This product is the rhizome of the perennial herbaceous plant of the Apiaceae family, Chinese Lovage (Ligusticum sinensis Oliv.) and Liao Chinese Lovage (Ligusticum jeholense Nakaiet Kitag.). It is mainly produced in Hunan, Sichuan, Liaoning, and Hebei. It is harvested in spring, dried, sliced, and used raw.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid, warm. act on bladder and liver channels.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Dispelling wind, dispersing cold, overcoming dampness, and relieving pain.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for wind-cold common cold, vertex headache. This product is pungent, warm, fragrant, and dry in nature, with both flavor and property ascending, and its medicinal strength is vigorous. It is good at reaching the vertex and excels at dispersing wind-cold-dampness evils of the Great Yang meridian. Therefore, it is used to treat Great Yang wind-cold, where the pathogen ascends along the meridian, manifesting as headache, nasal congestion, and severe vertex pain. It is often used together with Notopterygium, Atractylodes Rhizome, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome, and other wind-dispelling pain-relieving herbs, such as Magic Atractylodes Powder. If there is external contraction of wind-cold-dampness evils with generalized body pain, it is often combined with Saposhnikovia Root, Pubescent Angelica, Chastetree Fruit, etc., to dispel wind, disperse cold, and eliminate dampness to relieve pain, such as Notopterygium Overcoming Dampness Decoction.
2. Used for wind-cold-dampness impediment. This product can remove cold-dampness evils from the skin and meridians and dispel wind to relieve pain. It is often used with Pubescent Angelica, Saposhnikovia Root, Chinese Clematis Root, Atractylodes Rhizome, and other wind-damp-dispelling medicinals.
3. In addition, it can also be selected for cold stagnation in the liver meridian causing epigastric and abdominal pain.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Zhenzhunang: "Treats great yang headache, vertex pain, Great Cold (24th solar term) affecting the brain, pain extending to the teeth and cheeks."
2. Bencaozheng Yi: "Chinese Lovage has a pungent taste and warm qi, ascending and dispersing, specifically targeting the wind-cold dampness of the great yang and taiyin, and can soothe and regulate the stagnation of the jueyin. Its functions are similar to those of Asarum, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome, and Notopterygium."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 3-10g.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Avoid taking for blood deficiency headache.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains volatile oils, with the main components being 3-butylphthalide and cnidilide. The root of Chinese Lovage contains 1.5% volatile oil. The neutral oil of Chinese Lovage has sedative, analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory effects. It can also inhibit the smooth muscles of the intestines and uterus, significantly slow down the rate of oxygen consumption, prolong the survival time of mice, increase tissue tolerance to hypoxia, and counteract myocardial ischemia caused by posterior pituitary hormones. The alcohol extract has hypotensive effects and exhibits antibacterial activity against common dermatophytes that cause skin diseases.