Nature: bitter, cold

Enters: Heart, Liver, Stomach, Large Intestine

Actions: Clears damp-heat; clears Yin deficiency heat; reduces fever due to parasites; treats childhood nutritional impairment.

Indications:
• Large intestine damp-heat: diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids. For these disorder, Hu huang lian is much weaker than Huang lian and should be used when Huang lian would be too strong for the patient.
• Digestive disorder with nutritional impairment in children: fever, abdominal distention, dysenteric diarrhea.
• Yin deficiency heat: tidal fever, night sweats, etc.
• Damp-heat: sores.
• Often used as a substitute for the more expensive Huang lian.
• Bensky/Gamble classifies this with herbs that clear heat and dry dampness.

Dose: 3-9g

BII: (P. kurroa) Extensive Ayurvedic use in the treatment of hepatic and respiratory disorders.
• Bronchial asthma: May prevent allergen-, histamine-, and PAF- induced bronchial obstruction.