Sweet and cold in nature, enters the Stomach, treats internal heat with vexation and thirst, promotes urination, relieves asthma, and treats jaundice.
Remove the head and claws, soak in water overnight, slice and dry in the sun. Treats toothache, Toufeng (head wind), and unblocks Ding (carbuncle) orifices.
Soak in water to remove dust, slice and stir-fry, dissipates abscesses and erodes pus, treats Toufeng and Zhongfeng (wind-stroke), and resolves arsenic poison.
Those without excessive oil are preferred; avoid using alone. Governs Qi and Blood of the whole body, opens depression and removes blood stasis, regulates menstruation and aids conception, expels pus and generates flesh, treats Toufeng and excessive tearing/nasal discharge, and removes dampness.
Steamed with wine, it is a crucial herb for postpartum conditions, treats bone-steaming fever, when wrapped and baked熟 (cooked thoroughly), it consolidates the Large Intestine.
Treats swelling and toxins, removes evil qi, stops cholera, warms the Middle Jiao, moves Qi and stops vomiting/nausea.
Treats carbuncles and Ding sores, unblocks the nine orifices, benefits joints, breaks old blood stasis, generates flesh, and benefits the Small Intestine.
Disperses wind-heat, clears wind from the head and eyes, benefits the throat, treats sores and Zeifeng (rogue wind).
Treats Zeifeng, induces sweating, benefits the throat and teeth/gums, treats Luoli (scrofula) and tubercles.
Leaves induce sweating, stems calm the fetus, seeds resolve phlegm and asthma; leaves and stems ground into powder treat scrotal prolapse.
Treats wind-heat in the eyes; stems, branches, and leaves resolve carbuncle/Ding toxicity; decoction washed externally treats knotted toxins.
Using rice flour paste and drying thoroughly, pounding to remove powder and leaf debris yields white fluff, called Shu Ai (processed Mugwort). For regulating menstruation, add a little Sulfur. Made into pills, moxibustion treats hundred diseases.
Treats jaundice due to damp-heat, unblocks joints, removes stagnant heat, promotes urination.
Nature is cold; used to treat Luoli (scrofula), it has never been effective, and long-term use leads to consumption/lao disease.
Promotes urination, clears Heart fire. Take a segment of living bamboo, retain nodes at both ends, open an eye in the middle, stuff firmly with Zhu Xin (bamboo pith), cover the opening with the original carved bamboo piece, wrap externally with mud, and bake in chaff fire until the bamboo becomes charcoal. Remove mud, wait for cooling, discard bamboo charcoal, leaving behind Dengxin Tan (Juncus Charcoal). Treats fishbone stuck in the throat, applies to Yin gan (ulcers of the genitalia), added to Huxin San (Heart-Protecting Powder).
Root: decocted in water and taken orally, can cure leukorrhea. Flower: one liang pounded, mixed with five fen of Moschus, decocted in one large bowl of water, can cure urinary and fecal retention; if flowers are unavailable, roots may be used. Seed: induces labor and aborts fetus. Flower powder: taken with wine, facilitates delivery in transverse or breech presentations.
Select plump ones, soak thoroughly in ginger and alum soup, boil thoroughly, slice and dry in the sun, resolves phlegm and induces abortion; raw ground fine powder immediately stops bleeding from knife or axe wounds.