Chinese herbal therapy

Chinese herbs have been used for centuries. Among the earliest literature are lists of prescriptions for specific ailments, exemplified by the manuscript "Recipes for 52 Ailments", found in the Mawangdui tombs which were sealed in 168 BC. The first traditionally recognized herbalist is Shénnóng (神农, lit. "Divine Farmer"), a mythical god-like figure, who is said to have lived around 2800 BC. He allegedly tasted hundreds of herbs and imparted his knowledge of medicinal and poisonous plants to farmers. His Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīng (神农本草经, Shennong's Materia Medica) is considered as the oldest book on Chinese herbal medicine. It classifies 365 species of roots, grass, woods, furs, animals and stones into three categories of herbal medicine:

• The "superior" category, which includes herbs effective for multiple diseases and are mostly responsible for maintaining and restoring the body balance. They have almost no unfavorable side-effects.
• A category comprising tonics and boosters, whose consumption must not be prolonged.
• A category of substances which must usually be taken in small doses, and for the treatment of specific diseases only.

The original text of Shennong's Materia Medica has been lost; however, there are extant translations. The true date of origin is believed to fall into the late Western Han dynasty(i.e., the first century BC).

The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses was collated by Zhang Zhongjing, also sometime at the end of the Han dynasty, between 196 and 220 CE. Focusing on drug prescriptions, it was the first medical work to combine Yinyang and the Five Phases with drug therapy.[8] This formulary was also the earliest Chinese medical text to group symptoms into clinically useful "patterns" (zheng 證) that could serve as targets for therapy. Having gone through numerous changes over time, it now circulates as two distinct books: the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Casket, which were edited separately in the eleventh century, under the Song dynasty.

Succeeding generations augmented these works, as in the Yaoxing Lun (simplified Chinese: 药性论; traditional Chinese: 藥性論; literally "Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs"), a 7th-century Tang Dynasty Chinese treatise on herbal medicine.

Arguably the most important of these later works is the Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu:本草綱目) compiled during the Ming dynasty by Li Shizhen, which is still used today for consultation and reference

Specific function

These categories mainly include:exterior-releasing or exterior-resolvingheat-clearingdownward-draining or precipitatingwind-damp-dispellingdampness-transformingpromoting the movement of water and percolating dampness or dampness-percolatinginterior-warmingqi-regulating or qi-rectifyingdispersing food accumulation or food-dispersingworm-expellingstopping bleeding or blood-stanchingquickening the Blood and dispelling stasis or blood-quickening or Blood-moving.transforming phlegm, stopping coughing and calming wheezing or phlegm-transforming and cough- and panting-suppressingSpirit-quieting or Shen-calming.calming the Liver and expelling wind or Liver-calming and wind-extinguishingorifice-openingsupplementing or tonifying: this includes qi-supplementing, blood-nourishing, yin-enriching, and yang-fortifying.astriction-promoting or securing and astringingvomiting-inducingsubstances for external application

50 fundamental herbs

In Chinese herbology, there are 50 "fundamental" herbs, as given in the reference text, although these herbs are not universally recognized as such in other texts. The herbs are

