Aucklandia Root is the dried root of the plant Aucklandia Root from the Asteraceae family. It is mostly cultivated and primarily produced in Yunnan, Sichuan, and other regions. The original plant is cultivated in high-altitude areas ranging from 2500 to 4000 meters, but it can also grow in cool hills and plains. It prefers cool and moist climates, is cold and drought-resistant, but is sensitive to high temperatures and strong light. It has a pungent and bitter taste, and a warm nature. It belongs to the spleen, stomach, large intestine, triple energizer, and gallbladder meridians. Its effects include moving qi to relieve pain and invigorating the spleen to promote digestion. Clinical names include Aucklandia Root and roasted Aucklandia Root.
bubble_chart Compendium of Materia Medica
Shennong Bencao Jing: Pungent in taste, warm in nature. It treats pathogenic qi, wards off toxic epidemics and warm ghosts, strengthens the will, and treats urinary disorders. Long-term use prevents nightmares and restless sleep.
Mingyi Bielu: Warm, non-toxic. It treats weak qi, partial cold in the muscles, insufficient dominant qi, detoxifies, kills ghosts, spirits, warm malaria, parasitic toxins, and enhances the essence of medicine.
Yaoxing Lun: It is a sovereign herb. It treats women's blood and qi stabbing heart pain that is unbearable. When taken as a powder with wine, it treats nine types of heart pain, long-standing cold qi, abdominal masses, and distending pain, and expels various congestions of rising qi and restlessness. It treats cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, and heart and abdominal pestilent qi stabbing.
Rihuazi Bencao: It treats all types of qi in the heart and abdomen, stops diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, calms the fetus, invigorates the spleen and promotes digestion, treats emaciation and weakness, cold pain in the bladder, and vomiting and regurgitation.
Kaibao Bencao: Pungent in taste, warm, non-toxic. It treats weak qi, partial cold in the muscles, insufficient dominant qi, detoxifies, kills ghosts, spirits, warm malaria, parasitic toxins, and enhances the essence of medicine.Bencao Tujing: "Xu Chuanxin Fang records Zhongjing's slender dutchman's pipe root pill, which treats yang deficiency and various insufficiencies. It uses Kunlun slender dutchman's pipe root and six parts of Chebula Fruit peel, each twenty taels, pounded and sieved, mixed with sugar to form pills the size of a wutong seed. Take thirty pills on an empty stomach with wine, twice a day, for rapid effect. Zheng Fuma replaced sugar with white honey and added twelve taels of antelope horn, using a formula different from ancient prescriptions, yet attributing it to Zhongjing. It is unclear where this was derived from."
Bencao Yanyi: It specifically disperses stagnant and cold qi in the chest and abdomen, with other effects being secondary. When combined with tangerine peel, nutmeg, and fresh ginger rhizome, it is exceptionally effective and acts quickly.
"Medicinal Category and Imagery": It removes stagnant qi in the lungs. To treat qi stagnation in the middle and lower energizer, Areca Seed should be used as a guide.
"Medicinal Property Rhyme": Bitter and pungent in taste, slightly warm in qi, non-toxic. It rises and is yang within yin. It has two uses: it is indispensable for regulating qi and essential for dispersing lung qi.
Tangye Bencao: Hot in qi, pungent and bitter in taste, pure yang. The taste is stronger than the qi, yang within yin, non-toxic.
"Imagery": It removes stagnant qi in the lungs. To treat qi stagnation in the middle and lower energizer, Areca Seed should be used as a guide.
"Treasure": It treats stagnant middle qi in the abdomen and harmonizes stomach qi."Heart": It disperses stagnant qi and regulates all types of qi.
"Materia Medica": It treats pathogenic qi, wards off toxic epidemics and warm ghosts, strengthens the will, treats urinary disorders, weak qi, partial cold in the muscles, insufficient dominant qi, detoxifies, warm malaria, parasitic toxins, and enhances the essence of medicine.
Benjing: Dominant qi deficiency and insufficient qi are treated by tonifying; congested qi and all types of qi are treated by dispersing. Calming the fetus and strengthening the spleen and stomach are treated by tonifying; removing abdominal masses is treated by dispersing. How does this differ from the tonifying and dispersing in this section? Yi Lao considered it a qi-dispersing agent, not a tonifying one.
