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Latin pharmacognostic name: Schizonepetae Herba

Kingdom: Plant

Origin in PRC Pharmacopoeia: Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq. (PRC Pharmacopoeia)

Origin (other sources): Schizonepeta tenuifolia (Benth.) Briq.*; Schizonepeta multifida (L.) Briq.

Use: Medicinal

Category: Exterior-resolving agents / Warm acrid exterior-resolving agents

Properties: Acrid; slightly warm.

Channel entry: Lung and liver channels.

Indications:

• Dispels wind and resolves the exterior: Wind-cold and wind-heat exterior patterns.
• Outthrusts papules and relieves itching: Measles failing to erupt; itchy papular rash in rubella (German measles, traditionally called wind papules, 风疹 fēng zhěn, in Chinese medicine).
• Disperses sores: Initial-stage sores with concurrent exterior patterns.
• Stanches bleeding: Bleeding patterns.

Dosage & Method: Oral: 3–10g in decoctions. It should not be decocted for long. Use raw to effuse the exterior and outthrust papules and to disperse sores. Use stir-fried or char-fried to stanch bleeding.

Product Description: The dried herb has a squared stalk with a longitudinal furrow on each face, and branches on the upper part. It is about 45–90 cm long, and 3–5 mm in diameter. The exterior surface has a purple hue and is covered in short hairs. It is light and snaps easily, revealing a yellow, white fibrous transverse section with a white medulla in the center. The leaves, which are opposite-growing, with deep incisions forming long lobes, are brittle and break off easily. At the top of the stalk is a green verticillate cylindrical inflorescence, 7–10 mm in diameter, with green calyx tubes from which the corollas have fallen and which contain four black seeds.

Quality: Herbs with a pale purple hue, fine stalks, and numerous inflorescences are the best.

Product Area: Jiāngsū, Zhèjiāng, Jiāngxī, Húběi, and Húnán.

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