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Latin pharmacognostic name: Pulsatillae Radix

Alternate English names: Chinese anemone [root]

Alternate Chinese names: 野丈人 yě zhàng rén; 胡王使者 hú wáng shǐ zhě; 白头公[1] bái tóu gōng

Kingdom: Plant

Origin in PRC Pharmacopoeia: Pulsatilla chinensis (Bge.) Regel. (PRC Pharmacopoeia)

Origin (other sources): Pulsatilla chinensis (Bge.) Reg.* [= Anemone chinensis Bge.]; Pulsatilla dahurica (Fisch.) Spr.; Pulsatilla koreana Nakai; Pulsatilla turczaninovii Krylov et Serg.; Pulsatilla ambigua Turcz. ex Pritz.

Use: Medicinal

Category: Heat-clearing agents / Heat-clearing toxin-resolving agents

Properties: Bitter; cold.

Channel entry: Large intestine and stomach channels.

Indications:

• Clears heat, resolves toxin, and cools the blood: Diarrhea or dysentery caused by damp-heat or heat toxin.
• Interrupts malaria: Warm malaria.
• Other indications: Bái tóu wēng is also used for genital itch with white vaginal discharge. For this, it can be decocted and used as a vaginal douche. It also can be combined with worm-killing itch-relieving medicinals such as Kǔ shēn (苦参 Sophorae Flavescentis Radix, flavescent sophora [root]) and Bǎi bù (百部 Stemonae Radix, stemona [root]).
• Additional actions: Bái tóu wēng clears large intestinal damp-heat and enters the blood aspect to stanch bleeding. It is able to stanch bleeding and disperse hemorrhoids when applied topically as a single agent.

Dosage & Method: Oral: 6–15g in decoctions. It is also made into pills, vaginal washes, and enemas.

Warnings: Contraindicated in vacuity cold patterns of diarrhea and dysentery. Bái tóu wēng can cause irritation, so it should be used with care in enemas and vaginal washes.

Quality: Best are long neat roots that are gray-brown on the outside, and have white hairs springing from the head.

Product Area: Liáoníng, Héběi, Hēilóngjiāng, Mongolia.

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