Library

(Recorded in the Middle Category of *Shennong Bencao Jing*)

**[Names]** Hu Xi (from *Shennong Bencao Jing*), Chang Si (named by Tao Hongjing), Cang Er (from *Erya*), Juan Er (from *Shijing*), Jue Er (from *Shi Shu*), Zhu Er (named by Li Shizhen), Er (from *Shi Shu*), Di Kui (from *Shennong Bencao Jing*), (pronounced Shi), Yang Fu Lai (named by Tao Hongjing), Dao Ren Tou (from *Tujing*), Jin Xian Cai (from *Jishi Zhu*), He Qi Cao (named by Li Shizhen), Ye Qie (named by Li Shizhen), Jian Si Cao.

Su Song said: Poets call it Juan Er, *Erya* calls it Cang Er, and *Guangya* calls it Er; all are named after their fruit shape. Lu Ji in *Shi Shu* said: Its fruit is exactly like a woman's ear ; some now call it Er grass. Zheng Kangcheng believed it was white Huisui, and people in Youzhou called it Jue Er. *Bowuzhi* records: Someone from Luoyang drove sheep into Shu; the Hu Xi seeds were thorny and stuck to the wool, thus spreading to the Central Plains, hence the name Yang Fu Lai (Sheep Carries It). Commonly called Ren Tou.

Tao Hongjing said: Northerners all eat it, calling it Chang Si Cai. The method of using its leaves to cover wheat for making yellow clothing is rarely used nowadays.

Li Shizhen said: Its leaf shape resembles Ma or eggplant, hence names like Er and Ye Qie. Its taste is slippery like Kui vegetable, hence named Di Kui, sharing the name with Difeng. Poets composed verses on Juan Er expressing longing for their husbands, hence the name Chang Si Cai. Zhang Yi's *Guang

**[Collection and Explanation]** *Bielu* says: Er grows in the streams and valleys of Anlu and the fields of Lu'an; harvest when the fruits are ripe.

Zhang Yi's *Shi Shu* says: Its leaves are greenish-white resembling Huisui, with white flowers and thin stems, growing as vines. It can be boiled as a vegetable, slippery and mild in flavor. Seeds form in April, exactly like a woman's ear . Guo Pu said: Shape like mouse ears, clustered like a plate. All existing ones are similar, but do not grow as vines.

Li Shizhen said: According to King Ding of Zhou's *Jiu Huang Bencao*: Cang Er leaves are greenish-white, resembling Nianhu Cai leaves. Fruits form in autumn, shorter and smaller than mulberry berries and very thorny. Young shoots fried until cooked, soaked in water, rinsed, and mixed for food can relieve hunger. Seeds roasted, peeled, and ground into flour can make baked cakes or be rendered into oil for lamps.

**[Processing]** Ma Zhi said: For medicinal use, roast until cooked, pound to remove thorns, or steam with wine before use.

**[Flavor and Toxicity]** Sweet, warm, slightly toxic. *Bielu* says: Bitter. Quan said: Sweet, non-toxic.

Rice washing water is harmful.

**[Indications]** Head wind-cold pain, wind-damp bi obstruction throughout the body, spasms and pain in the four limbs, necrotic flesh and dead muscle, knee pain. Long-term use benefits qi, clarifies ears and eyes, strengthens will, and lightens the body (*Shennong Bencao Jing*). Treats liver heat, brightens eyes (Quan). Treats all wind conditions, (Ma Zhi). Roasted fragrant and steeped in wine taken orally expels wind and tonifies

**[Attached Formulas]** Three old formulas, four new formulas.

Take thirty pills with wine, twice daily. Fresh plant pounded for juice is also acceptable. (*Zhu Shi Ji Yan Fang*)

Tingli (powder) in equal parts. Take two qian each time, washed down with water, twice daily. (*Qianjin Fang*)

Liang (roasted). Grind into powder, decoct with one sheng half of water to obtain seven ge, remove dregs and sip slowly. (*Shiyi Xinjing*)

One dou of water, decoct to obtain five sheng, hold hot in mouth. Spit out when cold. After spitting...