Bencao Yanyi Buyi: It moves liver qi and can be used when roasted with fire. It can strengthen the large intestine. Aucklandia Root specifically disperses stagnation in the chest and abdomen, with cold qi being secondary.
Bencao Fahui: Jiegu said: It removes stagnant qi in the lungs. To treat qi stagnation in the middle and lower energizer, Areca Seed should be used as a guide. "Secret of Treatment" states: Hot in qi, pungent and bitter in taste. Both qi and taste are strong, sinking and descending, yin in nature. Its use is solely to regulate qi. It also states: Pungent, pure yang to harmonize stomach qi.
Bencao Gangmu: Aucklandia Root is a medicine for the triple energizer qi aspect, capable of regulating the rise and fall of various qi. All qi rushing and oppression is ascribed to the lung. Therefore, it is used for upper energizer qi stagnation, as it is said that when metal is depressed, it should be vented. Middle qi not moving is all attributed to the spleen, hence middle energizer qi stagnation is suitable for it, as the spleen and stomach favor aromatic substances. Large intestine qi stagnation leads to heaviness in the lower body, bladder qi not transforming leads to dribbling urination, liver qi depression leads to pain, thus it is suitable for lower energizer qi stagnation, as it is said that when there is blockage, it should be unblocked.
Liqi should be used raw, while the large intestine should be roasted.Bencao Jingshu : It is pungent in taste, warm in nature, and non-toxic. It is born from the yang qi of summer and autumn, combined with the yang essence of the earth, hence it is non-toxic. Its nature is purely yang, thus it primarily dispels pathogenic qi and wards off toxic epidemics and warm ghosts. Yang governs the development of Pure Brightness (the 5th solar term), hence it strengthens the will and prevents nightmares and restless sleep. The essence of its medicinal action lies in the vigorous function of exuberant yang qi.
Bencao Mengquan : It is sweet and bitter in taste, warm in qi. The taste is stronger than the qi, descending in nature, and is yang within yin. It is non-toxic. When combined in pills or powders, it should be dried in the sun; when decocted in hot water, the powder should be added before consumption. It can supplement deficient qi and relieve qi stagnation and obstruction. It harmonizes stomach qi remarkably and swiftly moves liver qi. It disperses stagnant qi in the upper chest and diaphragm, and breaks up accumulated qi in the lower energizer. It alleviates nine types of heart pain and expels long-standing cold qi. The adjuvants and assistants in the formula vary. Areca Seed is used to break qi, while ginger and tangerine peel are used to harmonize the stomach. It stops cholera, vomiting, and regurgitation; removes abdominal masses and distension; calms the fetus and strengthens the spleen; disperses abscesses and toxins. Combined with Coptis Rhizome, it treats damp-heat dysentery; when roasted, it is used for the large intestine. It wards off pestilence and protects against fog, dew, and miasma. Yi Lao said: It is generally considered a qi-regulating agent and should not be taken for a long time.
Mo's note: Wang Haizang said Benjing : It dominates qi and supplements deficient qi. Yaoxing Lun : It calms the fetus and strengthens the spleen, thus it is a supplement. The "Yanyi" says: It purges chest and abdominal obstructions and long-standing cold qi. The "Rihuazi" says: It removes abdominal masses and lumps, thus it is a purgative. Yi Lao generally calls it a qi-regulating agent, without mentioning supplementation or purgation. Why do these explanations differ? It is likely that when used with tonics, it supplements; when used with purgatives, it purges, hence the varied descriptions.
The "Materia Medica Chenya": Above, it corresponds to the wood phase, fully embodying the spring's dispersion. Aucklandia Root is a fragrant herb. Named as wood, it should enter the liver, hence its color, aroma, taste, and properties all correspond to the wood phase. It also enters the spleen, hence its roots, branches, nodes, and leaves each correspond to the earth phase. Entering the spleen, it disperses earth stagnation; entering the liver, it resolves wood stagnation. The classics say: When wood is stagnant, disperse it; when earth is stagnant, purge it. Purging earth is to disperse wood; dispersing wood is to purge earth. Earth uses wood, and wood is based on earth. Pathogenic qi, toxic epidemics, warm ghosts, dampness, nightmares, and restless sleep, all causing earth and wood stagnation, can be resolved and purged. Strengthening the will means strengthening the functions of wood and earth, allowing them to fulfill their purposes.
