Pinyin: Xiang Ru  Chinese: 香薷
Pharmaceutical: Herba Moslae seu Elscholtsiae
English: Aromatic Madder / Mosla / Elscholtzia

Tastes: Pungent, slightly warm
Meridians Entered: Lung, Spleen, Stomach and Gallbladder

Actions & Indications:

1. Induces sweating, releases the Exterior, expels Summeheat, transforms Dampness and harmonizes the Spleen and Stomach
   Wind-Cold during the summer, especially when accompanied by Dampness with chills, fever, headache, anhidrosis, body aches, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting
   Externally contracted Summerheat or Dampness
2. Promotes urination and reduces swelling
   Edema and urinary difficulty especially if associated with external invasion

Standard Dosage: 6-15g in decoction. Small doses decocted for a short time are best for sweating, large doses decocted for a long time are better for inducing diuresis.

Pinyin: Xing Ren  Chinese: 杏仁
Pharmaceutical: Semen armeniacae
Taxonomy: Prunus armeniaca seu mandshurica seu sibirica
English: Bitter Apricot Kernel

Tastes: Bitter, slightly warm, slightly toxic
Meridians Entered: Lung and Large Intestine

Actions & Indications:

1. Stops coughing and calms wheezing
   Coughs due to either Heat or Cold (depending on combination) Wind-Dry coughs (especially useful)
2. Moistens the Intestines and unblocks the bowels
   Constipation

Standard Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.
Cautions: It should not be overused for its slight toxicity. It should be used with cautions for infants and patients with diarrhea.

Pinyin: Lian Qiao  Chinese: 连翘
Pharmaceutical: Fructus Forsythiae
Taxonomy: Forsythia suspensa
English: Weeping Forsythia Capsule / Forsythia Fruit

Tastes: Bitter, slightly pungent, slightly cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Heart and Gall Bladder or Small Intestine

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat (especially in the Upper Jiao) and resolves Toxicity
   Wind-Heat with high fever, slight chills and sore throat
   Bound Heat
2. Reduces abscesses and dissipates clumps
   Toxic Heat sores and swellings (Chuang Yung), swollen welling abscesses, malign sores, scrofula, goiter and tumours of the neck
   Throat Bi
3. Clears Blood Heat
   Blood Heat
4. Promotes urination
   Lin syndrome (urinary stones), dysuria, haematuria
5. Releases the Exterior and Drives Out Snakes
   Mentioned in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing as an inferior herb that treats Gu Toxins
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 1998; 2015)

Standard Dosage: 10-15g in decoction.

Pinyin: Dan Zhu Ye  Chinese: 淡竹叶
Pharmaceutical: Herba Lophatheri
English: Bamboo Leaves and Stem

Tastes: Cold, bitter, sweet and bland
Meridians Entered: Small Intestine, Lung and Stomach

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and eliminates irritability
   Internal Heat patterns with irritability, restlessness, dry mouth and thirst
   Mouth and lip ulcers ulcers due to Heat in the Heart or Stomach channels
2. Promotes urination and clears Damp-Heat
   Rough, scanty, painful urination
   Especially useful for Heat in the Small Intestine channel with rough, scanty, painful urination, irritability and a dark, red tip of the tongue

Standard Dosage: 5-15g in decoction.

Pinyin: Si Gua Ye  Chinese: 絲瓜葉
Pharmaceutical: Luffae Folium
English: Luffa Leaf

Tastes: Bitter and slightly Cold
Meridians Entered: None given

Actions & Indications:

1. Clear Heat and Resolve Toxicity
   A wide variety of sores, bites and burns
2. Stop bleeding
   Bleeding from trauma
3. Dispel Summerheat
   Summerheat with irritability and thirst

Standard Dosage: 6-15g in decoction, 15-60g if fresh.

Pinyin: Xi Gua Shuang  Chinese: 西瓜霜
Pharmaceutical: Mirabilitum Praeparatum
English: Prepared Mirabilite

Tastes: Salty, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach and Large Intestine

Actions:
Clear heat and remove toxicity, resolve swelling and alleviate pain.

Indications:
Sore throat, bleeding or sore gums, aphtha, pharyngitis

Standard Dosage: 0.5-1.5g made into powder and blown into the throat.

Pinyin: Jin Yin Hua  Chinese: 金银花
Pharmaceutical: Flos Lonicerae japonicae
Taxonomy: Lonicera japonica
English: Honeysuckle Flower

Tastes: Pungent, slightly bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, heart, stomach and large intestine

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and resolves Fire Toxicity
   Hot, painful sores and skin eruptions in various stages of development, especially breast, throat and eyes
   Intestinal abscesses
2. Vents and disperses External Wind-Heat
   Early-Stage Wind-Heat Warm-Heat pathogen with fever, chills, slight aversion to Wind, sore throat and headache
   External Summerheat
3. Clears Damp-Heat from the Lower Jiao
   Damp-Heat in the Lower Jiao with dysentery or Lin Syndrome
4. Cools the Blood and stops bleeding (charred)
   Blood Heat dysentery
5. Releases the Exterior and Drives Out Snakes
   Gu Sydnrome (Fruehauf, 1998)
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)
   Mysterious bruises due to Ghost Strike (鬼擊) (Wilcox, 2024)

Standard Dosage: 6-30g in decoction. Small doses are for expelling Wind-Heat, large doses for Toxic Heat sores. Can be up to 90g in extreme cases (e.g. Si Miao Yong An Tang).