Tatarinow Sweerflag Rhizome

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.

Flat cylindrical, slightly curved, often has branches, 3~20cm long, 0.3~1cm diameter. Externally brown, brownish-red or grayish-yellow, rough, often branched, internode is 2~8mm long; upper side has slightly triangular leaf scar, left and right alternating arrangment, lower side has spotted root scars, joint sometimes has remnants of hairy scale-like leaf bases. Hard and brittle texture, fractured surface is fibrous, off-white or slightly red; horizontal cut surface has obvious inner cortex ring, often can see “vein spots” and brown oil spots. Aromatic odor, bitter slightly acrid taste.

Superior medicinal material is thick, with off-white fractured surface, and potent aromatic odor.

Acrid, bitter, warm

Transforms dampness, opens stomach, opens orifices, sweeps phlegm, arouses spirit, sharpens mind. Apply to abdominal fullness and anorexia, aphasic diarrhea, coma epilepsy, amnesia and deafness.

'Veins spots’: This refers to fibers and vascular bundles. After the medicinal material is broken, its fibers or vascular bundles present as uneven filaments that look similar to the tendons and vessels of the human body, thus they are called “veins”. When they appear in an orderly arrangement on the cut surface of the medicinal material, little dotted marks can be seen that are called ‘vein dots (jin mai dian)’. Relatively large marks from vascular bundles area also called ‘vein striations (jin mai wen)’.