Elecampane Inula Root

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang, Hebei.

Cylindrical or long conical, slightly curved or wrinkled, 10~20cm long, 0.5~2cm diameter. Externally dark brown, with longitudinal wrinkles and unobvious horizontal lenticels, head is slightly enlarged; apex has slightly indented stem scars and brown leaf stem remnants. Firm texture, hard to break, fractured surface is not flat, slightly horn-like, milky-white to pale yellowish-brown, cambium is obvious, xylem is slightly radial arranged. faint odor, slightly bitter with a hot-spicy taste.

Superior medicinal material is thick and strong, firm, with potent aromatic odor.

Acrid, bitter, warm.

Supplements spleen, harmonizes stomach, adjusts qi, relives melancholy, relieves pain, calms fetus. Apply to chest and abdominal swelling pain, vomiting and diarrhea, injury in chest, branching qi and pain, threatened miscarriage.