Ban Zhi Lian - 半枝莲 - Herba Scutellariae Barbatae

Pharmaceutical Latin:	Herba Scutellariae Barbatae
Common English:	Barbat Skullcap Barbed Skullcap Root Bearded Scutellaria

Category

Herbs that Clear Heat and Purge Fire: Herbs that Clear Heat and Detoxify; Target Warm and Heat Disease

Properties

Taste	Temperature	Entering Meridians	Dosage
Acrid Slightly Bitter (Bitter)	Cool (Cold) (Neutral)	Liver Lung Stomach (Large Intestine) (Kidney) (Heart)	9-30g Cancers: up to 60g Tincture: 2-5ml

Actions And Indications

Actions	Indications/Syndromes
Clears Heat, Invigorates the Blood, Reduces swellings, Resolves Fire toxins	Furuncles, sores and abscesses (Chuang Yung), appendicitis, pulmonary abscess Snakebite Swellings due to trauma
Treats various types of cancer and hepatitis	Cancer and hepatitis
Promotes urination and reduces edema	Edema due to Damp-Heat Ascites from cirrhosis
Mildly dispels Blood Stasis and stops bleeding	Bleeding from trauma, hematemesis, epistaxis, and painful bloody urinary dysfunction

Contraindications, Incompatibilities And Herb/Drug Interactions

Major Combinations

Flos Chrysanthemi Indici Ye Ju Hua Hb. Violae Zi Hua Di Ding	Carapax Trionycis Bie Jia Rx. Salviae Miltiorrhizae Dan Shen Rx. Paeoniae Alba Bai Shao	Hb. Hedyotis Diffusae Bai Hua She She Cao Fr. Akebiae Ba Yue Zha
Furuncles.	Liver cancer.	Cancers of the digestive tract.
Rz. Alismatis Ze Xie Hb. Lobeliae Ban Bian Lian Stigma Maydis Yu Mi Xu	Fr. Gardeniae Zhi Zi Cx. Phellodendri Huang Bai Hb. Artemisiae Scopariae Yin Chen Hao	Hb. Houttuyniae Yu Xing Cao
Edema.	Damp-Heat jaundice.	Lung abscesses.
Hb. Hedyotis Diffusae Bai Hua She She Cao
Cancer.

Notes

1. Some sources place this herb in the Anti-Cancer category.
2. Its main uses are toxic sore throat and cancers.
3. This herb cools Heat, resolves toxicity, expels Wind, disperses Blood, promotes the movement of Qi, facilitates water, unblocks the collaterals, breaks up Stasis and alleviates pain. Internally it treats Blood Lin syndrome, hematemesis and epistaxis; topically it treats poisonous snakebite, boils, abscesses, deep-set noxious sores and toxic swellings.
4. Ban Zhi Lian and Hb. Andrographitis Chuan Xin Lian both clear Heat, resolve toxicity, reduce swelling and alleviate pain. Ban Zhi Lian is cold, bitter and acrid, and is superior at eliminating Stagnation, reducing swelling and alleviating pain; it is used for Lung, Stomach and Intestinal abscesses (cancers included) and for Blood Stasis from trauma. Chuan Xin Lian is cold and bitter and is superior at clearing Heat and resolving toxicity. It also cools Blood Heat and reduces swelling, and it is far more bitter than Ban Zhi Lian.
5. It ranks among the most commonly used anti-cancer herbs.
6. It is used for cancer of the esophagus, Stomach and uterus.
7. The juice is applied topically.