This product is the rhizome of the perennial herb Bistort Rhizome from the Polygonaceae family. It is mainly produced in Northeast China, North China, and regions such as Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hubei. It is harvested before sprouting in spring or when the above-ground parts wither in autumn, then dried, fibrous roots removed, sliced, and used raw.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter, cool. act on liver and large intestine channels.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Clearing heat and removing toxin, pacifying liver and extinguishing wind, cooling blood and stopping dysentery.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for scrofula, poisonous snake bite. This product is bitter and purgative, clearing heat and removing toxin, dispersing swelling and resolving masses. It is commonly used by mashing and applying to the affected area, or decocting for external washing. It can also be used in combination with other heat-clearing and detoxicating medicinals.
2. Used for febrile convulsion and tetanus. This product is bitter and cool, entering the liver, calming fright and extinguishing wind. It is often combined with Uncaria, whole scorpion, Stiff Silkworm, Cow-Bezoar, and other combination of medicinals.
3. Used for dysentery with bloody pus, dampness-heat diarrhea. This product clears heat and removes toxin, cools blood and stops dysentery, and also astringes intestines and checks diarrhea. It can be made into tablets alone, or combined with Lonicera charcoal, Chinese pulsatilla root, ash bark, Skullcap Root, etc.
4. In addition, this product can also drain dampness and can be used for edema, dysuria, and other symptoms.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Bencao Tujing: "Pound into powder, apply to reduce swelling."
2. Chinese Materia Medica: "Clearing heat and removing toxins, dispersing nodules and reducing swelling, treating febrile diseases, fright epilepsy, convulsions of hands and feet, tetanus, abscesses and scrofula, snake and insect bites."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

3-12 grams. Decoct for oral use. Apply an appropriate amount externally.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains tannins, starch, sugars, pectin, gums, mucilage, resins, etc. In vitro tests have shown that bistort rhizome inhibits Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic streptococcus, meningococcus, dysentery bacillus, cold-damage disease bacillus, paracold-damage disease bacillus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis. External use has a certain hemostatic effect.