Pinyin: Bie Jia  Chinese: 鳖甲
Pharmaceutical: Carapax Trionycis
English: Soft Turtle Shell

Tastes: Salty, cold
Meridians Entered: Liver and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Nourishes Yin and anchors Yang
   Yin Deficiency with fever, steaming bone disorder, night sweats or consumption
   Internal stirring of Liver Wind
2. Invigorates the Blood, promotes menstruation, softens hardness and dissipates nodules
   Chest and flank accumulations with pain and amenorrhea
   Excessive menstruation due to Hot Blood
   Malarial disorders with palpable masses
3. Heavily anchors, descends, unblocks and facilitates the functions of the Blood vessels
   Problems in children due to internal clumping

Standard Dosage: 10-15g in decoction.
Cautions: Animal 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 Qing Hao and Sheng Di Huang, or Huang Jing.

Turtles may also act as viral reservoirs and have been proposed as the potential intermediate host for coronavirus between bats and humans (Liu et al., 2020.

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: Sheng Di Huang  Chinese: 生地黃
Pharmaceutical: Radix Rehmanniae
Taxonomy: Rehmannia glutinosa
English: Chinese Foxglove Root / Rehmannia Root

Tastes: Sweet, bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Heart, Liver, Stomach and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and cools the Blood
   Ying Stage Heat with high fever, thirst and a scarlet tongue
   Xue Stage Heat
   Hemorrhage due to Blood Heat
2. Nourishes Yin, generates fluids, increases saliva and treats wasting and thirsting
   Yin Deficiency with Heat signs
   Injury to fluids
   Throat pain due to Yin Deficiency
   Wasting and thirsting disorder (消渴 Xiao Ke - diabetes)
3. Cools Heart Fire
   Heart Fire
4. Calms the Spirit agitated by Parasites damaging the Yin
   Gu Sydnrome (Fruehauf, 1998)
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)
5. Breaks up Blood Stasis, expels Cold and Hot Bi, replenishes Bone Marrow and promotes the growth of Muscles and Flesh
   Broken bones or severed sinews from falls and a damaged center (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing)
6. Aids fasting
   Mentioned in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing as part of the superior class of herbs which can, with protracted taking, make the body light, and prevent forgetfulness. 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: 10-15g in decoction.
Cautions: It is contraindicated in cases of diarrhea, abdomen distention due to spleen deficiency.

Pinyin: Zhi Mu  Chinese: 知母
Pharmaceutical: Rhizoma Anemarrhenae
Taxonomy: Anemarrhena asphodeloides
English: Anemarrhena Rhizome

Tastes: Bitter, sweet, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and drains Fire (Clears Heat from the Qi Stage, from the Lungs and from the Stomach)
   Heat in the Qi Stage with high fever, irritability, restlessness, thirst and a rapid, flooding pulse.
   Lung Heat and Dryness with cough and expectoration of thick, yellow Phlegm
   Yang Ming Heat
   Stomach Heat
2. Nourishes Yin and moistens Dryness
   Lung and Kidney Yin Deficiency with night sweats, steaming bone disorder, irritability, afternoon or low grade fever, Five Sole Heat and bleeding gums
   (Stomach Yin Deficiency)
   Kidney Heat with spermatorrhea, nocturnal emissions and an abnormally elevated sex drive
3. Generates Fluids, clears Deficiency Fire and quenches thirst
   Oral ulcers and inflammation, steaming bones and Xiao Ke (diabetes) due to Yin Deficiency
4. Ameliorates the Dryness of tonifying or warming herbs
   For use with herbs such as Rx. Astragali Huang Qi, Ram. Cinnamomi Gui Zhi, Rx. Aconiti Lateralis Preparata Zhi Fu Zi when there is concern that these herbs may be too drying

Standard Dosage: 5-15g in decoction.
Cautions: It is not suitable for deficiency cold syndrome. Being cold and moist in property, it is prohibited to be used for those who have a spleen-deficiency diarrhea.

Pinyin: Mu Dan Pi  Chinese: 牡丹皮
Pharmaceutical: Cortex radicis Moutan
Taxonomy: Paeonia suffruticosa
English: Tree Peony Root Bark / Moutan Peony Root Bark

Tastes: Bitter, pungent, light cold
Meridians Entered: Heart, Liver and Kidney

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and cools (and harmonizes) the Blood
   Xue Stage Heat with epistaxis, hemoptysis, hematemesis or subcutaneous bleeding
   Menorrhagia due to Blood Heat
2. Clears Deficiency Fire
   Yin Deficiency Heat signs especially in the aftermath of Warm Febrile Disease with fever at night and coolness in the morning (most appropriate when the is no sweating)
3. Invigorates the Blood and dispels Blood Stasis
   Blood Stasis with amenorrhea, abdominal masses, lumps or bruises due to trauma
   Liver Blood Stagnation
4. Clears Liver Fire
   Liver Fire with headache, eye pain, flank pain, flushing and dysmenorrhea
5. Drains pus and reduces swelling
   Non-draining sores (topical)
   Intestinal abscesses (internal)

Standard Dosage: 6-12g in decoction.
Cautions: It is contraindicated in cases of profuse menstruation and pregnant women.