☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat, detoxifies, clears Wind-Dampness and resolve swelling; Cools the Blood and stops bleeding
Traditional Chinese Uses
Wei Ling Cai (Radix/Herba Potentillae Chinensis), from Potentilla chinensis (Chinese cinquefoil), is a bitter, cold Heat-clearing medicinal entering the Liver and Large Intestine channels. It clears Heat and resolves toxin, and importantly cools the Blood to stop bleeding. Its classic application is for Damp-Heat dysentery with blood and pus, including bacterial and amoebic dysentery and diarrhea, where its astringent, cooling nature checks the discharge.
By cooling the Blood it also addresses reckless bleeding such as uterine bleeding (Beng Lou), bloody urine and hemorrhoidal bleeding. It further clears Wind-Dampness and reduces swelling, used for hot, swollen sores and skin conditions like eczema and scabies, applied as a decoction or wash. Note that Potentilla chinensis is sometimes used as a substitute/adulterant for Bai Tou Weng, so authentication matters.
Western Herbalism Properties
Botanical Description
Potentilla chinensis, Chinese cinquefoil, is a tufted perennial herb of the Rosaceae family widespread across China, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East, growing on dry grassy slopes, roadsides, and waste ground. The plant develops a stout woody rootstock from which arise multiple ascending to erect, branched, silky-hairy stems thirty to seventy centimeters tall. Leaves are pinnately compound with numerous oblong to oblanceolate leaflets, deeply pinnately cleft, dark green and nearly glabrous above and densely white-tomentose beneath, giving the foliage a strikingly bicolored appearance. Small bright yellow five-petalled flowers about one centimeter across are borne in loose terminal cymes throughout summer, each followed by a dry aggregate of small achenes characteristic of the genus and family.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 6-15g | Daily | — | — | — |
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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