Properties: Bitter, sweet and slightly cold
Meridans Entered:
Primary: Liver and Large Intestine
Extraordinary Vessels: Yang Wei
Traditional Actions/Indications:
- Clears the Liver (Heat), clears the vision and benefits the eyes (Expels Wind-Heat)
Red, swollen and painful eyes from Heat or Wind-Heat in the Liver channel
Eye problems such as photosensivity, night blindness and insidious loss of vision without visible physical changes to the eye
- Calms the Liver and anchors Liver Yang
Liver Yang Rising or Liver Fire with headaches and dizziness
Hypertension
- Moistens the Intestines and unblocks the bowels
Chronic constipation with dry or infrequent stools especially if there is Liver Yin Deficiency
- Reduces blood pressure and serum cholesterol
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
- Aids fasting
Mentioned in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing as part of the superior class of herbs which can, with protracted taking, boost the Essence and make the body light. 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).
Suggested Daily Dosage: 10-15g in decoction.
Cautions: It is contraindicated for deficiency-cold syndrome, especially in case of loose stool due to spleen deficiency.
Notable Constituents:
- Physcion
Dihydroxyanthraquinone with a role as an apoptosis inducer, an antineoplastic agent, a hepatoprotective agent, an anti-inflammatory agent, an antibacterial agent, an antifungal agent and possible α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (Yang et al., 2022).
- Chrysoobtusin
Monohydroxyanthraquinone with possible α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.
- Aurantio-obtusin
Trihydroxyanthraquinone with possible α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.
- Obtusifolin
Dihydroxyanthraquinone with weak α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (Dirir et al., 2022).
Appears in 6 formulae listed on this site: (click to display)
Research Links & References: (click to display)
Research Links:
Reference Notes:
Individual herb information has sourced mainly from TCM Wiki and American Dragon for basic data and then updated manually with my own notes. Zhou, Xie and Yan (2011): Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicines, Vol. 5, and A+ Medical Encyclopaedia have been used for entries not available from those sources with additional material searched for and filled in where available. Western herbs not appearing in the Chinese literature have used Ross (2010): Combining Western Herbs and Chinese Medicine: A Clinical Materia Medica, White Rabbit Institute of Healing and therapeutika.ch. Choices of which source to use or combine have been my own.
These pages are intended to assist clinicians and are not intended for self-diagnosis or treatment for which a qualified professional should be consulted. Actions and indications are taken from traditional uses and do not necessarily reflect the evidence base which should be researched independently. Dosages are for guidance only and will vary dependening on the potency of the batch and the tolerance of the individual so should be evaluated by a professional based on individual needs.
