Xiao Ji (Common Cephalanoplos Herb)

Name

Xiao Ji (Herba Cirsii), from Ming Yi Bie Lu (Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians)

Source and quality

The part above the ground of the perennial herbaceous plant Cirsium setosum (Willd.) MB. of the family Compositae. It is produced in most areas of China, and is gathered in summer or autumn when it flowers.

It has a slight odor and is slightly bitter. The best grade has a yellowish-green stem with a purplish-brown color and no impurities. It is cleaned and dried in the sun; used unprocessed or stir-baked into charcoal.

Nature and action

Sweet, bitter and cool. It enters the heart and liver meridians.

It cools the blood to stop bleeding, eliminates blood stasis, relieves toxicity and cures abscesses.

Indications

Bleeding due to heat

This herb is cool and cold in nature, and good at clearing heat in the blood system to stop bleeding. It is therefore indicated for bleeding caused by recklessly moving blood as a result of blood heat, such as hemoptysis, hematemesis, epistaxis, hematochezia, and metrorrhagia and metrostaxis.

When applied on its own, take the extracted juice or pound it into a paste for external application. It is usually reinforced by combination with other hemostatics.

• It is combined with Da Ji, Ce Bai Ye, Bai Mao Gen and Qian Cao in Shihui San from Shi Yao Shen Shu (Miraculous Book of Ten Recipes).
• It can also relieve stranguria and promote urination. It is good at treating hematuria and bloody stranguria and can be used on its own, or combined with herbs that open and dredge for smoothness, such as Hua Shi, Zhi Zi and Dan Zhu Ye in Xiao Ji Yin Zi from Ji Sheng Fang.

Swelling and abscess due to heat-toxin

It can clear heat and relieve toxicity, and to some degree eliminates blood stasis and swelling, so it is indicated for the early stage of the swelling and pain of heat-toxin sores and ulcers. When used on its own, pound the fresh herb into a paste for external application. It is combined with herbs that move blood, eliminate swelling and relieve pain, such as Ru Xiang and Mo Yao.

Dosage and administration

Decoct 10~15 g, or 30~60 g of the fresh herb. A proper dose is used for external application, crushed.