Xiao Ji
StarCirsium setosum (Willd.) MB.
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Urinary & fluids
- Skin
☯ TCM Properties
Cools the Blood and Stops Bleeding; Invigorates Blood and Reduces Swelling; Resolves Toxicity and Expels Pus; Promotes Urination and Relieves Stranguria
Traditional Chinese Uses
Xiao Ji (小蓟) is the whole herb of Cirsium setosum (Willd.) MB. (Asteraceae), Herba Cirsii, the field thistle. It is sweet and bitter and cool, entering the Heart and Liver channels. It cools the Blood and stops bleeding, invigorates Blood and reduces swelling, resolves toxicity and expels pus, and promotes urination to relieve stranguria.
It stops bleeding due to Heat in the Blood — nosebleed, coughing or vomiting of blood, and bleeding from the lower body — but its particular strength, and the reason it is chosen over other Blood-cooling styptics, is blood in the urine. Because it simultaneously cools the Blood and promotes urination, it treats the bleeding and the underlying Damp-Heat together, and it heads Xiao Ji Yin Zi for painful bloody urination. Fresh, it is also applied to hot sores, carbuncles and swellings.
Xiao Ji and Da Ji (大蓟, Cirsium japonicum) share actions and are often used together; Da Ji is the stronger for reducing swelling and stopping heavy bleeding, while Xiao Ji is preferred for urinary bleeding. Both are cool and are unsuited to bleeding from deficiency Cold.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Cirsium setosum (Willd.) M.Bieb. (Asteraceae), sometimes treated as Cirsium arvense var. setosum or Breea setosa, is a rhizomatous perennial herb of fields, roadsides, ditches and disturbed ground across much of temperate Eurasia. It spreads aggressively by deep, branching white horizontal roots, producing erect, ribbed, sparingly branched stems 30 to 100 cm tall that are smooth to slightly cobwebby and not strongly spiny on the stem. The leaves are alternate, sessile, oblong-lanceolate to oblong, 5 to 15 cm long, with shallowly toothed to pinnately lobed margins armed with weak yellow-brown spines, smooth above and finely arachnoid-tomentose beneath. The plant is dioecious; flower heads are borne in loose terminal clusters, each head 1.5 to 2.5 cm across with an ovoid involucre of overlapping bracts and a brush-like tuft of pale lilac to pink-purple disc florets and feathery pappus, with no ray florets. The fresh or dried whole plant in flower constitutes Xiao Ji.
Active Constituents
Linarin (acacetin-7-O-rutinoside)
Flavone glycosideConcentration: 1.36 to 2.83% of the dried herb across authenticated samples, and the only flavonoid assignable by HPLC in this species
The dominant and effectively the sole flavonoid marker of Cirsium setosum, and the compound that separates it analytically from Cirsium japonicum (Da Ji), which is instead dominated by pectolinarin. It contributes anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity and is among the constituents identified in network analyses of the herb's haemostatic and anti-inflammatory actions.
Acacetin
Flavone aglyconeConcentration: aglycone of linarin, present free in the herb; no consensus content figure
Identified among the haemostatic and anti-inflammatory constituents of Cirsium setosum extracts, and reported as one of the longer-acting constituents on pharmacokinetic grounds.
Tyramine
Phenethylamine (biogenic amine)Concentration: trace amine constituent; identified as an active rather than quantified as a marker
Together with N-methyltyramine this is the constituent shown to carry the haemostatic effect of Cirsium setosum. It acts on alpha1-adrenoceptors, and its own mechanism runs through enzyme-catalysed noradrenaline synthesis, producing vasoconstriction at the bleeding site. This is a sympathomimetic mechanism, not a coagulation-cascade one, and it is the basis of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor caution below.
N-methyltyramine
Phenethylamine (biogenic amine)Concentration: trace amine constituent; identified as an active rather than quantified as a marker
The second of the two amines identified as haemostatic principles of the herb acting via alpha1-adrenoceptor regulation.
Carbon dots from Cirsii Herba Carbonisata (Xiao Ji Tan)
Carbon nanoparticles formed on charringConcentration: water-soluble fraction of the aqueous extract of the charred drug
Charring the herb (the classical Xiao Ji Tan preparation used specifically to stop bleeding) generates water-soluble carbon dots that were themselves shown to have a marked haemostatic effect. This is a constituent of the processed drug only; it does not exist in raw Xiao Ji, and it is one of the few pieces of modern evidence that the charring step is doing something real.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Da Ji (Cirsium japonicum Fisch. ex DC.), substituted for or mixed with Xiao Ji
Cirsium japonicum and Cirsium setosum are morphologically very close and are recognised in the analytical literature as mutually susceptible to substitution; in Taiwanese herbal markets they are commonly sold mixed under the blanket name Da Xiao Ji, and Cirsium japonicum is reported as the most abundant substitute for Cirsium setosum. The chemistry is not interchangeable: in C. japonicum pectolinarin is the major flavonoid (0.32 to 2.00%), followed by linarin, hispidulin-7-neohesperidoside and luteolin, with total flavonoids of 0.81 to 3.67%, whereas in C. setosum only linarin is assignable, at 1.36 to 2.83%, with essentially no pectolinarin. Clinically the two are also not equivalent, C. japonicum being oriented to inflammation and C. setosum to haemostasis and to stranguria with blood.
