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Bai Lian (Ampelopsis Radix)
Taste: bitter, sweet. Nature: neutral, slightly cold. Toxicity: non-toxic. Another view holds it to be toxic. It grows creeping everywhere, especially abundant in deep forests. The root resembles a chicken or duck egg, with three to five growing together in one cluster. Harvested around the Mid-Autumn Festival, the black skin is washed off. Broken into pieces and strung on bamboo sticks for sun-drying. In medicinal use, it is combined with Bai Ji (Bletilla Rhizome). It is incompatible with Wu Tou (Aconite Root), and its guiding herb is Dai Zhe Shi (Hematitum). It reduces redness in the eyes and clears heat, dissipates nodular qi accumulation and relieves pain. It treats pediatric warm malaria, convulsions, and epilepsy; cures swelling and pain of the female vulva. It eliminates fire toxins and is a sacred medicine when soaked in soup after being baked in fire; it is a miraculous ointment for external surgery, applied to back carbuncles and furuncles.

Bai Ji (Bletilla Rhizome)
Taste: bitter, pungent. Nature: neutral, slightly cold. Attribute: yin within yang. Toxicity: non-toxic. Mostly found in rocky mountains, the seedling is about one chi high. Leaves are green, two fingers wide, with a spike at the stem tip. Flowers are purple-red, fruits turn yellow-black when ripe. Roots resemble water chestnuts, with hairs between nodes. Harvested and dried in the second and eighth lunar months. Its guiding herb is Zi Shi Ying (Hematitum). It is adverse to Li Shi (Magnolia Bark) and fears Xing Ren (Apricot Seed). Famous for external surgery, its function specializes in astringency. Not decocted for oral administration, but only boiled into paste for topical application. It dispels sudden wind attacks and flaccid paralysis; removes ulcerative gangrene, dead tissue, and rotting flesh. Applied to the shangen (area below forehead, above nose) to stop epistaxis; smeared on scabies and tinea to kill parasites. Made into a paste, it is very sticky and often used for mounting paintings.

Bai Fu Zi (Typhonii Rhizoma)
Taste: sweet, pungent. Nature: warm. Attribute: pure yang. Toxicity: non-toxic. One view holds it to be slightly toxic. Abundant in Bujun and Liangzhou, found only in sandy, low, and damp areas. A single stem produces very fine leaves, surrounding the spike. Shape resembles Tian Xiong (Aconitum Carmichaeli Radix Lateralis Preparata), used medicinally after processing. Treats various facial diseases, can be made into facial cream; main blood obstruction and cold pain, and enhances drug potency. Drives away wind-cold qi, resolves stroke-induced aphonia. Rubbed with vinegar on sweat spots on body and back, especially effective for tinea; (rub with inner part of eggplant calyx, cures in three days, avoid bathing.) Ground into powder to treat scrotal dampness and itching, and eliminate scars.

Bai Tou Weng (Pulsatillae Radix)
Taste: bitter. Nature: warm. Action: ascending and descending. Attribute: yang within yin. Toxicity: non-toxic. One view holds taste to be sweet and bitter, with slight toxicity. Found in valleys and fields everywhere. Seedlings grow in clusters, soft, fine, and slightly long. Leaves have hairs at tips, not glossy. (Hairs are fine and white.) Still when wind comes, shakes when wind goes. Indistinguishable from Du Hua (Peucedani Radix), Chi Jian (Gastrodiae Rhizoma) seedlings and stems. Near the root base, there is over an inch of white fuzz, resembling an old man, hence the name. Harvested when autumn begins, dried in the sun. (One view holds shade-drying.) Used medicinally with Li Shi (Vicia Semen) as guiding herb. Main warm malaria with manic fever and chills; treats abdominal pain from zheng jia (masses) and ji ju (accumulations). Expels blood, heals metal wounds, drives away wind, warms waist and knees. Eliminates scrofula, dissipates goiter and tumors. Miraculous effect for pediatric bald head with rancid odor and bilateral epistaxis; special merit for male hernia with unilateral swelling and bone pain in all joints. Also relieves toothache, essential for bloody dysentery. The Classic states: "The kidney desires firmness, urgently eat bitter to firm it." Dysentery involves deficiency of the lower jiao, thus this purely bitter formula must be used to firm it.