(Sun Taoren *Qianjin Yi*)

Qian. (*Zhengzhi Yaojue*)

Chronic alcoholism: Seven Cang Erzi buried in felt, burned to ash, thrown into wine and drunk, craving ceases. (Chen Cangqi *

**[Processing]** Said: Upon harvesting, remove the heart, take Huangjing, finely slice with a bamboo knife, mix, and dry.

**[Flavor and Toxicity]** Bitter, acrid, slightly cold, slightly toxic.

**[Indications]** Stream poison (*Bielu*). Stroke and cold damage headache (Meng

Knee wind poison. Harvest in summer, dry, grind into powder, take one or two bi with water; in winter, take with wine. Or make pills, take twenty to thirty pills three times daily. After one hundred days, disease manifests like scabies, or itching, oozing fluid, or mottled rough skin peeling off, then skin becomes like congealed fat. Reduces sleepiness, removes various...

Saliva discharge, clears eye yellowing and promotes good sleep. Burned to ash mixed with cured pig lard applied to carbuncles draws out roots; decocted in wine taken orally treats rabies bites (Cangqi).

**[Innovation/Analysis]** Li Shizhen said: Long-term use of Cang Er leaves effectively expels wind-heat. Most taboo is pork and wind-pathogen; violating this causes red dan throughout the body.

According to *Su Shen Liangfang*: Er root, sprouts, leaves, and fruits are all washed and dried in shade.

Refine in two stoves. When ash liquid diminishes, replenish with hot ash water from beside the pot. Do not extinguish fire for a day and night, then collect the frost, store in dry porcelain bottles. Take two qian with wine morning and evening, warms and tonifies, expels wind, preserves youth, especially treats skin wind, making skin pure. Adding a little during bathing is excellent. Chang Cong, Literary Official of Yizhou, took this for over ten years, reaching seventy or eighty, ruddy and agile, all due to this medicine's power. *Doumen Fang* says: For women with blood-wind attacking the brain, causing dizziness, fainting, sudden collapse, and unconsciousness. Use young hearts of He Qi Cao, dried in shade, ground to powder, take one large qian with wine; effect is remarkable. This substance excellently connects the crown to the brain, which is indeed Cang Er.

**[Attached Formulas]** Twelve old formulas, seventeen new formulas.

Ulcers, whip marks, toothache, throat obstruction: Harvest several loads of Cang Er roots and leaves on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, wash, wilt, cut finely. Use five large pots, boil until soft, filter through sieve to remove coarse dregs, filter again through cloth/silk. Return to clean pot, boil vigorously then simmer thickly, stir into paste, store in new jar sealed. Apply externally for healing. For toothache apply on teeth; for throat obstruction apply on tongue or dissolve in mouth, effective in two or three applications. Take one spoonful with wine daily, extremely effective. (*Ji Jian Fang*)

On the fifth day at noon, cut Er leaves close to ground, wash, dry, pound and sift. Take one fang cun bi, washed down with wine or vinegar, twice daily day, thrice nightly. If nausea occurs, take honey pills instead, counting equivalent fang cun bi. For mild wind, twice daily. If millet-like or bean-like bumps appear on body, this is wind-toxin exiting. Can puncture with needle to drain yellow fluid, then stop. Seventh day of seventh month and ninth day of ninth month also suitable for collection. (*Qianjin Fang*)

All wind conditions: One shi of young Cang Er leaves (cut), mixed with five sheng of wheat to form blocks, ferment in mugwort and ai for twenty days to become qu. Take one dou of rice, cook into rice, check temperature, add three sheng of qu to brew, seal for twenty-seven days ensuring tightness, otherwise overflow. Taboo horse meat, pork. (Meng Shen *Shiliao Bencao*)

Take one qian, mixed with wine, three times daily. If vomiting occurs, make honey pills size of wutong seeds, take twenty pills each time. Fully recovered in ten days. (*Yang Shi Jingyan Fang*)

Blood-wind dizziness: See formula under Innovation.

