Nature: sweet, bland, cold

Enters: Heart, Stomach, Small Intestine

Actions: Promotes urination; drains Ying level heat; conducts heart heat to the small intestine (conducts Ying level heat back to the Qi level); clears damp-heat; disperses upper Jiao heat; eliminates irritability or restlessness (by clearing heat from the heart, small intestine and stomach).

Indications:
• Heat patterns with irritability, restlessness, thirst.
• Concentrated, rough, burning urination. Especially for heat in the heart/small intestine with irritability and a dark red tip of the tongue.
• Stomach or heart channel heat: canker sores or tongue sores, swollen and painful gums.
• Lingering Qi level heat.
• Some use this herb for Lung wind-heat, since it is very light and can disperse heat in the upper Jiao.
• Dan zhu ye’s diuretic effect is weaker than Mu tong.
• Note: Despite the translation of its name and its similar appearance to bamboo, this herb is of the Lophatherum genus, not Bambusa (true bamboo).
Hsu: Anticarcinogenic effect; diuretic.

Dose: 6-9g