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Bitter, non-toxic. Mainly treats cold in the middle jiao (deficiency-cold of the middle burner), directs qi downward, and clears heat.

Tao Hongjing states: This is bran made from rice, not a name for another type of rice. Grinding the rice lipid into powder and mixing it to apply to the face can also make the skin lustrous and glossy, as its heating nature is less than that of wheat bran.

The *Tang Bencao* commentary notes: "Bi" refers to something that has not grown properly. It should be made from things that are capable of growth. Tao claims that bran is made from rice; can rice still grow? One should only take the husk/bran within the rice grain. According to the *Shi Jing*, using "dao bi" (rice bran) is mentioned; "dao bi" is the name for paddy rice, clearly indicating it is not made from milled rice. Minister Yu Xi et al. respectfully note: Ri Huazi says: Jingmi (Japonica Rice), warm in nature. Can relieve irritability, digest retained food, and open the appetite. Also known as Huangzi. Can be used to make rice vinegar.

The *Tang Bencao* supplement: Take semi-ripe rice to make it.

The *Yanyi* says: Jingmi, this is actually the husk of millet, now used in Gushen San; its nature is warmer than that of barley husk.

Mainly treats sudden dysphagia/choking.

Tao Hongjing says: When food suddenly chokes and cannot go down, scraping [the husk] and holding it in the mouth will remove it; this is also the principle of pounding/threshing. The principles of things in the world often influence each other in this way. Now transferred from the *Shenghui Fang*: Treats ge qi (obstruction in the chest/diaphragm), choking and blockage in the throat, inability to swallow food. Use fine bran from the beak of the mortar, form into pills the size of a bullet with honey, hold one pill at any time and swallow with saliva.

The content of the *Yanyi* has been attached under the entry for Chen Lin Mi (Aged Rice).

Wheat (Xiaomai)
Sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic. Mainly clears heat, stops restlessness, thirst, and dry throat, promotes urination, nourishes liver qi, stops leakage bleeding, and hemoptysis. Making it into qu (fermented starter), it is warm, digests grains, and stops diarrhea. Making it into flour, it is warm and cannot clear heat or relieve irritability.

Tao Hongjing says: Wheat must be used whole when making decoctions; it is a treatment for those with heat conditions. When made into flour, it becomes warm, clearly indicating that wheat itself should be so. Now, those who practice dietary therapy eat flour, which is inferior to barley but still superior to rice.

The *Tang Bencao* commentary notes: When using wheat for decoctions, the husk must not split; if it splits, it becomes warm, clearly indicating that flour cannot clear heat and relieve irritability. Wheat qu stops diarrhea, harmonizes the stomach, mainly treats pediatric epilepsy, and digests food-related hemorrhoids. There are also Nüqu (Female Qu) and Huangzheng (Yellow Steamed Qu). Nüqu is made from whole wheat, also called Huanzi; Huangzheng is made from ground wheat, also called Huangyi. Both digest food, stop dysentery, expel the fetus, and break up cold blood stasis. Now according to Chen Cangqi's *Bencao*: Wheat is planted in autumn and ripens in summer, receiving sufficient qi of the four seasons, naturally possessing both cold and warm properties; the flour is hot and the bran is cold, which is why it is so. In the west of the Yellow and Wei rivers, white wheat flour is cool because it is planted in spring and lacks the qi of two seasons, causing this. Minister Yu Xi et al. respectfully note the *Shu Bencao*: Making it into bran, it is slightly cold. Mainly treats xiao ke (wasting-thirst), stops irritability; making it into qu, it stops diarrhea, harmonizes the stomach, and treats pediatric epilepsy and food-related hemorrhoids. Xiao Bing says: Eating wheat sauce with carp causes mouth sores.

The *Yaoxing Lun* says: Wheat is a minister herb, slightly toxic. It can kill roundworms in the intestines; take after roasting and grinding into powder.

Chen Cangqi says: Bran, sweet, cold, non-toxic. Mix with flour to make cakes, stops diarrhea, harmonizes the middle, clears heat, strengthens the body. Steam it, put it in a bag, and use it for hot compresses. For horses with cold loss of waist and legs, mix with vinegar, steam, and wrap around the injured/fractured area to stop pain and dissipate blood stasis. For humans making flour, the third grind is cool because it is close to the bran. Wheat: skin is cold, flesh is hot. Also says: Wheat sprouts, pungent, cold, non-toxic. Mainly treats jaundice with yellow eyes, clears acute heat from alcohol toxicity. The black mold on wheat sprouts is named Mai Nu (Wheat Slave), mainly treats heat irritability, resolves Dan Shi (mineral drug) toxicity, and epidemic heat toxins. Also says: Flour, sweet, warm. Tonifies deficiency, solidifies the body and skin, thickens the intestines and stomach, strengthens qi and strength, tends to retain heat and slightly agitates wind pathogen. Also says: Nüqu, also called Huanzi. According to records, Huanzi is no different from Huangzheng. Huangzheng is warm and tonifying, digests various biological substances. Northerners use wheat, southerners use japonica rice, both made in the sixth and seventh months. Su Gong also says: Ground/broken ones imply they should be made whole; also called Huangyi; those with green dust are good.

Meng Shen says: Wheat, neutral, taking it stops thirst. Also says, flour has heat toxicity, mostly due to the color of aged stock. Making powder tonifies the middle and benefits qi, harmonizes the five zang organs, and regulates pulses. Also says, roast one he of powder, mix and take to stop lower-jiao dysentery. Also says, its nature treats fractures/dislocations; mix with vinegar, steam, and wrap around the injured area to stabilize it. For severe cases, steam and wrap again, which is very good.

