Hu Huang Lian - 胡黃連 - Rhizoma Picrorhizae

Pharmaceutical Latin:	Rhizoma Picrorhizae
Common English:	Figwort Flower Rhizome Picrorhiza Rhizome

Category

Herbs that Clear Heat and Purge Fire: Herbs that Clear Deficiency Heat

Properties

Taste	Temperature	Entering Meridians	Dosage
Bitter	Cold	Liver Stomach Large Intestine Heart Liver, Stomach, Large Intestine (Secondary source)	1.5-10g Tincture: 1-4ml

Actions And Indications

Actions	Indications/Syndromes
Clears Deficiency Heat	Yin Deficiency with Heat signs
Clears Heat and reduces childhood nutritional impairment	Childhood nutritional impairment with abdominal distention, afternoon fevers, hemorrhoids and dysenteric diarrhea
Drains Damp-Heat	Damp-Heat dysenteric disorder or sores

Contraindications, Incompatibilities And Herb/Drug Interactions

Major Combinations

Cx. Lycii Di Gu Pi Rz. Anemarrhenae Zhi Mu (Rx. Stellariae) (Yin Chai Hu)	Rx. Stellariae Yin Chai Hu	Rz. Atractylodis Macrocephalae Bai Zhu Fr. Crataegi Shan Zha Fr. Quisqualis Shi Jun Zi
Yin Deficient Heat with recurring afternoon fevers from steaming bone disorder or fever associated with childhood nutritional impairment	Heat and night sweats associated with childhood nutritional impairment Alternating fever and chills or Heat at night followed by morning chills	Childhood nutritional impairment with abdominal distention, fever and anorexia
Rz. Zingiberis Gan Jiang	Fr. Mume Wu Mei Terra Flava Usta Zao Xin Tu	Goose Gall Bladder
Chronic diarrhea or dysenteric disorders with hemafecia	Incessant, bloody dysentery	Hemorrhoids

Notes

1. This herb is regarded as pure Yin. It clears both Excess and Deficiency Heat, cools the Blood and dries Dampness, and is especially indicated for cooling steaming bones and reducing childhood nutritional impairment.
2. It relieves childhood nutritional impairment and is best suited to cases with abdominal distention, afternoon fevers and dysenteric diarrhea.
3. According to some sources, it is an herb that clears Damp-Heat.
4. Though used in China for many centuries, this herb has always been imported, and still is, from India, Nepal, Indonesia and Tibet.
5. Hu means foreign country, implying Iran, and Huang Lian means Coptis, so the name means Coptis from a foreign country.
6. It is commonly used for red, flushed eyes.
7. It treats Heat from Excess or from Yin Deficiency, yet it does not actually tonify Yin.
8. Because it is listed under the Endangered Species Act, a permit is needed to export it from and import it into China, and it may be hard to obtain.
9. Hepatitis is another of its uses.
10. According to some sources, this herb kills parasites.
11. Hu Huang Lian and Rz. Coptidis Huang Lian are both regarded as pure Yin. Both cool Heat, drain Fire, dry Dampness and cool the Blood. Hu Huang Lian is more intensely bitter and cold, heavier and black, and is able to direct downward rapidly. It clears and guides out Damp-Heat in the Lower Jiao. It can lead directly to the site of illness when accumulated Dampness and Fire produce hot dysenteric disorder, anal prolapse, bleeding hemorrhoids, bleeding dysenteric disorders, painful, bloody urinary dysfunction, turbid Blood and syphilitic sores. It is used for Excess disorders associated with childhood nutritional impairment.
12. Hu Huang Lian and Rx. Stellariae Yin Chai Hu act similarly, but Hu Huang Lian is the stronger of the two.
13. Compared with Huang Lian (Coptidis Rhizoma), which clears Excess Heat, Hu Huang Lian is used for Deficiency Heat.