The "Medicinal Property Explanation": It is bitter and pungent in taste, slightly warm in nature, non-toxic, and enters the heart, lung, liver, spleen, stomach, and bladder meridians. It primarily treats all types of qi in the heart and abdomen, abdominal masses, nine types of heart pain, stops diarrhea and dysentery, eliminates cholera, strengthens the spleen and stomach, resolves food stagnation, calms vomiting and regurgitation, dispels phlegm obstruction, wards off pathogenic qi and pestilence, and kills malaria parasites and spiritual entities. Those shaped like dry bones, with a bitter taste that sticks to the teeth, are of good quality.
Note: Aucklandia Root is pungent and enters the lung, bitter and enters the heart, warm and benefits the spleen and stomach. The liver is the mother of the heart, and the bladder is connected to the lung, hence it enters these meridians. The heart governs the entire body, commanding qi and blood. When the heart is in control, it can block qi; when lung qi is regulated, metal can control wood, and liver fire naturally subsides. When a person is angry, liver qi rebels and counteracts the original qi. If the heart indulges the liver and cannot control it, liver qi becomes excessive, leading to rebellion or aggression. With Aucklandia Root, heart qi flows smoothly and healthy qi also flows smoothly. How can liver qi rebel? It is the heart acting on the liver, not the liver acting on itself. Dong Heng used Coptis Rhizome to control it, fearing that its qi-moving action might be too free, leading to leakage.
Yaojian : Its qi is hot, taste is bitter and pungent, both qi and taste are strong, and it is descending in nature. Bitter enters the heart, pungent enters the lung, hence it enters the heart and regulates various qi. It should be used for chest and abdominal obstructions, cold qi, and phlegm stagnation in the meridians and middle qi. The "Supplement" considers it a liver qi-moving agent. Why? Because the heart governs the entire body, commanding qi and blood. When the heart is in control, it can lead qi. When lung qi is regulated, liver fire naturally subsides. When a person is angry, liver qi rebels and counteracts the qi. If the heart indulges the liver and cannot control it, liver qi becomes excessive, leading to stagnation or aggression. With Aucklandia Root's bitter, pungent, and warm dispersing action entering the heart, heart qi flows smoothly, and qi also flows smoothly. When qi flows smoothly, liver qi's rebellion ceases. It is the heart acting on the liver, not the liver acting on itself. This must be understood. When roasted, it enters the large intestine; in large doses, it purges lung qi. Dong Heng used Coptis Rhizome to control it, fearing that its qi-moving action might be too free, leading to leakage. It is most effective in descending qi and relieving pain. For those with smallpox and excess heat, it should be strictly avoided.
Jingyue Quanshu: Bitter and pungent in taste, warm in nature. Both the aroma and flavor are strong, capable of ascending and descending, with yang containing yin. It effectively disperses stagnant liver and spleen lung qi, quickly relieves pain in the heart, abdomen, and rib-side qi. It harmonizes stomach qi, stops vomiting, diarrhea, and cholera; disperses cold qi, relieves distension, pain, and hiccups. For treating heat dysentery, it can be used with Scutellaria and Coptis; for consolidating large intestine fire, it is used in roasted form. By regulating qi, abdominal mass disease and adverse rising qi are naturally eliminated; by adjusting qi, it is also used for calming the fetus and regulating menstruation. It also treats pestilence and warm malaria, kills worms, toxins, and evil spirits. For diseases of lower energizer qi counterflow, it can reduce urination, relieve constipation, stop qi counterflow-induced bleeding, and dissipate qi counterflow-induced abscesses and swellings.
Bencao Beiyao: Xuan, moving qi.
