HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsPrepared Common Monkshood Daughter Root

Prepared Common Monkshood Daughter Root

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata

Chinese Name

附子

Category

Roots and rhizomes

Prepared Common Monkshood Daughter RootMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan.

Macroscopic Features

Yan fu zi (salted aconite lateral root): Conical, 4~7cm long, 3~5cm diameter. Externally grayish-black, covered with salt powder; apex has indented sprout scars, tumor-like lateral roots or lateral root scars are present. Heavy in mass, horizontal cut surface is grayish-brown, small cracks, salt powder and a polygonal cambium ring can be seen, which is irregularly arranged on the inside. faint odor, salty taste and numbing to the tongue. Hei shun pian (black sliced aconite lateral root): longitudinal cut slices, wide upper portion and narrow lower portion, 1.7~5cm long, 0.9~3cm wide, 0.2~0.5cm thick. Outer skin is black-brown, cut surface is dark yellow, oily and lustrous, translucent, with longitudinal vascular bundles. Hard and brittle texture, fractured surface is horn-like. faint odor, tasteless. Bai fu pian (white sliced aconite lateral root): longitudinal cut slices, removed outer skin, externally yellowish-white and translucent, about 0.3mm thick. Pao fu pian (processed bai fu pian): shaped similar to bai fu pian, relatively darken color, brittle texture, and slightly raised up. Dan fu pian: longitudinal cut slices, thin, externally grayish-white, hard and brittle texture. faint odor; tasteless, not numbing to the tongue.

Quality Requirements

Yan fu zi: Large, firm, grayish-black, with salt powder externally. Hei shun pian: relatively large, even thickness, hard and brittle, externally oily lustrous. Bai fu pian: large, white, translucent.

Properties

Sweet, acrid; very hot; toxic.

Functions

Returns yang, rescues counter flow, supplements fire, assists yang, dispels cold, relieves pain. ‘First medicinal material of returns yang and rescues counter flow’. Apply to excessive yin refusing yang, loss of yang due to profuse perspiration, vomiting and diarrhea, counter flow limbs, cold limbs and faint pulse, chest and abdominal cold pain, cold diarrhea, beriberi and edema, wind-cold and damp impediment, impotence, cold uterine, vomit and diarrhea due to deficiency and cold, edema due to yin cold, exterior cold due to yang deficiency, yin carbuncle and sore, and all the diseases of chronic cold.

Technical Terms

'Nail horn’: This refers to the tumor-like raised lateral roots surrounding the medicinal material of Yan fu zi.

Origin

The processed product prepared from the daughter root of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx.(Ranunculaceae).

Prepared Common Monkshood Daughter RootHerbs in the formula

Spleen-Strengthening Powder

Action：Warms yang and fortifies the spleen, moves qi, and promotes urination.

Indication：Shi Pi San is indicated for a pattern of yin edema caused by spleen-kidney yang deficiency and retention of water-dampness in the interior. The symptoms are swelling of the lower limbs, cold hands and feet, no thirst, fullness and distention of chest and abdomen, loose stool as well. The tongue coating is white and greasy and the pulse is deep, wiry and slow.

View Details Dampclearing formulas

Spleen-Warming Decoction

Action：Expels cold accumulation through purgation, warms and supplements spleen yang.

Indication：Wen Pi Tang is indicated for cold accumulation due to yang deficiency. Symptoms are abdominal pain and constipation, unstoppable colic around umbilicus, cold hands and feet, a white tongue coating with no thirst, and a deep wiry, slow pulse.

View Details Purgative formulas

Yellow Earth Decoction

Action：Warms yang and fortifies the spleen, nourishes blood and stanches bleeding.

Indication：Huang Tu Tang is indicated for pattern of spleen yang insufficiency, and spleen failing to control the blood. The symptoms are bloody stool, in which the stool comes out first, spitting of blood, nosebleed, flooding and spotting (beng lou) of dark colored menstrual blood, cold four limbs, sallow complexion, a pale tongue with a white coating, and a deep, thin and weak pulse.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Kidney Qi Pill

Action：Supplements the kidney and assists yang.

