Pinyin: Qing Dai  Chinese: 青黛
Pharmaceutical: Indigo Naturalis
Taxonomy: Isatis indigotica seu Baphicacanthus cusia seu Polygonum tinctorium
English: Natural Indigo

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

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat, resolves Fire toxicity, cools the Blood and reduces maculae
   Maculae due to Blood Heat (Xue Stage Heat)
   Can be used alone for bleeding due to Blood Heat, especially epistaxis where it is placed on cotton wool as a nasal plug.
2. Clears Heat, resolves Fire toxicity, cools the Blood, disperses Stagnation and reduces swelling
   Throat inflammation, dysphagia, sores of the mouth or mumps due to blazing Heat (internal or topical)
3. Drains Liver Fire, dispels Summerheat and extinguishes Wind to stop tremors
   Convulsions, red eyes, sore throat and other manifestations of Heat, especially Summerheat, affecting the Liver
4. Clears Liver Fire, drains Lung Heat and cools the Blood
   Cough due to Lung Heat Cough and chest pain due to Liver Fire attacking the Lungs
5. Expels Gu Parasites
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)

Standard Dosage: 1.5-3g as pills or powder internally. Should not be decocted because it is insoluble in water.

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: Hua Shi  Chinese: 滑石
Pharmaceutical: Talcum / Magnesium Silicate
Taxonomy: Mg₃Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂
English: Talc / Talcum Powder

Tastes: Sweet, bland and cold
Meridians Entered: Bladder, Lung and Stomach

Actions & Indications:

1. Promotes urination and drains Heat from the Urinary Bladder (aids the movement of gravel and stones), (expels Damp-Heat)
   Hot Painful Urinary Dysfunction (Lin Syndrome) with hot, painful urination, dark, painful, burning, scanty urine
   Damp-Heat diarrhoea
   Qi Level Heat with Dampness with unremitting fever, heavy feeling in the body, thirst, yellow tongue coat
2. Releases Summeheat and resolves Dampness
   Summerheat (fever, urinary difficulty, thirst)
3. Absorbs Dampness and clears Heat (topically)
   Damp skin lesions (eczema, damp sores, prickly heat)
4. Stops bleeding due to Heat
   Heat type bleeding
   Nosebleed, vomiting blood (taken internally) Bleeding from wounds and sores (topical)
5. Aids fasting
   Mentioned in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing as part of the superior class of minerals which can, with protracted taking, make the body light, free from hunger and prolong life. This may suggest it was part of supplementing the diet when engaging in an "avoiding grain" (Bigu 辟穀) fasting regime to cultivate life (Yangsheng 養生).

Standard Dosage: 10-20g in decoction, or applied externally.
Cautions: Talc can cause granulomas in the rectum, vagina or wounds and prolonged external use has also been linked to ovarian (Wentzensen & O'Brien, 2021), stomach (Chang et al., 2020) and lung (Chang et al., 2017) cancer but other reviews contradict these findings (Goodman et al., 2020) suggesting this may only be an effect seen in rats (Prueitt et al., 2024). For safety it should therefore not be used for prolonged periods.

It should also not be in inhaled as it can cause lung irritation and remain in the body for up to 40 years (Johnson, 2021).

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. It is generally substituted with Chi Fu Ling and Ze Xie.

Pinyin: Huang Bai  Chinese: 黄柏
Pharmaceutical: Cortex Phellodendri
Taxonomy: Phellodendron amurense seu chinense
English: Amur Corktree Bark

Tastes: Bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Liver, Gallbladder, Large Intestine, Kidney and Bladder

Actions & Indications:

1. Drains Damp-Heat especially from the Lower Jiao
   Thick, yellow vaginal discharge, foul smelling diarrhoea or dysenteric disorder
   Damp-Heat in the Lower Jiao
   Hot Leg Qi with red, swollen, painful knees, legs or feet
   Damp-Heat jaundice
2. Drains Kidney Fire (False Heat, Deficiency Heat)
   Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Fire Rising (steaming bone disorder, night sweats, afternoon fevers and sweating, occasionally with nocturnal emissions and spermatorrhea)
3. Drains Fire and relieves Fire toxicity
   Toxic sores and Damp-skin lesions (internally and topically)

Standard Dosage: 6-10g in decoction.
Cautions: It is contraindicated for deficiency-cold syndrome. Overdosage and long-time taking will impair spleen and stomach.