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[Correction] Merged with Kudzu Root Powder from *Kaibao Bencao*.

[Names] Ji Qi (from *Shennong Bencao Jing*), Lu Huo (from *Mingyi Bielu*), Huang Jin (from *Mingyi Bielu*). Li Shizhen said: The character 'Ge' derives its sound from 'He', forming a phonetic compound. Deer eat nine types of grass, and this is one of them, hence called Lu Huo. The meaning of Huang Jin is unknown.

[Collection and Explanation] *Mingyi Bielu* states: Kudzu root grows in the valleys of the Wen River region; the roots are harvested in May and dried in the sun.
Tao Hongjing stated: This is the kudzu root of today, which people steam and eat. One should select those that penetrate deep into the soil and are large, break them apart, and dry them in the sun. Those from Nankang and Luling are the finest.
Su Gong stated: Although kudzu can detoxify, those roots penetrating more than five or six inches into the soil are named Ge . refers to its neck. Ingestion causes vomiting due to its slight toxicity. What *Shennong Bencao Jing* calls "Ge Gu" is its fruit.
Su Song stated: It is found everywhere now, especially abundant in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Sprouts emerge in spring, climbing vines grow one to two zhang long, purple in color. Leaves resemble catalpa leaves but are smaller, green in hue. Flowers appear in July, pinkish-purple, resembling pea flowers, but it does not bear fruit. Roots are as thick as an arm, dark purple-black; harvested at noon on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, dried in the sun, with deeper-penetrating roots being superior. Nowadays, people often process it into powder for consumption.
Kou Zongshi stated: Between Li Prefecture and Ding Prefecture, fresh kudzu is taken in winter, pounded into a paste, soaked in water, kneaded to extract starch, settled into blocks, boiled in boiling water for a long time until gelatinous and tough. Mixed with honey and eaten, adding a little ginger rubbed on top is excellent. Sliced and added to tea for guests, though sweet, offers no benefit. Fresh kudzu roots are also boiled and sold as confectionery; this is also done in Qian Prefecture, Ji Prefecture, and Nan'an Commandery.
Li Shizhen stated: Kudzu exists in wild and cultivated varieties. Its vines are long and slender. Processed, it can be made into powder. The root exterior is purple and interior white, reaching seven or eight chi in length. Leaves have three points, longer than maple leaves, green on the upper surface and pale on the lower. Flowers form spikes, clustered together, red-purple. Pods resemble small soybean pods, also hairy. Seeds are green, flat like salt plum pits, tasting fishy when chewed raw; harvested in August and September, this is what *Shennong Bencao Jing* refers to as Ge Gu. Tang dynasty Su Gong also stated Ge Gu is the fruit, whereas Song dynasty Su Song claimed kudzu flowers do not bear fruit, which is incorrect. Dried flowers can also be fried and eaten.

