|
Trumpetcreeper Flower | Flos Campsis | 凌霄花 (Lingxiaohua)
| Source: |
Flower |
 |
| Property: |
Cold |
| Taste: |
Sweet, Sour |
| Channel: |
Influences the liver and pericardium channels. |
| Actions: |
To remove heat from blood, promote blood circulation and eliminate blood stasis. |
| Indications: |
To remove heat from the blood, remove blood stasis and dispel wind. |
Abalone Shell | Concha Haliotidis | 石决明 (Shijueming)
| Source: |
Marine Sources- Shell |
|
| Property: |
Cold |
| Taste: |
Salty |
| Channel: |
Influences the liver channel. |
| Actions: |
To pacify hyperactivity of the liver, quench its fire and improve vision. |
| Indications: |
Headache and dizziness; blurred vision due to nebula, optic atrophy and night blindness. |
Akebia Stem | Caulis Akebiae | 木通 (Mutong)
| Source: |
Stem |
 |
| Property: |
Slightly Cold |
| Taste: |
Bitter |
| Channel: |
Influences the heart, small intestine and bladder channels. |
| Actions: |
To clear heart-fire, induce urination, stimulate menstruation and promote lactation. |
| Indications: |
Feverish sensation in the chest, laryngalgia, pharyngalgia, deep-coloured urine, five types of stranguria, edema, general contraction pain, amenorrhea and hypogalactia. |
American Ginseng | Radix Panacis Quinquefoli | 西洋参 (Xiyangshen)
| Also known as: |
花旗参 (Huaqishen) |
Find out more » |
| Source: |
Root |
| Property: |
Cool |
| Taste: |
Sweet, Slightly bitter |
| Channel: |
Influences the heart, lung and kidney channels. |
| Actions: |
To tonify qi, nourish yin, remove heat and promote the production of body fluids. |
| Indications: |
Used for deficiency of qi and yin; internal heat; cough; asthma; bloody phlegm; fire due to deficiency syndrome; dysphoria, tiredness; diabetes, dry and thirsty mouth and throat. |
|
|
Appendiculate Cremastra Pseudobulb | Pseudobulbus Cremastrae Seu Pleiones | 山慈菇 (Shancigu)
| Also known as: |
Common Pleione Pseudobulb | Chinese Tulip |
 |
| Source: |
Pseudobulb |
| Property: |
Cool |
| Taste: |
Sweet, Slightly pungent |
| Channel: |
Influences the liver and spleen channels. |
| Actions: |
To remove toxic-heat, resolve phlegm and disintegrate lumps. |
| Indications: |
Carbuncles, boils, scrofula and subcutaneous nodules; snake and insect bites. |
Arc Shell | Concha Arcae | 瓦楞子 (Walengzi)
| Also known as: |
Cockle Shell |
 |
| Source: |
Marine Sources- Shell |
| Property: |
Neutral
|
| Taste: |
To eliminate phlegm, remove blood stasis, soften hard masses, dissolve nodulation and relieve gastric pain by reducing acid. |
| Channel: |
Influences the lungs, stomach, and liver channels. |
| Actions: |
To eliminate phlegm, remove blood stasis, soften hard masses, dissolve nodulation and relieve gastric pain by reducing acid. |
| Indications: |
Retention of sticky phlegm difficult to expectorate; goitre, scrofula and masses in the abdomen; gastric pain with acid regurgitation. |
Areca Peel | Pericarpium Arecae | 大腹皮 (Dafupi)
| Source: |
Pericarp |
|
| Property: |
Slightly Warm |
| Taste: |
Pungent |
| Channel: |
Influences the spleen, stomach, large and small intestine channels. |
| Actions: |
To check upward perverted flow of qi, relieve abdominal distension, induce urination and reduce edema. |
| Indications: |
Stagnation of qi due to accumulation of damp marked by epigastric and abdominal distension, difficult bowel movements, edema of the legs and oliguria. |
Argy Wormwood Leaf | Folium Artemisiae Argyi | 艾叶 (Aiye)
| Source: |
Leaf
|
|
| Property: |
Warm |
| Taste: |
Pungent, Bitter; Slightly toxic |
| Channel: |
Influences the liver, spleen and kidney channels. |
| Actions: |
To dispel cold, relieve pain, warm the meridians and arrest bleeding. |
| Indications: |
Cold pain in the lower abdomen; menstrual disorders caused by cold; infertility; spitting of blood; epistaxis; uterine bleeding in pregnancy; excessive menstrual flow or prolonged menstruation; external use for itching.
|
Asiatic Cornelian Cherry Fruit | Fructus Corni | 山茱萸 (Shanzhuyu)
| Source: |
Fruit |
|
| Property: |
Slightly Warm |
| Taste: |
Sour, Astringent |
| Channel: |
Influences the liver and kidney channels. |
| Actions: |
To tonify the liver and kidneys, restrain seminal emission and relieve collapse. |
| Indications: |
Dizziness; tinnitus; aching pain in the loins and knees; impotence; seminal emission; enuresis; frequent urination; metrorrhagia; metrostaxis; leukorrhea; collapse with profuse sweating; diabetes. |
Atractylodes Rhizome | Rhizoma Atractylodis | 苍术 (Cangzhu)
| Also known as: |
Black Atractylodes |
 |
| Source: |
Rhizome |
| Property: |
Warm |
| Taste: |
Pungent, Bitter |
| Channel: |
Influences the spleen, stomach and liver channels. |
| Actions: |
To remove dampness, invigorate the function of the spleen, dispel wind-cold and improve vision. |
| Indications: |
Epigastric distension and diarrhoea; edema, particularly edema of the legs due to wind-cold; rheumatic arthralgia; common cold; night blindness. |
|
References:
- State Pharmacopoeia Commission of PRC, Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, 2005 ed.1, by People's Medical Publishing House, December 2005
- Zhao Zhongzhen, An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, May 2004
- Eu Yan Sang International Holdings Pte Ltd, The Eu Yan Sang Heritage: An Anthology of Chinese Herbs and Medicines, Eu Yan Sang International Holdings Pte Ltd, December 1998
Photo Courtesy of School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University. |
TCM Knowledge 
