Nature: sweet, sour, cold

Enters: Liver, Kidney

Actions: Cools the blood; stops bleeding; mildly nourishes kidney and liver Yin; sharpens the senses.

Indications:
• Kidney and liver Yin deficiency: dizziness, early greying of the hair, blurry vision, vertigo.
• Yin deficiency heat: hematemesis, hemafecia, epistaxis, uterine bleeding, coughing up blood, and especially hematuria.
• Beneficial for diphtheria.
• Topical: for hemorrhage.
• Similar in actions to Sheng di, but not greasy – a better choice when the patient has a digestive disorder.
• Han lian cao’s function to nourish Yin is quite limited.
Hong-Yen Hsu (Oriental Materia Medica): Antibacterial, hemostatic, blood cooling, possibly anti-inflammatory.
Dui Yao (Sionneau): Nourishes the lower and upper parts; enriches Yin and blackens the hair.
• With Nu zhen zi to effectively supplement the liver and kidneys, cool the blood and stop bleeding, and blacken the hair. For the following indications, this combination, Er Zhi Wan, should be prepared with wine-steamed Nu zhen zi.
– 1. Liver-kidney deficiency heat.
– 2. Vertigo, dizziness, insomnia, and loss of memory due to liver-kidney deficiency with Yin and blood not nourishing the upper part of the body.
– 3. Premature greying of the hair and beard due to kidney essence deficiency.
– 4. Nosebleed, bleeding gums, hemoptysis, hematemesis, hematuria, and metrorrhagia due to Yin deficiency heat which forces the blood out of the vessels. Han lian cao’s action of cooling the blood and stopping bleeding is not very strong. The combination can be strengthened for these purposes by adding Sheng di, Mu dan pi, Ce bai ye, and Qian cao gen.

Dose: 9-15g (to 30g when fresh)