Medicinals
má huáng / 麻黄 / 麻黃 / ephedra;
Latin pharmacognostic name: Ephedrae Herba
Alternate English names: mahuang
Alternate Chinese names: 卑相 bēi xiàng; 卑盐 bēi yán; 龙沙 lóng shā
Origin: Plant
Use: medicinal
Category: Exterior-resolving agents / Warm acrid exterior-resolving agents
Properties: Acrid, slightly bitter; warm.
Channel entry: lung and bladder channels.
Indications:
- Promotes sweating and resolves the exterior: Common cold due to external contraction of wind-cold with an absence of sweating (exterior repletion).
- Diffuses the lung and calms panting: Repletion patterns of panting and cough due to wind-cold fettering the exterior, causing congestion of lung qì.
- Disinhibits water and disperses swelling: Water swelling with concurrent exterior pattern.
- Warms and disperses cold evil: The ability of má huáng to warm and disperse cold evil enables it to treat wind-damp impediment (fēng shī bì) pain, yīn flat-abscesses, and phlegm nodes, when it is appropriately combined with other medicinals.
Dosage & Method:
Oral: Decoct (1.5–6g; preboil and remove scum); use in pills and powders.
Warning:
Contraindicated for exterior vacuity spontaneous sweating, yīn vacuity night sweating, and panting and cough due to failure of the kidney to absorb qì. Má huáng contains ephedrine, which stimulates the heart and central nervous system, causes vasoconstriction, and raises blood pressure. It should be used with care in patients suffering from hypertension or insomnia. Má huáng should not be used for weight loss. Misuse of má huáng has led to a variety of legal restrictions on its sale and use in certain areas or in certain preparations.
Product Description:
This herb comprises long slender cylindrical stalks, slightly flat, with few branches, 1–2 mm in diameter, usually cut into 2–3 cm lengths. The outer surface is light green, or light yellow-green, with fine longitudinal ridges rough to the touch, and nodes 2.5–6 cm apart. At the nodes are two or rarely three membranous scaly leaves, which are 3–4 mm long, brown-red in color, triangular with a sharp, slightly bent tip. The stalks are brittle and break easily, leaving a fibrous fracture that is light green in the surface layer, and brown-red in the central medulla. They give off a slight fragrance. The roots and nodes are removed before use.
Quality:
Dry, fat, light-green stalks with solid cores and a bitter, astringent taste are the best.
Product Area:
Héběi and Shāndōng.
Etymology:
The name má huáng 麻黄, interpreted as meaning ""numbing yellow,"" reflects its numbing effect on the tongue and its yellow color.