This product is the fruit spike of the perennial herb Prunella (Prunella vulgaris L.) from the Lamiaceae family. It is produced throughout mainland China, mainly in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Henan. The fruit spikes are harvested when they are half-dried in summer and then sun-dried.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter and acrid, cold. act on liver and gallbladder channels.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Clearing liver heat and dispersing stagnation.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for red eye swelling and pain, headache, vertigo. This product is bitter and cold in nature, with the function of clearing and draining liver fire, subduing swelling to relieve pain. When liver fire is cleared, the yin blood nourishes upwards, hence it also has the effect of nourishing blood and improving vision. Used for up-flaming of liver fire, red eye swelling and pain, headache, vertigo, it is often used in combination with Chrysanthemum Flower, Cassia Seed, etc.; also used for liver yin deficiency, eyeball pain, especially severe at night, often used in combination with Chinese Angelica, Barbary Wolfberry Fruit, etc.
2. Used for scrofula and goiter. This product is pungent to disperse nodules and bitter to drain heat, mainly entering the liver meridian, with a good effect of clearing liver and dispersing nodules. Used for liver depression transforming into fire, phlegm-fire accumulation, forming scrofula, goiter, and other diseases in the neck. For treating scrofula, it is often used in combination with Paniculate Bolbostemma, Scrophularia Root, oyster shell; for treating goiter, it is often used in combination with Sea Clam Shell, kelp, seaweed, etc.
3. In addition, the liver fire clearing and draining effect of this product is commonly used in modern times for hypertension with liver heat and yang hyperactivity, with the effect of clearing liver and lowering blood pressure.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing：「Mainly treats cold and heat, scrofula, scrofulous sores, head sores, breaks up hard masses, disperses goiter and stagnant qi, and treats foot swelling and fixed arthralgia.」
2. Bencao YanyiSupplement：「Nourishes and replenishes blood vessels.」
3. Bencao Gangmu：「Lou Quan-shan said: Prunella treats eyeball pain, especially severe at night, with miraculous effect; or when bitter and cold medicines are applied and the condition worsens, it is also miraculously effective. This is because the eyeball is connected to the eye connector, which is part of the liver system and belongs to the Jueyin meridian. The worsening at night and with bitter and cold medicines is due to the fact that night and cold are also yin. Prunella, possessing pure yang energy, nourishes the Jueyin blood vessels, thus treating this condition miraculously, using yang to treat yin.」

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 10-15g, or prepare into a paste for consumption.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Use with caution in cases of spleen-stomach weakness.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains triterpenoid saponins, coffee bean acid, alkaloids, and water-soluble salts in its whole herb.

• The stems, leaves, flower spikes, and whole herb of Prunella all have antihypertensive effects, but there is no consensus on whether these effects are related to the potassium salts it contains or its vasodilatory effects.
• Crystal A of Prunella extract (a mixture of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid) and the total saponins with A as the main aglycone have antihypertensive activity and antiarrhythmic effects.
• Prunella decoction has varying degrees of inhibitory effects on dysentery bacillus, cold-damage disease bacillus, cholera vibrio, large intestine bacillus, human-type subcutaneous node bacillus, and staphylococcus in vitro.
• The decoction can stimulate the uterus and enhance intestinal peristalsis.
• The decoction has inhibitory effects on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma and sarcoma 180.