction.
Cautions: It is toxic so avoid taking for a long time or overdose.

Pinyin: Ge Gen  Chinese: 葛根
Pharmaceutical: Radix Puerariae
Taxonomy: Pueraria lobata
English: Kudzu Vine Root

Tastes: Sweet, pungent, cool
Meridians Entered: Lung, Spleen and Stomach

Actions & Indications:

1. Discharges Exterior conditions and releases the muscles, especially of the neck and upper back
   Wind-Heat or Wind-Cold lodged in the muscles of the upper back and neck
2. Relieves Heat and generates fluids (relieves thirst)
   Thirst due to Stomach Heat or Wind-Heat or Wasting and Thirsting
3. Vents and discharges measles
   Measles with incomplete expression of the rash
4. Raises Spleen Yang and stops diarrhoea
   Diarrhoea or dysentery due to Heat
   Diarrhoea due to Spleen Deficiency (with appropriate herbs)
5. Lowers blood pressure
   Hypertension symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tinnitus or paresthesia

Standard Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.

Pinyin: Da Qing Ye  Chinese: 大青葉
Pharmaceutical: Folium Isatidis
Taxonomy: Isatis tinctoria
English: Indigo Leaf

Tastes: Bitter, pretty cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach, Heart and Liver

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and resolves Fire toxicity
   Warm febrile disease, pneumonia
   Epidemic outbreaks of Fire toxin that affects people regardless of their constitutions (severe contagious diseases)
   Fire toxins anywhere in the body (Chuang Yang), especially the Lungs and throat
   Often used for mouth ulcers and throat Bi
2. Cools the Blood and dissipates maculae
   Maculae or other skin eruptions due to Blood Heat
   Gallbladder Heat
   Often used in cases with intense fever, irritability and changes in consciousness
   Hematemesis

Standard Dosage: 10-15g in decoction.

Pinyin: Ma Bian Cao  Chinese: 馬鞭草
Pharmaceutical: Herba Verbenae
Taxonomy: Verbena officianalis
English: Verbena / Vervain

Tastes: Bitter, cool
Meridians Entered: Liver and Spleen

Actions & Indications:

1. Invigorates the Blood, reduces abdominal masses, cools the Blood and unblocks the menses
   Dysmenorrhea or amenorrhea due to Blood Stasis
   Abdominal masses (can be used as a stand-alone herb in decoction chased by warm wine)
2. Clears Heat and resolves toxicity
   Severe sore throat, throat Bi, and other accumulations of Heat toxin including breast abscess (use the macerated fresh herb)
3. Facilitates urination and check malarial disorders
   Internal blockage of Dampness with oedema or ascites
   Malarial disorders (use the fresh juice)
4. Promotes urination and reduces oedema
   Edema, ascites and water accumulation during the later stages of parasitic infections

Standard Dosage: 15-30g in decoction.
Cautions: It is contraindicated to pregnant women.

Pinyin: Bai Hua She She Cao  Chinese: 白花蛇舌草
Pharmaceutical: Herba Hedyotidis Diffusae
English: Oldenlandia / Snaketongue Grass

Tastes: Slightly bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Stomach, Large Intestine and Small Intestine

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat, strongly relieves Fire toxins and reduces abscesses (internally and topically)
   Intestinal abscess, toxic sores, ulcerations and swellings (Chuang Yung)
   Snake bites
   Cancers
   Topically, for vesicles and ichthyosis
2. Clears Heat and promotes urination
   Lin Syndrome Damp-Heat jaundice

Standard Dosage: 15-60g in decoction.

Pinyin: Ban Lan Gen  Chinese: 板蓝根
Pharmaceutical: Radix Isatidis
English: Indigo Woad Root

Tastes: Bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach, Heart and Liver

Actions & Indications:

1. Drains Heat, relieves Fire toxicity, cools the Blood and benefits the throat
   Warm febrile disease Epidemic disorders Seasonal toxic pathogens such as mumps, and painful, swollen throat conditions Damp-Heat jaundice Gallbladder Heat Blood Heat

Standard Dosage: 15-30g in decoction.

