Actions:

• Drains heat and purges excess: for yang ming organ stage or intestinal heat exces with very high fever, consipation and abdominal fullness.

• Reduces damp-heat: drains damp-heat thru the stool in cases of damp-heat jaundice or acute dysentery.

• Reduces blood level heat: for bloody stool from hemorrhoids or heat in the intestines. Also for epistaxis or hematemesis from reckless movement of hot blood.

• Invigorates the blood and removes stagnation: for dysmenorrhea or amenorrhea, fixed abdominal masses, tumors, or pain from blood stagnation. Also for blood stagnation in the intestines and intestinal abscesses.

• Clears blood level heat: for fever, swollen eyes, or fire toxins both internally and externally in the blood or on the skin, such as burns and skin lesions.

Contraindications:

• Do not use during menstruation, pregnancy, post-partum or during lactation. Also contraindicated in exterior syndromes, cold from deficiency of the spleen and stomach, or in cases of qi and blood deficiency.

Dosage:

• 3-12g. Use raw as a purgative, or cook for less than 10 minutes. Use in wine or vinegar to increase the blood invigorating properties, charred to stop bleeding, and as a powder or wash when used externally