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Clears heat-toxin from the Heart and Stomach.
Slightly bitter, salty, and extremely cold in nature. Resolves heat-toxin in the Heart and Stomach.
Treats *Shanghan* (Cold Damage), epidemic febrile diseases with manic delirium due to heat, Yang-type toxic eruptions manifesting as macules (when heat is extreme and damages blood, interior excess with exterior deficiency leads to eruptions; mild cases resemble rashes, severe cases resemble brocade patterns. Purple-black color indicates extreme heat causing gastric necrosis, often fatal. *Huoren Shu*: Treats red macules with irritability and pain using Xijiao Daqing Tang), jaundice, dysentery with heat, erysipelas, and throat obstruction.
Grows everywhere. The plant is two or three chi tall, with a round stem and long leaves arranged oppositely at nodes. It bears clusters of small red flowers in the eighth month, and fruits the size of peppercorns, which are red. The stems and leaves are used medicinally.

Powerfully drains damp-heat from the Qi level.
Pungent, hot, and toxic; its nature is Fire, making it agile and penetrating. Enters the Lung Meridian, draining damp-heat from the Qi level (the Lung governs Qi; Fire can balance Metal and drain Lung heat). It reaches the Mingmen (Gate of Vitality) of the Right Kidney, travels through the spermatic channels, and unblocks stagnation in the Lower Jiao. It treats wind-obstipation and qi-obstipation of the Large Intestine, promotes urination and defecation, expels water and resolves phlegm, kills parasites, and induces abortion.
Treats edema, wheezing and fullness, and fixed masses (*Pi*). Contraindicated if damp-heat is in the Blood level, or in patients with weak Spleen/Stomach and Qi deficiency (Li Dongyuan stated: "It is wrong to say Qian Niu is bitter and cold; its taste is pungent and spicy, fierce and vigorous upon prolonged chewing, where does the bitterness and cold lie? It is a drug that drains Qi, even more so than other pungent drugs. If dampness enters from below, the Lower Jiao governs Blood, and dampness within Blood should be treated with bitter-cold flavors. Using pungent-hot drugs instead drains Upper Jiao Qi, treating a Blood disease by draining Qi, thereby damaging both Qi and Blood." Wang Haogu stated: "With Qi-class guiding herbs, it enters the Qi level; with Dahuang (Rhubarb Rhizome) as a guide, it enters the Blood level." Li Shizhen recorded: "A woman had intestinal constipation, nearly sixty years old. Taking blood-nourishing and moistening-drying herbs caused further stagnation; taking Xiaoshi (Niter) and Dahuang (Rhubarb Rhizome) had no effect. This persisted for over thirty years. Her body was obese, her diet rich and greasy, and she suffered from much stagnation, finding relief only after vomiting sour phlegm daily. This was stagnation of Qi in the Three Jiao, with ascending but no descending movement, causing fluids to transform into phlegm, unable to moisten the intestines downward; it was not dryness of Blood. Moistening agents remained stagnant; Xiaoshi and Dahuang enter Blood but not Qi, hence ineffective. Using Qian Niu powder made into pills with Zaojiao paste (Gleditsia Sinensis Fruit Paste) resulted in immediate passage. My nephew suffered from excessive alcohol and sexual indulgence, leading to blockage of urination and defecation, with distending pain and groaning for seven days and nights. Promoting drainage medicines were ineffective. I said this was damp-heat pathogen in the spermatic channel, blocking the tunnels, located between the two yin openings. Thus, urine was blocked anteriorly, stool posteriorly; the disease was not in the Large Intestine or Bladder. Using Lianshi (Melia Seed), Huixiang (Fennel Fructus), Chanshunjia (Pangolin Scale), and doubled Qian Niu, three doses resolved it." Li Dongyuan’s Tianzhen Dan, which tonifies Yang deficiency in the Lower Jiao, uses Qian Niu stir-fried with salt water until black, assisted by Chenxiang (Agarwood Wood), Duzhong (Eucommia Bark), Rougui (Cinnamon Bark), and Pugu Zhi (Cibotii Rhizoma), deeply embodying the subtlety of combining tonification and purgation).
There are black and white varieties; the black variety (also called Hei Chou) acts rapidly. Take the seeds, wash away floating ones, pound to remove skins, and use. It works well when combined with Muxiang (Aucklandiae Radix) and Ganjiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma) (This herb was not included in Materia Medica before the Han Dynasty, thus absent in Zhang Zhongjing’s formulas. It first appeared in *Bielu*, and came into widespread use after the Song Dynasty).