Pungent, bitter, and warm. A medicine for the triple energizer qi aspect, it can regulate the ascent and descent of various qi, discharge lung qi, soothe liver qi, and harmonize spleen qi. When anger causes liver qi to rise, regulating lung qi allows metal to control wood, thus pacifying the liver and preventing wood from overacting on earth, thereby harmonizing the spleen. It treats all types of qi pain, nine kinds of heart pain, all related to the stomach cavity, including: cold pain, heat, qi pain, blood pain, damp pain, phlegm pain, food pain, worm pain, and palpitation pain. The heart is not easily affected by pathogens; real heart pain is characterized by cold hands and feet extending beyond the wrist joints, with symptoms appearing in the morning and death by evening. It also treats vomiting, regurgitation, cholera, diarrhea with tenesmus, used together with Areca Seed. Liu Hejian said: For dysentery with blood, pus and blood will heal on their own; regulating qi will naturally relieve tenesmus. It also treats ischuria, phlegm congestion and qi stagnation, abdominal masses, toxic swellings, parasitic toxins, diseases of the Chong vessel, qi counterflow with rectal urgency, kills ghosts, wards off miasma, eliminates underarm odor, strengthens the large intestine, aids digestion, and calms the fetus. Qi counterflow can disturb the fetus. Overuse damages vital qi. Zhu Danxi said: Pungent in taste and ascending in nature, if yin fire rises, it may exacerbate fire pathogens; in such cases, use Phelloendron Bark and Anemarrhena, with a small amount of Aucklandia Root as an adjuvant. Wang Haogu said: In the Materia Medica, dominant qi with insufficient inferior qi is treated by tonifying; relieving congestion and guiding qi is treated by breaking; calming the fetus and strengthening the spleen and stomach is treated by tonifying; eliminating phlegm and masses is treated by breaking. The applications vary greatly. Wang Ji said: When used as an adjuvant with tonics, it tonifies; when used as the main ingredient with purgatives, it purges. Li Shizhen said: All types of qi congestion and depression belong to the lung; for upper energizer qi stagnation, it is used to discharge metal depression. Middle qi stagnation belongs to the spleen; for middle energizer qi stagnation, it is used because the spleen and stomach favor aromatic substances. Large intestine qi stagnation causes tenesmus; bladder qi stagnation causes ischuria; liver qi depression causes pain; for lower energizer qi stagnation, it is used to unblock obstructions.
Benjing Fengyuan: Pungent, bitter, warm, non-toxic. Used raw to regulate qi, roasted to stop diarrhea.
Aucklandia Root has a strong, fragrant aroma and a thick taste, not only sinking and descending but also regulating the stomach to lower qi stagnation. It is a medicine for the triple energizer qi aspect, also entering the lung, spleen, and liver meridians, capable of regulating the ascent and descent of various qi. Therefore, it is suitable for upper energizer qi stagnation and depression, as it discharges metal depression. However, although it enters the lung, it is not suitable for lung dryness with rising qi. It is suitable for middle energizer qi stagnation because the spleen and stomach favor aromatic substances. It is suitable for lower energizer qi stagnation with tenesmus, as it unblocks obstructions. For treating middle abdominal qi stagnation and heart and abdominal pain, use Areca Seed as an adjuvant to disperse the pain by lowering qi. Benjing Wards off epidemic toxin pathogenic qi, strengthens the will, treats strangury and dripping, as its pungent and drying nature aids yang and effectively opens the hidden pathogens in the yin meridians. "Da Ming" treats all types of qi in the heart and abdomen, cold pain in the bladder, vomiting, regurgitation, cholera, diarrhea, invigorates the spleen and promotes digestion, calms the fetus. Zhen Quan treats nine kinds of heart pain, long-standing cold qi abdominal masses, lumps and distending pain, rising qi congestion, restlessness and emaciation, and unbearable blood and qi stabbing pain in women. However, its fragrant and drying nature is biased towards yang; it should not be used for lung deficiency with heat, blood dryness, or yin fire rising.
Bencao Chongyuan: Aucklandia Root has a fragrant odor, its number is five, its nature is pungent and warm, reaching up to the nine heavens, embodying the qi transformation of the hand and foot Taiyin of heaven and earth, governing the interaction of heaven and earth qi, connecting above and below. It treats pathogenic qi, as earth qi disperses in all directions. It wards off toxic epidemics and warm ghosts, as heaven qi is bright. It strengthens the will, as heaven generates water, and water generation strengthens the kidney's will. It treats strangury and dripping, as earth qi rises, and rising qi causes dripping to descend. The interaction of heaven and earth harmonizes yin and yang, facilitating opening and closing, thus long-term use prevents nightmares and sleep disturbances. Nightmares are dreams during wakefulness; sleep disturbances are nightmares during sleep.
