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(Bai Tou Weng) is most effective when processed with wine.
It tastes sweet, bitter, and pungent; it is warm in nature and slightly toxic. It treats warm malaria (Wen Nue), heals metal weapon injuries (Jin Chuang), stops epistaxis (nosebleed), and relieves abdominal pain. It dissipates mass formations (Zheng Jia) and accumulations, and reduces goiters (Ying Liu) and scrofula (Luo Li).
It is a key herb for treating dysentery caused by toxins and bloody dysentery, and a miraculous remedy for hernia (Pian Zhui) and alopecia areata (Tu Chuang). It is especially suitable for heat-toxin dysentery where purple or black blood is discharged.
It grows everywhere. In early spring, it grows in dense clumps. The leaves emerge at the stem tips, resembling apricot leaves, covered with fine white hairs but not smooth or glossy. Near the root, there is white down; the root is purplish and deep, similar to Vitex rotundifolia (Man Jing). Its seedlings remain still when there is wind but sway spontaneously when there is no wind, similar to Tian Ma (Chi Jian) and Du Huo.
For unilateral swelling of the yin organ, crush the root and apply externally as if treating a sore; it heals in twenty days. (Verified Formula 1.)
For painful and swollen external hemorrhoids, crush the root and apply externally. (2.)
For pediatric alopecia areata, crush the root and apply externally; a sore forms after one night, and it heals in half a month. (3.)

Bai Tou Weng Tang (Coptis Decoction): Bai Tou Weng (Pulsatillae Radix), Huang Lian (Coptidis Rhizoma), Huang Bo (Phellodendri Cortex), Qin Pi (Fraxini Cortex).
Treats heat-dysentery accompanied by tenesmus. (Formula 1 among various formulas.)
Also treats postpartum dysentery. For patients in a state of extreme deficiency, add Gan Cao (Licorice Root) and E Jiao (Donkey-hide Gelatin). (2.)

(Bai Ji) uses Zi Shi Ying (Fluoritum) as a guiding herb; it is incompatible with Li Shi (Calcitum); it fears Prunus mume seeds (Li He) and Apricot kernels (Xing Ren); it is chemically antagonistic to Wu Tou (Aconiti Radix).
It tastes bitter and pungent, is slightly cold in nature, and has an astringent property. It stops pulmonary hemorrhage and repairs lung damage. It treats contusions and fractures, scalds and burns, malignant sores, carbuncles, gangrene, and necrotic tissue.
It removes dark spots from the face and head, restoring skin color from dark to white; it heals roughness and fissures of the hands and feet, making rough skin smooth again. It eliminates putrefaction and expels blood stasis very rapidly, and has excellent effects in generating flesh and relieving pain. It should not be used when pus and blood from lung abscess (Fei Yong) have not yet cleared.
It grows everywhere. The stems and leaves resemble Ginger (Sheng Jiang) and Veratrum (Li Lu), but each plant produces only one stalk. The flowers are about one cun long, reddish-purple in color.
For unceasing epistaxis, grind the herb into powder, mix with saliva, apply to the Shan Gen (root of the nose), and simultaneously swallow one qian with water for immediate cessation. (Verified Formula 1.)
For heart-qi pain, combine with Pomegranate peel (Liu Pi), make honey pills the size of beans, and take three pills with vinegar-infused water. (2.)
For polyglottis (Chong She) and thrush (E Kou), mix powder with breast milk and apply to the sole of the foot. (3.)
For carbuncles and furuncles (Ding Zhong), grind into powder, clarify with water, and apply as a paste. (4.)
For contusions and fractures, mix powder with wine and ingest. (5.)
For cuts and axe wounds, mix with plaster powder and sprinkle on the wound. (6.)
For roughness and fissures of hands and feet, mix powder with water and insert into cracks. Avoid contact with water. (7.)
For scalds and burns, mix with sesame oil and apply externally. (8.)