Toxin attacking hands and feet, swelling and pain threatening amputation: Pound Cang Er for juice, soak affected area, and apply dregs externally, immediate effect. In spring, use heart; in winter, use seeds. (*Qianjin Yi*) Sudden water toxin poisoning, initially slight head/eye pain, aversion to cold, stiff joints, worse at dusk, cold extremities, after three days worms erode lower parts; after six/seven days pus ruptures, enters five zang organs, fatal. Pound Chang Si Cao, wring juice, drink one to two sheng, also soak cotton and guide into lower part. (*Zhouhou Fang*) Venomous snake/stream toxin, sand louse/she-gong injuries, locked jaw, blackened eyes, stiff limbs, toxin forming mass in abdomen, rapid death if untreated: One handful of young Cang Er shoots. Extract juice, mix with warm wine and灌, apply thick dregs to wound. (*Shengjin Fang*)

Epidemic immunity: Harvest much young Cang Er leaves at noon on fifth day of fifth month, dry in shade. Grind to powder when needed, take two qian with cold water, or decoct and administer to whole family, wards off evil. (*Qianjin Fang*)

Wind-induced urticaria, unceasing itching: Equal parts Cang Er stem, leaf, seed, grind to powder. Take two qian, mixed with bean-dripping wine. (*Shenghui Fang*)

Black spots on face: Roast Cang Er leaves to powder, take one qian mixed with rice water after meals, healed in one month. (*Zhai Xuan Fang*)

Red and white sweat patches: Young tips of Cang Er leaves, mashed with green salt, rub between May and June, effective in five to seven times. (*Zhai Xuan Fang*)

Great Wind Leprosy: *Xiuzhen Fang*: Equal parts tender Cang Er and lotus leaf, grind to powder. Take two qian with warm wine, twice daily. *Qiankun Shengyi*: Cang Er leaf powder, mixed with big maple seed oil into pills size of wutong seeds. Take thirty to forty pills with tea soup, twice daily. Another formula: On fifth day of fifth month or sixth day of sixth month, gather Cang Er grass at dawn with dew, pound for juice, boil into ingots. Take one half-ounce snakehead fish, slit open keeping guts, insert one pill ingot, sew with thread, cook slowly in two bowls of wine until done, eat fish. Not more than three to five fish for cure. Taboo salt for one hundred days.

Sudden malignant sores: Cang Er and peach bark shaved, inserted into sore. (*Baiyi Fang*)

Reverse-flow malignant sore, flesh like rice grains, bleeding upon rupture, regrowing outward: Pound Cang Er leaves for juice, drink three he, apply externally, twice daily. (*Shengji Zonglu*)

Three times daily, drawing out root is very effective. *Yangsheng Fang*: Burn Cang Er root and sprouts to ash, mix with vinegar and starch, apply, reapply when dry. Within ten applications, root extracted.

Tooth wind mobility pain: One handful of Cang Er, boiled in vinegar water, add salt for gargling. (*Waitai Miyao*)

Entangling throat wind disease: One handful Cang Er root, one piece old ginger. Grind for juice, mix with wine and drink. (*Shengji Zonglu*)

Red eyes with sores and pain: Two liang Dao Ren Tou powder, one qian frankincense, burn one qian mixture, inhale smoke. (*Shengji Zonglu*)

Unstopping epistaxis: Small cup of juice from pounded Cang Er stem and leaf. (*Shenghui Fang*)

Five hemorrhoids with bleeding: Harvest Cang Er stem and leaf on fifth day of fifth month, grind to powder. Take one fang cun bi with water, very effective. (*Qianjin Yi*)

Red and white dysentery: Cang Er grass (any amount), wash clean, boil soft in water, remove dregs, add honey, boil vigorously into paste. Take one or two spoons each time,

Postpartum various dysenteries: Pound and wring juice from Cang Er leaves, take half medium cup warm, three to four times daily. (*Shenghui Fang*)

Accidentally swallowing copper coin: One handful Cang Er head, soak in one sheng water ten-plus times, drink water to cure. (*Zhouhou Fang*)

Flower spider bite, indistinguishable from venomous snake: Use wild Jian Si (i.e., Dao Ren Tou). Pound for one cup juice, drink, apply dregs. (*Zhai Xuan Fang*)

Flower

**[Indications]** White leprosy stubborn itching (Li Shizhen).