Bencao Qiuzhen: [Comment] Soothing the liver, awakening the spleen, regulating stagnation, and harmonizing the stomach.
Aucklandia Root specifically enters the liver and spleen. It has a pungent and bitter taste, lowers qi, and relaxes the middle, making it an essential herb for the qi aspect of the triple energizer. However, within the triple energizer, the middle is the most crucial. Therefore, for conditions such as deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach causing stagnation with symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, and food stagnation, or deficiency-cold of the liver leading to qi depression and qi counterflow, taking this herb with its pungent aroma and bitter taste can lower qi and relax the middle. When the middle is relaxed, the upper and lower parts of the body become unobstructed, which is why it is known as a key remedy for dispersing stagnation in the triple energizer. Zongshi said: Aucklandia Root specifically disperses and quickly relieves stagnant cold qi in the chest and abdomen, while other effects are secondary. It works exceptionally well when combined with tangerine peel, nutmeg, and fresh ginger rhizome, and its effects are even faster. Haogu said: Materia medica states that it generates qi poorly, indicating a deficiency, hence it is used for tonification. It also unblocks stagnation, guides all types of qi, and breaks through obstructions, which is its dispersing function. It calms the fetus, strengthens the spleen and stomach, which is its tonifying function. It removes abdominal masses and lumps, which is its dispersing function. Its effects vary in this way. Zhang Jiegu only mentioned its ability to regulate qi, not its tonifying properties. As for the claim that it can both ascend and descend, disperse and tonify, it does not mean that its ascending action is like that of Bupleurum or its descending action is like Aquilaria. Rather, it is because when qi depression prevents ascent, this herb can help qi rise. Moreover, since it is more bitter than pungent, its descending action is more pronounced than its ascending action. It can disperse effectively, but its tonifying action is insufficient. Without careful consideration, indiscriminate use based on written claims is inappropriate.
Depei Bencao: Pungent, bitter, warm. Enters the triple energizer qi aspect. Regulates the qi of the upper and lower body. Stops nine types of heart pain, expels cold qi, resolves food accumulation, treats cholera vomiting and diarrhea, breaks abdominal masses and lumps, relieves dysentery with tenesmus, strengthens the spleen, and calms the fetus. When used with dispersing herbs, it purges; when used with tonifying herbs, it tonifies. It is especially suitable for promoting the eruption of pox.
Combined with Floweringquince Fruit, it treats cholera with muscle cramps and abdominal pain; combined with Skullcap Root and Sichuan Coptis, it treats damp-heat dysentery; combined with Phellodendron Bark and Stephania Tetrandra, it treats swelling and pain of beriberi. Paired with fried ginger, it treats cold stagnation; paired with Submature Bitter Orange and Liquorice Root, it treats swelling or painful retraction of a child's penis; paired with myrrh, it treats turbid urine, but should not be used if turbidity is due to pathogenic heat. Paired with waxgourd seed, it treats closed eyes and inability to speak, indicating middle qi blockage. Assisted by ginger and cinnamon, it harmonizes the spleen and stomach; combined with Chinese Honeylocust Fruit, it treats heart pain; combined with Areca Seed, it treats middle qi stagnation.
To regulate qi, use it raw without heating; to strengthen the intestines, wrap it in dough and roast it. For phlegm qi, use deer juice; for dysentery, prepare it with Sichuan Coptis; for warming and tonifying qi, decoct it with other herbs.
zang-fu organs with dryness-heat, stomach qi deficiency, yin deficiency, and qi collapse should avoid it.
When qi stagnates upward and fire stagnates in the middle, the spleen qi becomes sluggish. Aucklandia Root breaks stagnation and awakens the spleen, allowing the spleen to nourish the heart and disperse essence to the liver, harmonizing qi and blood, thus resolving liver and spleen disorders. However, modern people often have deficient qi and insufficient blood. Using fragrant dispersing herbs may deplete qi and dry blood, leading to further stagnation. It is better to focus on tonifying qi and enriching yin, assisted by Aucklandia Root, to internally regulate qi and blood for optimal results.
Bencao Jing Jie: Aucklandia Root, with the qi of spring wood, enters the foot Jueyin liver channel; its pungent, non-toxic, and fragrant-dry nature aligns with the earth's dry metal, entering the foot Yangming stomach channel. Its qi and flavor are both ascending, making it yang in nature.