Kudzu Root (Gegen)
[Aroma and Flavor] Sweet, pungent, neutral, non-toxic. *Mingyi Bielu* states: Juice of fresh root is very cold.
Li Haogu stated: Aroma is neutral, flavor is sweet, ascending, yang. It is a herb that travels through the Yangming Meridian.
[Indications] Treats Xiao Ke (wasting-thirst syndrome), high fever, vomiting, various Bi syndromes (obstruction/pain), raises Yin Qi, resolves various toxins (*Shennong Bencao Jing*). Treats headache from Shang Han (cold damage) and Zhong Feng (wind stroke), releases the muscle layer, induces sweating, opens Cou Li (pores), treats metal wounds, stops wind pain in the hypochondrium (*Mingyi Bielu*). Treats epidemic disease with upward rebellious Qi and vomiting, stimulates appetite, resolves alcohol toxicity (Zhen Quan). Treats irritability, heat in chest/diaphragm, mania, stops bloody dysentery, unblocks Small Intestine, expels pus, breaks blood stasis. Applied externally for snake/insect bites, poisoned arrow wounds (Meng Xi). Neutralizes toxins of wild kudzu, croton seeds, and hundred medicines (Xu Zhicai).
Fresh: Abortifacient. Steamed: Resolves alcohol toxicity, allows fasting without hunger. Made into powder is best (Chen Cangqi). Made into powder: Stops thirst, promotes urination and defecation, resolves alcohol, removes irritability/heat, counteracts mineral drug toxicity, applies to infant heat sores. Juice drunk: Treats infant heat pi (fullness/syndromes) (*Kaibao Bencao*).
Decocted or powdered applied externally (Su Gong).
[Elucidation] Tao Hongjing stated: Fresh kudzu juice drunk resolves fever from Wen Bing (warm diseases). Harvested at noon on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, processed into powder, it is a key herb for treating malaria and sores, highly effective.
Su Song stated: Zhang Zhongjing used Gegen Tang for Shang Han because it governs high fever, releases the muscle layer, and opens Cou Li.
Zhang Yuansu stated: Raises Yang, generates fluids. For thirst caused by Spleen deficiency, this herb is essential. Do not use excessively, lest it damage Stomach Qi. Zhang Zhongjing treated Taiyang-Yangming He Bing (combined disease) by adding Mahuang and Gegen to Guizhi Tang, and also used Gegen Huangqin Huanglian Tang to release the muscle layer; this uses the herb to block the path of Taiyang pathogens entering Yangming, so it is not purely a Taiyang herb. Severe head pain like bursting indicates Yangming Zhong Feng, where Gegen Congbai Tang can be used, a miraculous herb for Yangming. If Taiyang disease is initial, with headache but not yet entered Yangming, one must not immediately use Shengma or Gegen to disperse, as this draws pathogens into Yangming, akin to inviting thieves to destroy the home.
Zhu Zhenheng stated: When痘疹 (smallpox/chickenpox) rash has appeared as red spots, Gegen Shengma Tang must not be used, lest deficiency of the exterior worsen the eruption.
Li Gao stated: Dried Gegen has a light floating qi, stimulates Stomach Qi to ascend, generates fluids, and releases muscle heat; it is a supreme herb for diarrhea due to Spleen/Stomach weakness.
Xu Yongcheng stated: Gegen's aroma and flavor are thin, light and ascending, floating and slightly descending, belonging to Yang within Yin. Its uses are four: stopping thirst (1); resolving alcohol (2); dispersing exterior pathogens (3); promoting eruption of difficult-to-emerge rashes (4).
Li Shizhen stated: The *Bencao Ten Formulas* says: "Light substances can remove excess," such as Mahuang and Gegen. Mahuang is a Taiyang meridian herb, also entering the Lung meridian, which governs skin and hair; Gegen is a Yangming meridian herb, also entering the Spleen meridian, which governs muscles. Thus, both herbs are light and dispersing, but their meridians entered are completely different.