Indication：Shen Qi Wan is indicated for patterns of kidney yang deficiency manifesting lumbar pain, flaccidity of the lower limbs, cold sensation of the body below the waist, spasm of the lesser abdomen, dysuria or abnormally severe profuse urination at night, impotence, premature ejaculation, a pale, swollen tongue, and a deficient, weak pulse that is deep and thin at the chi position. It is also applicable for patterns of phlegm-retention, edema, xiao ke, beriberi, bladder colic, and dysuria during pregnancy, and so on.

View Details Tonic formulas

Ephedra, Aconite and Asarum Decoction

Action：Assists yang to release the exterior.

Indication：1. This formula is indicated for patterns of yang-deficiency with externally contracted wind-cold. Signs and symptoms include fever, severe aversion to cold that does not improve even with thick layer of clothes and a quilt, lassitude, lethargy, and a deep and tiny pulse.

View Details Exterior-releasing formulas

True Warrior Decoction

Action：Warms yang and promotes urination.

Indication：Zhen Wu Tang is indicated for edema due to yang deficiency. The symptoms are fear of cold, cold limbs, urination disturbance, palpitations under the heart, dizziness, muscular twitching, unsteady standing, pain and heaviness of four limbs, edema especially below the waist, abdominal pain, diarrhea, cough, asthma, vomiting and nausea. The tongue is pale and enlarged with teeth-marks with white and glossy coating, and the pulse is deep and thready.

View Details Dampclearing formulas

Mume Pill

Action：Calms roundworms and relieves pain.

Indication：Wu Mei Wan is used for syncope due to roundworms. The symptoms include paroxysmal pain of the abdomen and stomach cavity, vexatious vomiting, vomiting after eating, vomiting roundworms, cold limbs, and chronic diarrhea or dysentery.

View Details Vermifuge formulas

Rehmannia Drink

Action：Nourishes kidney yin, supplements kidney yang, opens the orifices, and resolves phlegm.

Indication：Di Huang Yin Zi is indicated for yin fei syndrome (aphasia and apraxia) due to kidney qi deficiency and phlegm invading upward manifested as aphasia due to stiffness of the tongue, apraxia of the legs, thirst without a desire to drink, cold legs, and flushed face. The pulse is deep, thin, and weak.

View Details Tonic formulas

Yang-Returning Emergency Decoction

Action：Restores yang to rescue from desertion, boosts qi and engenders pulse.

Indication：This formula treats pathogenic cold directly attacking the three yin channels, causing yang weakness. This pattern is characterized by reversal cold of the limbs, debilitated spirit, desire to sleep, aversion to cold, lying curled up, vomiting and diarrhea, stomach pain, no thirst, shivering, greenish-purple nails and lips, frothy saliva, a pale white tongue body with a white tongue coating, and a deep, feeble or barely perceivable pulse.

View Details Warming interior formulas

Frigid Extremities Decoction

Action：Restores yang to rescue from counterflow.

Indication：Reversal counterflow cold of the four limbs is due to heart and kidney yang deficiency. This pattern is marked by reversal counterflow cold of the four limbs, aversion to cold, lying in bed curled up, debilitated spirit, desire to sleep, pale complexion, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, no thirst, a white, slippery tongue coating, and a feeble, thin pulse.

View Details Warming interior formulas

Right-Restoring Pill

Action：Warms and supplements kidney yang, supplements essence, and boosts marrow.

Indication：You Gui Wan is intended for patterns of kidney yang insufficiency and ming men fire deficiency marked by mental fatigue and general weakness due to aging or chronic disease, fear of cold, hypothermic limbs, sore loins, impotence, spermatorrhea, infertility, decreased food intake, unformed stools, urinary incontinence, a pale tongue with a white coating, and a deep, delayed pulse.

View Details Tonic formulas

Rhubarb and Aconite Decoction

Action：Warms the interior, dissipates cold, promotes defecation, and relieves pain.

Indication：This formula is designed for an excess pattern of cold stagnation in the interior. The symptoms are abdominal pain, constipation, rib-side pain, fever, reversal cold of the hands and feet, a white and greasy tongue coating, and a wiry, tight pulse.

View Details Purgative formulas