Its pungent warmth benefits the stomach, where stomach yang prevails, eliminating yin pathogens, evil toxins, and ghostly qi, thus treating pathogenic qi, epidemics, and ghostly influences. Pungent and moistening, it benefits the Yangming, which strengthens willpower. Dribbling urination indicates deficient yang qi sinking; its pungent warmth replenishes stomach yang, stopping dribbling urination.
Long-term use leads to excessive yang, preventing yang from returning to yin, resulting in dreamless sleep. During Pure Brightness (5th solar term), yang qi is clear, and yin qi is hidden, preventing nightmares.
Shennong Bencao Jing Bai Zhong Lu: Pungent in flavor. Treats pathogenic qi, wards off toxic epidemics and ghostly influences, with an extremely strong fragrance that dispels evil and inauspiciousness. Strengthens willpower, as its fragrance connects to the heart, treating dribbling urination. The heart and small intestine are internally-externally related; when heart qi descends to the small intestine, bowel movements are regulated. Long-term use prevents dreams and nightmares, as heart qi flows smoothly, stabilizing the spirit.
Aucklandia Root excels in qi, so its effects are all related to qi. Neijing states: The heart governs smell. All herbs with strong qi enter the heart. Aucklandia Root, fragrant yet not dispersing, allows qi to descend, thus also regulating qi in the small intestine.
Benjing Shuzheng: The meaning of strengthening the will is evident in Milkwort Root and Aucklandia Root. The temperature and taste are pungent and bitter, with a fragrant and rich aroma. It is suitable for those with a strong and dispersing nature. Could it also concentrate the spirit in the essence and draw yang into yin? The analogy of a lamp and candle lies in Milkwort Root, originally compared to a wick that removes nebula and absorbs ointment, achieving great merit. However, if there is an issue within the ointment, can it not make the lamp dim? Even if there is an issue within the ointment, such as thick and turbid dregs, it is still not something Aucklandia Root can handle. Once the lamp is lit, moths and green insects are scorched, soaked in the ointment and though they emerge, they are neither dead nor alive, writhing and squirming. The ointment shakes, and the lamp becomes dim. Only a strong force can pick and remove them, which is what Aucklandia Root does to strengthen the will. The primary function of Aucklandia Root is to target pathogenic qi, indicating it is not inherent in the ointment. Terms like poison and ghost are yin in nature and must attach to yin. However, poison referred to as epidemic, and ghost as warm, are not unlike minor creatures that, although they come out at night, can fly. Thus, Aucklandia Root treats the harsh yin qi, which instead receives substance from yang, is good at flying and attaching to the yin of the human body, then guides and expels it through yang to complete its spirit, not shaken by the essence, and yang naturally gathers in yang without being consumed. The merit of yin is its ability to enter yin, as it resembles dry bones, and to remove the guest yang within yin that causes burden, due to its warm temperature and pungent taste. It does not consume yin because its texture sticks to the teeth. Therefore, those with dripping dew have fire in water, causing the water flow to be sluggish. Those who have nightmares and disturbed sleep have their spirit returning to the yin aspect, disturbed by heat, all are diseases of yin not being tranquil and yang not being stable, vastly different from Milkwort Root's ability to return yang to yin without yin being burdened by nebula. As for the additional treatments mentioned in Bielu, such as insufficient dominant qi leading to the lurking of poison, ghost, and warm evils in yin, and poor qi circulation preventing yang from being biased outward, all are annotations to Benjing and expanded explanations, with the phrase about the essence of the medicine being unique, not commonly found in other flavors. There are many medicines that act on yang or yin, but those that act on yang within yin or yin within yang are fewer. This not only acts on yang within yin but also on yin within yin, the subtlety of the medicine, making it compatible with yang to achieve transformation and nurturing, is also due to its pungent taste within bitterness, and its texture sticking to the teeth but not the tongue, unlike Fossil Bone which sticks to the tongue but not the teeth. By its ability to draw fire into earth, we know this draws fire into water, still enabling interaction with fire.
