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Alternate English names: dried Chinese foxglove [root]

Alternate Chinese names: 干生地 gān shēng dì; 原生地 yuán shēng dì; 生干地黄 shēng gān dì huáng

Kingdom: Plant

Origin in PRC Pharmacopoeia: Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. (PRC Pharmacopoeia)

Origin in unofficial sources: Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Libosch.*; Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Libosch. f. hueichingensis (Chao et Schih) Hsiao

Use: Alimentary

Properties: Sweet and bitter; cool; nontoxic*.

Channel entry: Heart, liver, and kidney channels.

Actions and indications: Enriches yīn and nourishes the blood. Treats yīn vacuity heat effusion; dispersion-thirst (xiāo kě); vomiting of blood (blood ejection); nosebleed (nǜ xuè); flooding; menstrual irregularities; stirring fetus; constipation from damage to yīn.

Dosage and method: Oral: Decoct (9–15g; large doses 30–60g); boil to paste; make into pills and powders. Topical: Apply crushed.

Warnings: Contraindicated in spleen vacuity diarrhea; stomach vacuity with reduced food intake; copious phlegm in the chest and diaphragm.

Notes: This is the dried root. It is normally called shēng dì huáng, although this term conventionally refers to either to the dried or the fresh form. It nourishes heart and kidney yīn and is appropriate for blood heat damaging yīn or yin vacuity heat effusion. However, its blood-cooling action is weaker than that of the fresh form.

Quality: Fat, heavy roots that are dark in color and moist and oily in texture are the best.

Production area: Rehmannia glutinosa: Hénán, Zhèjiāng, Jiāngsū, ānhuī, Shāndōng, Héběi, Liáoníng, Shānxī, Shǎnxī (Shaanxi), Inner Mongolia, Húnán, Húběi, and Sìchuān. Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. F. hueichingensis (Chao et Shih) Hsiao is cultivated in Huáiqìng in Hénán.

See: Shēng dì huáng (生地黄 Rehmanniae Radix Exsiccata seu Recens, dried/fresh rehmannia [root])

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