Deficiency-Heat-Clearing Herbs
Bai Wei (Blackend Swallowwort Root)
Naming
Bai Wei (Radix Cynanchi Atrati)
The Effect of Radix Cynanchi Atrati
Property
Bitter and cold; liver, kidney, lung, and stomach meridians entered.
Actions
Clear deficiency heat, clear lung heat, cool blood, remove toxicity, induce diuresis, alleviate stranguria.
Indications
Deficiency heat due to yin deficiency or post-parturition; cough due to lung heat; bleeding due to blood heat; heat and blood stranguria; sore and abscess, sore throat with swelling pain; exogenous pathogenic with yin deficiency.
Dosage and Administrations
Decoct 4.5～9 g.
Cautions
It is contraindicated in cases of poor appetite and diarrhea due to deficient cold of spleen and stomach.
Sources and further reading
We cite classical materia medica and modern reference works. This article is health education, not medical advice.
- Shennong Bencao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), Han dynasty.
- Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen, 1578.
- Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current edition — identity, quality and safety monographs.
- NCCIH and WHO reference material on traditional medicine safety.
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