Wiseman’s Chinese Medical Database

huáng lián / 黄连 / 黃連 / coptis [root];

Latin pharmacognostic name: Coptidis Rhizoma

Alternate English names: goldthread [root]

Alternate Chinese names: 王连 wáng lián; 支连 zhī lián; 味连 wèi lián; 鸡连 jī lián

Origin: Plant

Use: medicinal

Category: Heat-clearing agents / Heat-clearing dampness-drying agents

Properties: Bitter; cold.

Channel entry: heart, liver, stomach, and large intestine channels.

Indications:

• Clears heat and dries dampness: Damp-heat in the stomach and intestines, manifesting in vomiting or dysentery.
• Drains fire and resolves toxin: Febrile diseases with intense heat and fire leading to high fever, vexation and agitation; toxin swelling of welling- and flat-abscesses (yōng jū) and sores.

Dosage & Method:

Oral: 1.5–10g in decoctions. When swallowed as a powder, 1–1.5g three times a day is a suitable dose. Its cold nature may be reduced by stir-frying it before use. It can be prepared with ginger juice to check vomiting.

Warning:

Huáng lián is very bitter and very cold, so excessive doses or prolonged use can easily damage the spleen and stomach. It is contraindicated in spleen-stomach vacuity cold. Its bitter dryness damages liquid, so it should be used with care in yīn vacuity with damage to liquid.

Product Description:

This rhizome, with 3–6 firm yellowish brown cylindrical branches bearing irregular knobbles, often has the appearance of a closed chicken's foot. Sometimes tough fibrous roots are still attached. The decocting pieces are thin oblique slices, on whose cut edge the skin appears dark brown, and the wood, perforated with holes, appears golden yellow, sometimes with a slightly darker core.

Quality:

Long, densely noded rhizomes without hair, having the appearance of the heart of a chrysanthemum flower on the cross section are best. When placed in water, the coloring should sink downwards in a vertical stream, while the rhizome rises after sinking.

Product Area:

Sìchuān, Húběi, and Shǎnxī (Shaanxi).

Etymology:

The name huáng lián 黄连, ""yellow succession/continuation,"" reflects the yellow coloring of the root that extends to other parts.