Production RegionsPrimarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi.
Macroscopic FeaturesCylindrical or slightly fat curved shape. 15~40cm long, 0.8~2cm diameter. Externally reddish-brown or yellowish-brown, rough, with numerous wrinkled longitudinal lines and yellowish-white fiber bundles. Brittle texture, easily broken, fractured surface is reddish-brown, with numerous exposed fiber bundles, scattered fiber bundles, with round lustrous oil spots. Fragrant odor, acrid, slightly bitter taste.
Quality RequirementsSuperior medicinal material is large, firm, reddish-brown, with potent fragrance.
PropertiesBitter, acrid, warm
FunctionsDispels wind-damp, comforts sinew, invigorates channels, stops pain, eliminates swelling. Apply to wind-damp impediment, arthralgia, and flaccidity of extremities, traumatic injury, stomachache, abscess and sore swelling.
Technical Terms'One wrapped needle’: This refers to the numerous yellow fiber bundles inside the medicinal material; when broken, the fiber bundles are numerous, obvious, and irregular, presenting like a needle.
OriginThe dried rhizome of Homalomena occulta (Lour.) Schott.(Araceae)