Pinyin: Qing Hao  Chinese: 青蒿
Pharmaceutical: Herba Artemisiae Annuae
Taxonomy: Artemisia Annua
English: Sweet Wormwood

Tastes: Bitter, pungent, cold
Meridians Entered: Liver, Gallbladder and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Summerheat or Damp-Heat
   Summerheat with low fever, headache, dizziness and a stifling sensation in the chest
2. Clears Deficiency fevers
   Blood Deficiency or Yin Deficiency fevers
   Sequelae of a febrile disease
   Especially good when steaming bone patterns are marked by anhidrosis
3. Cools the Blood and stops bleeding
   Purpuric rashes or epistaxis due to Blood Heat
4. Stops malarial disorders and relieves Heat
   Malarial disorders with alternating chills and fever
5. Clears Liver Heat and brightens the eyes
   Liver Yang Rising with red eyes, dizziness and photophobia
6. Kills Parasites and expels Ghosts and Demons
   Gu Sydnrome (Fruehauf, 1998)
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)
   Around 1^st century BCE, it's fragrance was used ritually to mask the smell of the dead (Liu et al., 2013), where it may have earned its ability to treat ghost possession and then other lingering pathogens with perceived supernatural origins.

Standard Dosage: 6-12g in decoction.

Pinyin: Shi Gao  Chinese: 石膏
Pharmaceutical: Gypsum Fibrosum / Calcium Sulphate
Taxonomy: CaSO₄
English: Gypsum / Plaster of Paris

Tastes: Pungent, sweet, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung and Stomach

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat in the Qi Stage, drains Fire, relieves irritability and quenches thirst
   Heat in the Qi Stage or Yangming Heat with high fever, no chills, irritability, intense thirst, profuse sweating, restlessness, encephalitis, a flooding, big pulse and a red tongue with a yellow coat
2. Clears Excess Heat from the Lungs
   Lung Heat with cough, wheezing, fever and a thick viscous sputum
3. Clears Blazing Stomach Fire
   Stomach Fire with headache, toothache or swollen gums
4. Heals eczema, burns and ulcerated sores and wounds
   Sores and wounds (topically or internally)

Standard Dosage: 15-60g in decoction.
Cautions: Mineral products are prohibited from use in the UK under the Medicines Act 1968 ch. 67 which restricts herbalists to the use of plant products only.

Conventional replacements include Huang Lian and Zhi Mu but its actions are difficult to substitute in many cases and the patient may have to rely on OTC mineral based antacids from the pharmacy such as sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate which have a similar effect of binding and neutralising the stomach acid, then using herbal medicines as an adjunctive treatment. Another possibility would be to use sodium alginate that is often found in antacid medications and extracted from seaweed.

Pinyin: Qiang Huo  Chinese: 羌活
Pharmaceutical: Rhizoma seu Radix Notopterygii
Taxonomy: Notopterygium incisium, N. forbesii
English: Notopterygium Root and Rhizome

Tastes: Pungent, bitter, warm
Meridians Entered: Bladder and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Releases the Exterior and disperses Cold
   Wind-Cold with chills, fever, headache, body aches and pains
   Usually used when accompanied by Dampness with joint pain, a general feeling of heaviness, sleepiness or occipital pain
2. Expels Wind-Cold-Dampness, unblocks painful obstruction and alleviates pain
   Wind-Cold-Damp Bi especially in the upper limbs and back
3. Guides Qi to the Taiyang and Du channels
   Directs the other herbs to the Taiyang and Du channels

Standard Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.
Cautions: It should be used with cautions for blood deficiency because of its strong pungent, fragrant, warm and dry property. It is not appropriate for weakness of spleen and stomach because large dose of this herb induces vomiting.