Medicinals
é zhú / 莪朮 / 莪朮 / curcuma rhizome
Latin pharmacognostic name: Curcumae Rhizoma
Alternate English names:
Alternate Chinese names: 蓬朮 péng zhú; 蓬莪朮 péng é zhú
Origin: Plant
Use: medicinal
Category: Blood-Quickening Stasis-dispelling agents / Blood-quickening concretion-dispersing agents
Properties: Acrid, bitter; warm.
Channel entry: liver and spleen channels.
Indications:
- Breaks blood and dispels stasis; moves qì and relieves pain: Qì vacuity and blood stasis giving rise to concretions, conglomerations, accumulations, and gatherings, to amenorrhea, and to pain in the heart region and abdomen.
- Moves qì and disperses accumulations: Food accumulation with distension and pain in the stomach duct and abdomen.
- Additional uses: é zhú may be used to treat
injury from knocks and falls and painful stasis swelling. For this purpose, it is combined with medicinals that transform stasis, disperse swelling, and relieve pain.
Dosage & Method:
Oral: 3–15g in decoctions. Use raw to move qì and disperse food accumulation; use mix-fried with vinegar to dispel stasis and relieve pain.
Warning:
Contraindicated in pregnancy and profuse menstruation.
Product Description:
This is a fat, pear-shaped rhizome, 1–4 cm in diameter. The exterior surface is a yellowish brown and is rough in texture. It has prominent annular notes about 5–8 mm apart, and the scars of lateral roots. It is firm and hard. The decocting pieces are transverse slices, about 2–8 mm thick, revealing a brown cut edge with yellow speckles at the core. Slices treated with vinegar are much darker, and less yellow in color.
Quality:
Best are large, firm, smooth rhizomes that are yellowish green on the cut edge.
Product Area:
Guǎngxī, Sìchuān, Fújiàn, Guǎngdōng, Zhèjiāng, Yúnnán, Táiwān.