Ri Huazi says: Flour nourishes qi, supplements deficiencies, assists the five zang organs, and long-term consumption solidifies the body. Also says Maihuang (Wheat Husk/Yellow), warm. Warms the middle, directs qi downward, digests food, and relieves irritability. Bran, cool. Treats seasonal epidemics, heat sores, burns/scalds, contusions/fractures with blood stasis; stir-fry with vinegar and apply. Wheat sprouts, cool. Relieves irritability, resolves epidemic fever, clears alcohol toxicity, and reduces chest/diaphragm heat. Patients with jaundice should squeeze out the juice and drink it; it also benefits the small intestine. Eating it as a relish greatly improves complexion.

The *Tujing* says: There are barley, wheat, kuangmai (rough wheat), and buckwheat; old texts do not specify their origin provinces. Su Gong says barley comes from Guanzhong; now people north and south can all plant it. Grinding it into flour harmonizes the stomach, stops thirst, and digests food. Soaking in water to sprout creates Nie (sprouted grain), which digests retained food, breaks up cold qi, and stops abdominal fullness/distension. Currently there are two types: one similar to wheat, one similar to barley, both slightly larger than common wheat and barley. All grains are planted in autumn, grow in winter, flower in spring, and fruit in summer, possessing the balanced qi of the four seasons, thus being the most precious of the five grains. Barley and wheat can also be planted in spring in warm southern areas and harvested in summer. Therefore, they have toxicity. Wheat is cold in nature; when made into flour it becomes warm and toxic; when made into qu it harmonizes the stomach and stops diarrhea. Its skin is bran, which is cold again, harmonizing the middle and clearing heat, just like soybeans making sauce or fermented bean curd, where the nature changes differently. Buckwheat solidifies the intestines and stomach, benefits qi and strength, but should not be eaten in excess as it can agitate wind pathogen and cause dizziness. Medicinal preparations rarely use it.

The *Shiliao* says: Neutral. Nourishes liver qi; boiling and drinking is good. Also says: Flour with heat toxicity is mostly due to the color of aged stock. Also says, stone powder from the mill is inside, hence the toxicity; but pounding and eating it is good. Also says it is suitable to eat as powder, tonifying the middle and benefiting qi, harmonizing the five zang organs, regulating meridians, and continuing qi vessels. The *Shenghui Fang* uses wheat to make rice, rinsed with water and eaten. Another prescription: Mainly treats women's breast abscesses that do not resolve. Take half a jin of white flour, stir-fry until yellow, boil with vinegar to make a paste, apply to the breast, and it will resolve. The *Waitai Miyao*: Treats dysentery where the stool is white and undigested, caused by cold below. Prescription: Good flour rice porridge, add one cun cube of flour. Also says: This treats diarrhea that has occurred hundreds of times, which even doctors cannot save. The *Qianjin Fang*: Treats jaundice. Drink six or seven he, three or four times day and night, recover in three or four days. Another prescription: Treats fire burns. Roast flour, add Gardenia, or sprinkle, heals. The *Zhouhou Fang*: Food stagnation causing irritability, desire to lie down, and abdominal distension. All injuries/fractures. Cold food steamed buns limit amount, grind into powder, take with wine, effective. The *Jingyan Fang*: Treats epistaxis. Mix flour slurry with cold water, drink immediately heals. Another prescription: Treats engorgement mastitis ("blowing milk"). Boil flour with water like a paste, when nearly cooked add one cup of ash-free wine, stir together, make very hot like thin porridge, drink while hot. Have someone gently press it. The skin on the head is swollen and thin like a steamed bun, shaped like wrapping wood. Chew and apply, heals. Sun Simiao says: Wheat is the grain of the Heart; heart diseases should eat it. Mainly clears heat, stops thirst, promotes urination, and nourishes heart qi. Another prescription: Treats alcohol jaundice. Take three sheng of wheat, pound, mix with a little [something] like golden color, urine is red. Take wheat, pound, extract juice, drink one he. Dietary physicians: Mix with vinegar to make 20-30 bullet-sized pills, swallow three or two while hot. If hiccups persist and eight pills do not settle, make more and swallow before dinner in the evening. The *Guiyi Fang*: Treats abdominal evisceration from metal wounds where intestines cannot be inserted. Five sheng of wheat, nine sheng of water, boil to obtain four sheng, remove dregs, filter through silk, make extremely cold. Have patient hold it in mouth, wound intestines gradually enter. Keep bystanders quiet, do not let patient know, intestines will not enter immediately. Take the four corners of the patient's mat, lift and shake the patient slightly, after a short while intestines will enter spontaneously. Within ten days, do not eat to fullness, eat small amounts frequently. Do not startle, or it will kill. Separate commentary says: Respectfully note that wheat is what people today grind into flour for daily food. Planted in August/September, ripe by Summer Solstice. A variety planted in spring, making flour that does not last a year is good. Barley makes slippery rice, good for feeding horses. Kuangmai, now described as similar to wheat but larger grains, green-yellow color, makes brittle/hard flour, eating too much causes bloating. In Jingdong/Jiangxi and Hebei near the capital, also called Huangke. In Guanzhong there is another Qingke, smaller grains than nearby ones, slightly green, specifically for feeding horses, not seen in medicinal use. However, the names of Barley and Kuangmai are mixed up. The current Kuangmai is similar to wheat but larger, suitable to be called Barley. The current Barley is not similar to wheat, and its skin is brittle/mineral-like, suitable to be called Kuangmai. Using this fears that historical records may differ due to local customs, one must examine carefully.

The *Yanyi* says: Wheat, boil in heavy rain to make decoction and drink, or make into flour paste. Mix with medicinal water to treat heatstroke in humans. For horses with sudden lung heat, also cure by mixing with water and pouring. Chewing raw forms tendons, can stick to birds and insects.