Actions:

• Clears heat, cools the blood, and nourishes the yin: use when heat has entered the blood level causing fever, bleeding, dry mouth, and a red- purple tongue color. Also for yin deficiency heat, especially following a fever with dryness, constipation, irritability, and dry cough.
• Relieves fire toxicity and inflammation: for red or swollen eyes and severe sore throat.
• Resolves nodules and lumps: for neck lumps, swollen tonsils, scrofula, and swollen throat from phlegm fire.

Contraindications:

• Contraindicated in patients with diarrhea, or dampness in the spleen or stomach. This herb has been noted to antagonize Rhizoma Zingiberis Officinalis (gan jiang), Radix Astragali Membranacei (huang qi), Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae (da zao), Frucutus Corni Officinalis (shan zhu yu), and is incompatible with Rhizoma et Radix Veratri (li lu).

Dosage:

• 9-30g. To benefit the yin, this herb is often dry-fried in salt. Part used = root.