Nature: bitter, acrid, cold
Enters: Liver, Gallbladder
Actions: Clears liver fire; brightens the eyes; disperses stagnant phlegm and fire, dissipates nodules.
Indications:
• Liver fire: red, swollen, painful eyes, lots of tears, dizziness, photophobia, headache.
• Liver deficiency: eye pain that increases in the evening, especially when the eyes are neither red nor swollen.
• Stagnant phlegm-fire: neck nodules, lipomas, swollen glands, scrofula, goiter. Also for similar nodules in the inguinal groove or other parts of the body.
• Mildly reduces hypertension (probably through vasodilation), especially when accompanied by liver fire or Yang rising.
• Broad antimicrobial (tuberculosis, shigella, salmonella, E. coli, pseudomonas, strep, many other fungi and bacteria).
Li: Softens hardness: thick blood, lumps (including hyperthyroidism), hardened skin in eczema.
MLT: Also for conjunctivitis; some cancers.
PCBDP: Astringent, vulnerary.
Dose: 9-15g (up to 30g taken alone)
Very effective for me. A few leaves and/or with flower spike and some stem chewed raw was more effective than infused/boiled. Not unpleasant. Eye problem (summer, when it’s available fresh; problem not had other seasons) much abated or gone at night. Plentiful where we live, I am thankful. Knows how to duck and grow after mowing.
Can Xia Ku Cao be combined with the Western herbs thyme and horehound for a sore throat formula?
Sure, though I lean much more on herbs that enter the Lung from the category of herbs that Clear Heat & Toxicity. Almost all the herbs in that category address sore and swollen throat (due to toxic heat), including:
Jin Yin Hua
Lian Qiao
Ban Lan Gen
{These first 3 are probably the most popular, especially the combination of Jin Yin Hua and Lian Qiao in the formula Yin Qiao San}
Da Qing Ye
Ye Ju Hua
Ma Bo
She Gan
Bai Hua She She Cao
Chuan Xin Lian
Gui Zhen Cao
Zi Hua Di Ding
Yu Xing Cao…
Does Xia Ku Cao – Prunella Spike have the same headache relieving properties as the western herb Wood Betony (Stachys Officinalis)?
It can, if the headache is caused by heat or hypertension. TCM has not attributed to prunella the same kind of nervine / calming effects as Wood Betony, but Western herbal medicine doesn’t have the same sturdy framework for energetic pattern differentiation. Prunella could act similarly to Wood Betony when the imbalance is caused by a heat pattern, and it’s probable that Wood Betony possesses similar energetic particularities which account for who benefits from it and who doesn’t.