Bencao Xinbian: Aucklandia Root, sweet and bitter in taste, warm in nature, descending, yang within yin. Non-toxic. It can invigorate the spirit, harmonize stomach qi, promote liver qi, disperse stagnant qi, break up knotted qi, relieve heart pain, expel cold qi, calm cholera vomiting and diarrhea, regurgitation, remove abdominal masses, distension and fullness, calm the fetus, disperse toxins, essential for treating dysentery, and also ward off epidemic and miasmic qi. However, although this substance is essential, it should only be used in small amounts as an adjuvant, to promote qi movement and then stop, and should not be considered as a qi tonic and used heavily. Generally, use Aucklandia Root from one to two fen, up to one qian, and never exceed one qian, as too much will be ineffective, neither supplementing nor purging when used as an adjuvant.
Some may ask why Aucklandia Root is preferred over slender dutchman's pipe root for treating dysentery, since both are antidiarrheal drugs. The reason is that Aucklandia Root is warm in nature, while slender dutchman's pipe root is cold. Dysentery is caused by dampness-heat, and slender dutchman's pipe root, being cold, seems suitable for removing heat, but I firmly exclude it because it disperses qi, which, although beneficial for dysentery, ultimately harms qi. Aucklandia Root, on the other hand, is warm and not cold, can descend qi without dispersing it, and its fragrance first enters the spleen, pleasing it, thus regulating spleen qi and naturally expelling impurities, a non-aggressive approach that is actually very effective. This is why slender dutchman's pipe root is excluded and Aucklandia Root is chosen. Aucklandia Root, being a qi-aspect drug, can also resuscitate. Qi-aspect drugs differ from blood-aspect drugs in that qi only needs to be guided to flow, without the need for a large group to act together; blood drugs, being heavy and greasy in nature, require a large amount to be effective.
Bencao Fenjing: Pungent, bitter, warm. A triple energizer qi-aspect drug. Can regulate the ascent and descent of various qi, vent lung qi, soothe liver qi, and harmonize spleen qi. Treats arterial diseases and all qi-related heart pains. Its fragrant and dry nature may stir fire pathogens.
Bencao Sibianlu: Aucklandia Root is mostly used for regulating qi, but its pungent, warm, and thick nature may be somewhat heavy and turbid, sticky and bitter, with little dispersing power, so it is most suitable for syndromes of yang hidden within yin, such as those described in Benjing as toxic epidemics and warm ghosts. Otherwise, for all purely cold and heatless qi stagnation syndromes, it can be used with Fresh Ginger Rhizome and tangerine peel to achieve special effects. Some have used Aucklandia and Coptis Pill to treat dysentery and caused harm, which is not the fault of Aucklandia Root but of those who used it.
Aucklandia Root is not a blood drug, but sometimes blood also benefits from it, as seen in Returning to Spleen Decoction. The syndrome of Returning to Spleen Decoction is spleen qi deficiency and cold, unable to control blood. The formula contains many drugs for the heart, liver, and spleen, but only three substances lead the entire formula. Milkwort Root awakens the yang of the heart, jujube seed astringes the yin of the liver, serving as the vanguard for blood, but if it leads to the spleen and the spleen remains closed, it will just linger outside the door. Aucklandia Root can promote yang within the spleen, and once yang moves, it harmonizes warmly, and blood returns to its channel, making Aucklandia Root the key to opening the spleen. Its ability to warm qi to nourish blood is thus demonstrated.
bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology
- The volatile oil without lactones, dihydroAucklandia lactone, and total lactones of Aucklandia Root can significantly inhibit the tension of small intestine movement in dogs.
- The total lactones, Aucklandia lactone, dihydroAucklandia lactone volatile oil of Aucklandia Root have a protective effect on animals exposed to lethal doses of histamine or acetylcholine aerosol.
- Small doses of water and alcohol extracts of Aucklandia Root can excite the hearts of frogs and dogs; large doses show inhibitory effects, and Aucklandia alkaloids can also excite the hearts of cats. Volatile oil without lactones, total lactones, 12-methoxydihydroAucklandia lactone, and small doses of total alkaloids can all dilate blood vessels and increase blood flow. Water and alcohol extracts of Aucklandia Root cause a grade I increase in blood pressure, while volatile oil without lactones, total lactones, Aucklandia lactone, deoxyAucklandia lactone, and 12-methoxydioxyAucklandia lactone cause a grade II decrease in blood pressure.