Willowleaf Swallowwort Rhizome and Root

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and north areas.

Root is thin and curved to clumps, 1~10cm long; numerous presents hairy; externally brown or purple brown, with thin curly wrinkles and numerous small rootlets. Rhizome is tubular, thin, long, with joints, slightly curved, 4~15cm long, 1.5~5mm diameter, externally pale yellow to yellowish-brown, with thin longitudinal wrinkles; enlarged joints, often with branches and concentrated rootlets; remnants grayish-green or purple brown over ground stem; hard and brittle texture, easily broken; fractured surface is nearly round, with a hollow center and membranous pith. Hard and brittle texture; fractured surface is off-white; faint odor; tastes sweet.

Superior medicinal material is thick and has long rootlets, a white fractured surface, and a powdery consistency.

Acrid, bitter, slightly warm.

Downbears qi, disperses phlegm, relieves cough. Apply to cough, excessive phlegm, pulmonary deficiency. According to warm but not strongly dry, applied to disperse phlegm and downbears qi to relieve cough, whatever cold, heat, external, internal, acute or chronic condition.