Quan Shen拳参
Rhizoma BistortaeBistort Rhizome
- Slightly toxic
Also known asRhizoma Polygoni Bistortae · Snakeweed Rhizome · Alpine Knotweed
- Category
- Herbs that Clear Heat and Relieve Toxicity
- Nature
- cool
- Taste
- bitter, astringent
- Channels entered
- Liver, Stomach, Large Intestine
- Secondary channels
- Spleen
- Dosage
- 4.5–18 g
Usual doses
- Dosage
- 4.5–18 g
- Cancers
- 15–30 g
- Tincture
- 2–5 ml
Actions & indications
- Clears Heat, resolves toxicity, reduces abscesses, resolves Phlegm and disperses clumps
- Swellings, abscesses, scrofula, hemorrhoids and febrile seizures
- Snakebite
- Cools the Blood and stops bleeding
- Heat leading to hematemesis, bleeding hemorrhoids or red dysenteric disorder
Contraindications
- Contraindicated in the absence of Excess Fire.
- Contraindicated for Yin-type sores.
Combinations
Sores and abscesses
Febrile seizures
Red-type dysenteric disorder
Notes
- It is commonly applied topically, either as a wash or a paste.
- It also calms fright and helps eliminate Dampness.
- It can treat muscular tetany.
- Quan Shen and Rz. Paridis Chong Lou both clear Heat and resolve toxicity, but Quan Shen is more specifically indicated for dysenteric disorders and enteritis from internal Heat, while Chong Lou is better suited to clearing the Lungs and draining Heat to treat sores, boils, and furuncles.