Medicinals
shú dì huáng / 熟地黄 / 熟地黃 / cooked rehmannia [root];
Latin pharmacognostic name: Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata
Alternate English names: cooked Chinese foxglove [root]
Alternate Chinese names: 熟地 shú dì; 熟地黄 shóu dì huáng; 熟干地黄 shú gān dì huáng; 熟干地黄 shú gān dì huáng; 熟干地黄 shú gān dì huáng
Origin: Plant
Use: medicinal and alimentary
Category: Supplementing agents / Blood-supplementing agents
Properties: Sweet; slightly warm.
Channel entry: liver and kidney channels.
Indications:
- Supplements the blood: Blood vacuity with a withered yellow complexion, dizziness, heart palpitation, insomnia, or menstrual irregularities.
- Enriches yīn: Kidney yīn vacuity patterns of
tidal heat effusion and steaming bone, night sweating, seminal emission, and dispersion-thirst. - Boosts essence and replenishes marrow: Essence-blood depletion of the liver and kidney, manifesting in limp aching lumbus and knees, dizziness, tinnitus, and/or
premature graying of the hair.
Dosage & Method:
Oral: 10–30g in decoctions. It is sometimes stir-fried for menstrual irregularities due to blood vacuity and may be charred for uterine bleeding.
Warning:
Shú dì huáng is rich and slimy (cloying). Some patients find it difficult to digest. For this reason, it is contraindicated in qì stagnation and copious phlegm, distension and pain in the stomach duct, reduced eating, and sloppy stool or diarrhea.
Notes:
Xiān dì huáng (Rehmanniae Radix Recens), the fresh form, which is not normally available in the West, is sweet, bitter, and greatly cold; it clears heat and cools the blood, and drains fire and eliminates vexation. It is mostly used for blood heat with yīn vacuity and depletion of liquid. It does not have a powerful yīn-nourishing action.
Product Description:
This product is similar to dried rehmannia (gān dì huáng) but is darker in color, stickier in substance, and sweeter to the taste.
Product Area:
Produced mainly in Hénán and Zhèjiāng, and to a lesser extent in Héběi, Húnán, Húběi, and Sìchuān.
Etymology:
The name shú dià huáng 熟地黄 literally means ""cooked earth yellow.""