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Alternate English names: great thistle

Kingdom: Plant

Origin in PRC Pharmacopoeia: Cirsium japonicum DC. (PRC Pharmacopoeia)

Origin in unofficial sources: Cirsium japonicum DC.*

Use: Medicinal

Category: Blood-stanching agents / Blood-cooling blood-stanching agents

Properties: Bitter, sweet; cool.

Channel entry: Heart and liver channels.

Actions and indications:

• Cools the blood and stanches bleeding: Bleeding from frenetic movement of hot blood.
• Disperses stasis, resolves toxin, and disperses welling-abscesses: Heat, swelling, and sore-toxin and welling-abscesses.
• Additional uses: Dà jì may be used for damp-heat patterns of jaundice, as well as for skin conditions such as burns and scalds, scab, and clove sores.
• Modern applications: Dà jì has recently been used in the treatment of hepatitis and hypertension.

Dosage and method: Oral: 10–15g dried or 30–60g fresh in decoctions. Use it raw for a stronger blood-cooling action or charred for a stronger blood-stanching action. For welling-abscesses, use the fresh or dried herb raw.

Warnings: Contraindicated in spleen-stomach vacuity cold without stasis.

Quality: The best quality is grayish green in color and free of extraneous matter. If only the root is used, as is often the case, it should be thick and without rhizome or fine roots.

Production area: Jiāngsū, ānhuī.

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