Mu Zei - 木賊 - Herba Equiseti Hiemalis

Pharmaceutical Latin:	Herba Equiseti Hiemalis
Common English:	Dutch Rushes Equisetium Horse Tail Scouring Rush Shave Grass

Category

Herbs that Release the Exterior: Cool, Acrid herbs that Release the Exterior (Wind-Heat Diaphoretics)

Properties

Taste	Temperature	Entering Meridians	Dosage
Sweet Bitter (Astringent)	Neutral (Cool)	Liver Lung Gallbladder	3-12g Tincture: 1-4ml 3-9g (Secondary source)

Actions And Indications

Actions	Indications/Syndromes
Disperses Wind-Heat, clears the eyes and eliminates superficial visual obstruction	Wind-Heat affecting the eyes with redness, pain, swelling, cloudiness, blurred vision, pterygium or excessive tearing, headaches Liver/Gallbladder channel Fire Liver Yin Deficiency haziness
Clears Heat and stops bleeding	Heat in the Blood causing hemafecia or hemorrhoids

Contraindications, Incompatibilities And Herb/Drug Interactions

Major Combinations

Flos Chrysanthemi Ju Hua	Rz. Atractylodis Cang Zhu	Fr. Tribuli Bai Ji Li
Swelling, pain and redness of the eyes Pterygium	Blurred vision and excessive tearing	Hives, itching, pterygium, and excessive tearing (Bai Ji Li is more effective at calming the Liver and removing obstruction while Mu Zei has a stronger dispersing action)
Flos Eriocauli Gu Jing Cao Concha Haliotidis Shi Jue Ming	Fr. Sophorae Huai Jiao Rx. Sanguisorbae Di Yu	Periostracum Cicadae Chan Tui Flos Eriocauli Gu Jing Cao Spica Prunellae Xia Ku Cao Fr. Tribuli Bai Ji Li
Red eyes	Bleeding hemorrhoids or hemafecia due to Heat in the Blood	External Wind-Heat or Liver Heat with red eyes, Excess tearing etc.
Faeces Vespertilionis Ye Ming Sha Rx. Angelicae Sinensis Dang Gui Periostracum Cicadae Chan Tui Goat Liver
Night blindness due to Liver Blood Deficiency

Notes

1. According to some sources, this herb has diuretic properties that treat Damp-Heat.
2. Some sources state that it treats haziness of vision due to Liver Yin Deficiency.
3. Other sources place this herb among the Heat Clearing herbs that benefit the eyes.
4. Western herbalism uses it for connective tissue weakness, toxicosis, and organic disease of the Kidney, Lung and bone.
5. The stems are rich in silica, so they are used as polishing tools and as reeds for wind instruments.
6. Because this herb accumulates gold from the soil, it serves as an indicator of the soil's gold content.
7. Unless an eye disorder is also present, it is seldom used in Wind-Heat formulas.
8. Provided they stem from Wind-Heat, this herb treats pain from bulging disorders, prolapsed rectum, bleeding hemorrhoids from Intestinal Wind, hemafecia and gynecological bleeding.
9. For bloody dysentery, it can be used on its own at a dosage of 15 to 30g.
10. Mu Zei resembles Hb. Ephedrae Ma Huang in form and nature, but unlike it, Mu Zei is not acrid and hot. It enters the Liver and Gallbladder channels, dispersing Wind-Heat from their Blood level and causing the Blood to rise to the eyes. Ma Huang focuses on opening the Wei Qi to induce copious sweating.
11. Mu Zei and Fr. Tribuli Bai Ji Li both dredge and disperse Wind-Heat, brighten the eyes and stop itching, and they can be combined for these conditions. Bai Ji Li calms and extinguishes Internal Wind and dredges the Liver to move stagnant Qi and Blood. Mu Zei releases the muscle layer, expels Wind-Dampness and is stronger at clearing superficial visual obstruction.