Binomial nomenclature	Chinese name	English Common Name (when available)
Agastache rugosa	huò xiāng (藿香)	Korean Mint
Alangium chinense	bā jiǎo fēng (八角枫)	Chinese Alangium Root
Anemone chinensis (syn. Pulsatilla chinensis)	bái tóu weng (白头翁)	Chinese anemone
Anisodus tanguticus	shān làng dàng (山莨菪)
Ardisia japonica	zǐ jīn niú (紫金牛)	Marlberry
Aster tataricus	zǐ wǎn (紫菀)	Tatar aster, Tartar aster
Astragalus propinquus (syn. Astragalus membranaceus)	huáng qí (黄芪) or běi qí (北芪)	Chinese astragalus
Camellia sinensis	chá shù (茶树) or chá yè (茶叶)	Tea Plant
Cannabis sativa	dà má (大麻)	Cannabis
Carthamus tinctorius	hóng huā (红花)	Safflower
Cinnamomum cassia	ròu gùi (肉桂)	Cassia, Chinese Cinnamon
Cissampelos pareira	xí shēng téng (锡生藤) or (亞乎奴)	Velvet leaf
Coptis chinensis	duǎn è huáng lián (短萼黄连)	Chinese Goldthread
Corydalis yanhusuo	yán hú suǒ (延胡索)	Chinese Poppy of Yan Hu Sou
Croton tiglium	bā dòu (巴豆)	Purging Croton
Daphne genkwa	yuán huā (芫花)	Lilac Daphne
Datura metel	yáng jīn huā (洋金花)	Devil's Trumpet
Datura stramonium	zǐ huā màn tuó luó (紫花曼陀萝)	Jimson Weed
Dendrobium nobile	shí hú (石斛) or shí hú lán (石斛兰)	Noble Dendrobium
Dichroa febrifuga	cháng shān (常山)	Blue Evergreen Hydrangea, Chinese Quinine
Ephedra sinica	cǎo má huáng (草麻黄)	Chinese ephedra
Eucommia ulmoides	dù zhòng (杜仲)	Hardy rubber tree
Euphorbia pekinensis	dà jǐ (大戟)	Peking spurge
Flueggea suffruticosa (formerly suffruticosa)	yī yè qiū (一叶秋)
Forsythia suspensa	lián qiáo (连翘)	Weeping Forsythia
Gentiana loureiroi	dì dīng (地丁)
	zào jiá (皂荚)	Chinese Honeylocust
Glycyrrhiza uralensis	gān cǎo (甘草)	Licorice
Hydnocarpus anthelminticus (syn. H. anthelminthica)	dà fēng zǐ (大风子)	Chaulmoogra tree
Ilex purpurea	dōng qīng (冬青)	Purple Holly
Leonurus japonicus	yì mǔ cǎo (益母草)	Chinese motherwort
Ligusticum wallichii	chuān xiōng (川芎)	Szechwan lovage
Lobelia chinensis	bàn biān lián (半边莲)	Creeping Lobelia
Phellodendron amurense	huáng bǎi (黄柏)	Amur cork tree
Platycladus orientalis (formerly Thuja orientalis)	cè bǎi (侧柏)	Chinese Arborvitae
Pseudolarix amabilis	jīn qián sōng (金钱松)	Golden Larch
Psilopeganum sinense	shān má huáng (山麻黄)	Naked rue
Pueraria lobata	gé gēn (葛根)	Kudzu
Rauwolfia serpentina	shégēnmù (蛇根木), cóng shégēnmù (從蛇根木) or yìndù shé mù (印度蛇木)	Sarpagandha, Indian Snakeroot
Rehmannia glutinosa	dì huáng (地黄) or gān dìhuáng (干地黄)	Chinese Foxglove
Rheum officinale	yào yòng dà huáng (药用大黄)	Chinese or Eastern rhubarb
Rhododendron tsinghaiense	Qīng hǎi dù juān (青海杜鹃)
Saussurea costus	yún mù xiāng (云木香)	Costus root
Schisandra chinensis	wǔ wèi zi (五味子)	Chinese Magnolia Vine
Scutellaria baicalensis	huáng qín (黄芩)	Baikal Skullcap
Stemona tuberosa	bǎi bù (百部)
Stephania tetrandra	fáng jǐ (防己)	Stephania Root
Styphnolobium japonicum (formerly Sophora japonica)	huái (槐), huái shù (槐树), or huái huā (槐花)	Pagoda Tree
Trichosanthes kirilowii	guā lóu (栝楼)	Chinese Cucumber
Wikstroemia indica	liāo gē wáng (了哥王)	Indian stringbush

Other Chinese herbs

In addition to the above, many other Chinese herbs and other substances are in common use, and these include: