气热，味辛，纯阳。
《本草》云∶治胃中冷逆，霍乱腹痛，反胃呕食，转筋泻痢。下气，消宿食。
《心》云∶健脾胃。
气温，味甘，纯阳。甘，微温，性平。无毒。入手少阳经、足太阴经，足少阴、
命门之剂。
《象》云∶治虚劳自汗，补肺气，入皮毛，泻肺中火。如脉弦自汗，脾胃虚弱，疮疡
血脉不行，内托，阴证疮疡必用之。去芦用。
《珍》云∶益胃气，去肌热，诸痛必用之。
《心》云∶补五脏诸虚不足，而泻阴火、去虚热，无汗则发之，有汗则止之。
《本草》云∶主痈疽久败疮，排脓止痛，大风癞疾，五痔鼠 ，补虚；小儿百病，妇人
子脏风邪气，逐五脏间恶血，补丈夫虚损，五劳羸瘦，腹痛泄痢。益气，利阴气。
有白水 、赤水 、木 ，功用皆同。惟木 茎短而理横，折之如绵，皮黄褐色，肉中
白色，谓之绵黄 。其坚脆而味苦者，乃苜蓿根也。又云，破症癖，肠风血崩，带下，赤白
痢，及产前、后一切病，月候不调，消渴痰嗽。又治头风热毒，目赤，骨蒸。生蜀郡山谷、
白水、汉中，今河东陕西州郡多有之。 与桂同功，特味稍异，比桂但甘平，不辛热耳。世
人以苜蓿根代之，呼为土黄 ，但味苦，能令人瘦，特味甘者能令人肥也。颇能乱真，用者
宜审。治气虚盗汗并自汗，即皮表之药；又治肤痛，则表药可知；又治咯血，柔脾胃，是为
中州药也；又治伤寒、尺脉不至，又补肾脏元气，为里药。是上、中、下、内、外三焦之药
。
今《本草》、《图经》只言河东者，沁州绵上是也，故谓之绵 。味甘如蜜，兼体骨柔
软如绵，世以为如绵，非也。别说云，黄 本出绵上为良，故《图经》所绘者，宪水者也，
与绵上相邻，盖以地产为“绵”。
若以柔韧为“绵”，则伪者亦柔。但以干脆甘苦为别耳。
东垣云∶黄 、人参、甘草三味，退热之圣药也。《灵枢》曰∶卫气者，所以温分肉而充皮
肤，肥腠理而司开阖。黄
既补三焦、实卫气，与桂同，特益气异耳。亦在佐使。桂则通血也，能破血而实卫气，通
内而实外者欤。桂以血言，
一作色求，则 为实气也。恶鳖甲。
Properties and Flavor: The qi is hot, the flavor is pungent, belonging to pure yang.
*Bencao* states: It treats cold stagnation in the stomach causing hiccups, abdominal pain due to cholera-like disorder, regurgitation and vomiting of food, muscle cramps (zhuanjin), diarrhea, and dysentery. It directs qi downward and resolves retained food.
Properties and Flavor: The qi is warm, the flavor is sweet, belonging to pure yang. Sweet, slightly warm, nature is neutral. Non-toxic. Enters the Hand Shaoyang Meridian, Foot Taiyin Meridian, as well as the Foot Shaoyin Meridian and Mingmen.
*Xiang* (Li Dongyuan) says: It treats spontaneous sweating due to deficiency exhaustion, tonifies Lung qi, acts on the skin and hair, and drains fire from the Lungs. If the pulse is wiry with spontaneous sweating, or in cases of Spleen-Stomach weakness, where sores and ulcers cause blood vessel obstruction requiring internal support (neituo), it must be used for yin-type sores and ulcers. Remove the rhizome head before use.
*Zhen* (Zhang Yuansu) says: It benefits Stomach qi, removes heat from the muscles, and is essential for various pain conditions.
*Xin* (Wang Haogu) says: It tonifies all deficiencies of the Five Zang organs, drains Yin fire, and removes deficiency heat; when there is no sweat, it induces sweating; when there is sweat, it stops it.
*Bencao* states: It primarily treats chronic suppurative sores that fail to heal, discharges pus and relieves pain, treats severe leprosy (dafeng laiji), five types of hemorrhoids and scrofula (shulou), tonifies deficiency; treats a hundred diseases in children, wind-pathogen invasion of the uterus in women, expels evil blood between the Five Zang organs, tonifies deficiency and loss in men, emaciation due to the five labors, abdominal pain, and diarrhea/dysentery. It benefits qi and promotes the flow of Yin qi.
There are Baishui Huangqi, Chishui Huangqi, and Mu Huangqi; their functions are identical. Only Mu Huangqi has short stems with transverse texture, breaks like cotton, has yellow-brown bark, and white flesh, called Mian Huangqi. Those that are hard, brittle, and bitter in taste are roots of *Medicago sativa* (Muxu). Furthermore, it breaks up masses (zhengpi), treats intestinal wind bleeding, metrorrhagia, leukorrhea, red and white dysentery, and all diseases before and after childbirth, irregular menstruation, thirst with phlegm-cough. It also treats head wind-heat toxin, red eyes, and bone-steaming fever. It grows in the valleys of Shujun, Baishui, and Hanzhong; currently, it is abundant in Hedong and various prefectures of Shaanxi. Huangqi has similar functions to Guizhi, differing only slightly in taste; compared to Guizhi, it is merely sweet and neutral, not pungent and hot. People substitute it with *Medicago sativa* root, calling it Tu Huangqi, but its bitter taste causes emaciation, whereas the sweet one causes weight gain. It easily confuses authenticity, so users should examine carefully. Treating qi-deficiency night sweats and spontaneous sweating makes it a surface-acting drug; treating skin pain confirms it as a surface drug; treating hemoptysis and softening the Spleen-Stomach makes it a Middle Jiao drug; treating Shanghan with absent Chi pulse and tonifying Kidney Yuan qi makes it an interior drug. Thus, it is a drug acting on the Upper, Middle, and Lower Jiao, as well as interior and exterior.
Current *Bencao* and *Tujing* mention only those from Hedong, specifically those from Mianshang in Qinzhou, hence called Mian Huangqi. Its taste is sweet like honey, and its body/bone is soft like cotton. People think "like cotton" refers to texture, which is incorrect. Another theory states that Huangqi originally produced in Mianshang is superior, so what is drawn in *Tujing* is from Xianshui, adjacent to Mianshang, likely named "Mian" after the place of origin.
If "Mian" refers to flexibility/toughness, then fake products are also flexible. The distinction lies merely in being crisp, sweet, and bitter.
Dongyuan (Li Dongyuan) says: Huangqi, Renshen, and Gancao are the holy medicines for reducing fever. *Lingshu* states: Wei Qi (Defensive Qi) warms the muscle intervals and fills the skin, making the Couli dense and controlling opening and closing. Since Huangqi tonifies the Three Jiao and solidifies Wei Qi, it is similar to Guizhi, differing only in benefiting qi. It also serves as an assistant drug. Guizhi circulates blood, can break blood stasis while solidifying Wei Qi, perhaps circulating internally to solidify externally? Guizhi speaks from the perspective of blood; if seeking by color, then Huangqi solidifies qi. It is antagonistic to Biejia.