Clinical note: Do not accept material labelled Da Xiao Ji. Require the binomial from the supplier; TLC or HPLC against a pectolinarin standard separates them (pectolinarin present means C. japonicum), and species-specific PCR with lateral flow and ITS-targeted isothermal amplification assays have both been published for market authentication.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (phenelzine, tranylcypromine, moclobemide, selegiline) and linezolid
Tyramine and N-methyltyramine have been identified as the haemostatic principles of Cirsium setosum, working through alpha1-adrenoceptors and enzyme-catalysed noradrenaline synthesis. Tyramine is the classical substrate whose accumulation under MAO inhibition produces the pressor reaction. The amount of tyramine delivered by a therapeutic decoction has not been quantified and no case of a reaction to this herb has been published, so the risk is inferred from the identified mechanism rather than observed.
Clinical note: Avoid Xiao Ji in patients on a non-selective MAO inhibitor or linezolid, or if it is unavoidable, use short courses and have the patient monitor blood pressure and report headache or palpitations.
Alpha1-adrenoceptor blockers (doxazosin, tamsulosin, prazosin) and other antihypertensives
The haemostatic mechanism established for this herb is regulation of alpha1-adrenoceptors by its tyramine and N-methyltyramine content, which is the receptor these drugs are prescribed to block. No interaction study exists; the opposition is read off the mechanism.
Clinical note: Recheck blood pressure or urinary symptoms after adding Xiao Ji to a stable regimen; the effect, if any, would be modest.
Warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs
Cirsium setosum extract, alone and combined with Cirsium japonicum, significantly shortened both coagulation time and bleeding time in rabbits compared with control, and the charred drug yields haemostatically active carbon dots. A herb that shortens clotting time is a plausible antagonist of anticoagulation, though there is no human study and no case report.
Clinical note: In a patient anticoagulated for thrombosis or atrial fibrillation, check INR after introducing Xiao Ji and prefer the raw over the charred form where the indication permits.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 5–12 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】5～12g。 【性味与归经】甘、苦，凉。归心、肝经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 3 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
1 verified · 2 unverified
Show 3 studies
- The hemostatic effect study of Cirsium setosum on regulating α1-ARs via mediating norepinephrine synthesis by enzyme catalysis
- Study on the Compositional Analysis, Extraction Process, and Hemostatic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Cirsium japonicum Fisch. ex DC.–Cirsium setosum (Willd.) MB Extracts
- Hemostatic effect of novel carbon dots derived from Cirsium setosum Carbonisata
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
The hemostatic effect study of Cirsium setosum on regulating α1-ARs via mediating norepinephrine synthesis by enzyme catalysis
The haemostatic effect of Cirsium setosum was traced to tyramine and N-methyltyramine acting through alpha1-adrenoceptors, with tyramine working by mediating noradrenaline synthesis via enzyme catalysis. This identifies the herb's blood-stopping action as sympathomimetic vasoconstriction rather than an effect on the clotting cascade, which is what makes the monoamine oxidase inhibitor caution relevant.
Study on the Compositional Analysis, Extraction Process, and Hemostatic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Cirsium japonicum Fisch. ex DC.–Cirsium setosum (Willd.) MB Extracts
UHPLC-MS profiling plus optimised extraction of Cirsium japonicum and Cirsium setosum, singly and combined. All extract groups significantly shortened coagulation time and bleeding time in rabbits and inhibited xylene-induced ear swelling and serum TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1beta. Linarin, acacetin, quercetin, pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin were identified as the principal haemostatic and anti-inflammatory components of the pair, with C. setosum the more haemostatic and C. japonicum the more anti-inflammatory member.
Hemostatic effect of novel carbon dots derived from Cirsium setosum Carbonisata
Water-soluble carbon dots were isolated from the aqueous extract of charred Cirsium setosum (Xiao Ji Tan) and shown to have a marked haemostatic effect, offering a mechanistic account of why the classical charring step is used specifically for bleeding. The finding applies to the processed drug, not to raw Xiao Ji.
Historical Texts
Ming Yi Bie Lu
Han to Six DynastiesBen Cao Jing Ji Zhu
Southern dynastiesYan Shi Ji Sheng Fang
Song dynastyReferences
- Markus Ganzera, Astrid Pöcher, Hermann Stuppner. Differentiation of Cirsium japonicum and C. setosum by TLC and HPLC-MS . Phytochemical Analysis (2005) [DOI]
- Liang-Hsuan Chien, Chia-Hsin Lin, Jia-An Ling, Shyang-Chwen Sheu, Chien-Ta Wu, Wan-Ru You, Mo-Rong Xu, Jai-Hong Cheng, Meng-Shiou Lee. Rapid authentication of the medicinal crop Cirsium setosum and discrimination from its adulterants in herbal markets via polymerase chain reaction integrated with a lateral flow assay (PCR-LFA) . Industrial Crops and Products (2025) [DOI]
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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