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Dictamni Cortex
Dictamnus [bark]
白鲜皮 〔白鮮皮〕 bái xiān pí
Alternate English names: Chinese dictamnus [bark]
Alternate Chinese names: 白藓皮 bái xiān pí
Kingdom: Plant
Origin in PRC Pharmacopoeia: Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz. (PRC Pharmacopoeia)
Origin in unofficial sources: Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz.*; Dictamnus angustifolius G. Don
Use: Medicinal
Category: Heat-clearing agents / Heat-clearing toxin-resolving agents
Properties: Bitter; cold.
Channel entry: Spleen and stomach channels.
Actions and indications:
- Clears heat, dries dampness, and resolves toxin:
Damp sores , eczema, welling-abscesses due to damp-heat or heat toxin; damp-heat jaundice with reddish urine. - Dispels wind:
Damp-heat impediment with painful red swollen joints.
Dosage and method: Oral: 6–10g in decoctions. Also used externally, decocted with water as a wash.
Warnings: Use with care in vacuity cold.
Product description: This root bark comes in quills 5–10 mm in diameter. The outer layer is peeled off, leaving a smooth, pale-yellow surface with fine longitudinal wrinkles, and scars from small branch roots. Indented white speckles may be observed on gray black cork that has not been properly stripped away. The inner surface is smooth, earth-colored, and slightly fibrous. Though hard, it snaps easily, giving off white powder and leaving a whitish-yellow fracture. The decocting pieces are transverse slices 1–2 mm thick.
Quality: Best if large, white, curled in quill form, and free of any woody core.
Production area: Manchuria, Héběi, Hénán, ānhuī, Jiāngsū, and Húběi, and Korea.
Etymology: 白鲜皮 (bái xiān pí), literally white goat's smell bark,
the character xiān 鲜 being taken to mean the smell of fish (yú 鱼 and goats yáng 羊, rather than fresh.