[Attached Prescriptions] Seventeen old prescriptions, four new ones.
Headache with internal heat and surging pulse: Gegen 4 liang. Water 2 sheng, add Shi Dou 1 sheng, decoct to obtain 0.5 sheng and take. Fresh juice is better (*Shanghan Leyao*).
Seasonal illness headache with severe fever: Wash fresh Gegen, pound to obtain one large cup of juice, add Shi Dou 1 he, decoct to 0.6 portion, strain and take in divided doses. Sweating indicates cure. If no sweat, take again. If heart heat, add Gardenia seeds 10 (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Shang Han headache after 2-3 days with fever: Gegen 5 liang, Xiang Chi 1 sheng, decoct in 8 sheng of child's urine to obtain 2 sheng, take in three doses. Eat scallion and bean porridge afterwards to induce sweat (*Meishi Fang*).
Pregnancy febrile disease: Gegen juice 2 sheng, take in three doses (*Shanghan Leyao*).
Prevent febrile disease, acute jaundice, sudden wind: Gegen powder 2 sheng, Sheng Dihuang 1 sheng, Xiang Chi 0.5 sheng. Grind into powder. After meals, take one fang cun bi with rice drink, three times daily. If ill, take five doses (Pang Anchang *Shanghan Lun*).
Repel miasma and avoid infection: Drink one small cup of fresh kudzu juice to remove heat and toxic vapors (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Irritability, heat, and thirst: Gegen powder 4 liang, soak half sheng of millet in water overnight, drain, mix well, cook into porridge and eat (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Infant heat thirst persisting long: Gegen 0.5 liang, decoct in water and take (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Unceasing dry retching: Drink one sheng of kudzu juice (*Zhouhou Beiji Fang*).
Infant vomiting, severe fever, food epilepsy: Gegen powder 2 qian. Mix with 2 ge of water, pour into a tin pan, cook over double boiler, mix with gruel and eat (Zan Yin *Shiyi Xinjing*).
Unceasing hematemesis from heart heat: Drink half sheng of fresh kudzu juice in one dose, immediate cure (*Guangli Fang*).
Unceasing epistaxis: Drink one small cup of fresh kudzu root juice. Three doses stop bleeding (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Heat toxin lower bleeding triggered by hot food: Pound 2 jin of fresh kudzu root to get 1 sheng juice, mix with 1 sheng lotus root juice and take (*Meishi Fang*).
Tendon injury with bleeding: Drink kudzu juice. Dry root decocted and taken. Apply dried powder externally (*Waitai Miyao*).
Lower back pain: Chew fresh kudzu root and swallow juice until effective (*Zhouhou Beiji Fang*).
Metal wound struck by wind, spasms nearing death: Decoct 4 da liang of fresh kudzu root in 3 sheng water to obtain 1 sheng, strain, take warm in four doses. Force open mouth to administer if locked. If dry, grind to powder, mix with three finger-pinches. Also consume大量 bamboo sap for effect (*Zhengyuan Guangji Fang*).
Bitter distress from overdose of medicine: Drink fresh kudzu juice. Decoct dry root if necessary (*Zhouhou Beiji Fang*).
Alcohol intoxication unconscious: Drink 2 sheng of fresh kudzu root juice, then recover (*Qianjin Fang*).
Poisoning from various vegetables, mania, irritability, violent vomiting/diarrhea: Decoct kudzu root and take juice (*Zhouhou Beiji Fang*).
Resolve arsenic poisoning, near death: Mix 3 he of kudzu powder with 3 lamps of water, take. Force open mouth if locked (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).
Tiger bite wound: Wash with concentrated decoction of fresh kudzu root. Also take powdered root mixed with water, one fang cun bi, 5-6 times day and night (*Meishi Fang*).

Kudzu Fruit (Ge Gu)
[Aroma and Flavor] Sweet, neutral, non-toxic.
[Indications] Dysentery in patients over ten years old (*Shennong Bencao Jing*). Resolve alcohol toxicity (Li Shizhen).

Kudzu Flower (Ge Hua)
[Aroma and Flavor] Same as Ge Gu.
[Indications] Reduce alcohol intake (*Mingyi Bielu*. Tao Hongjing: Same as adzuki bean flower, dry powder taken with wine prevents drunkenness). Hematochezia from intestinal wind (Li Shizhen).

Leaves
[Indications] Stop bleeding from metal wounds, apply externally.

Vines
[Indications] Sudden pharyngeal obstruction (Hou Bi). Burn, grind to powder, take with water, one fang cun bi (Su Gong). Resolve carbuncles.
[Attached Prescriptions] Three new ones.
Nursing mother mastitis: Burn kudzu vine to ash. Take 2 qian with wine. Effective after three doses (*Weisheng Yijian Fang*).
Early stage boil: Burn kudzu vine to ash. Mix with water and apply, disappears immediately (*Qianjin Fang*).
Infant trismus, lesion in throat size of hemp seed, foaming, unable to suckle: One zi of burned kudzu vine ash, mix with breast milk and apply, immediate cure (*Taiping Shenghui Fang*).

[Appendix] Tie Ge (Iron Kudzu) (*Bencao Shiyi*)
Chen Cangqi stated: Root: Sweet, warm, non-toxic. Governs all wind, weak Qi and Blood, strengthens body. Long-term use treats wind-induced flaccidity and hemiplegia. Grows in gorges of Southern Mountains. Leaves resemble goji berry, root resembles kudzu, black in color.