HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsRhubarb|Tangute Rhubarb

Rhubarb|Tangute Rhubarb

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Rhei Radix et Rhizoma

Chinese Name

大黄

Category

Roots and rhizomes

Rhubarb|Tangute RhubarbMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan.

Macroscopic Features

Sub-cylindrical, conical, oval or irregular lumps, 3~17cm long, 3~10cm diameter. Peeled outer skin, surface is yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, some with off-white reticular striations or scattered star spots (specific vascular bundle); brown remnants of outer skin, with mostly rope-holes and rough wrinkles. Firm texture, sometimes with a slightly loose center; fractured surface is pale reddish-brown or yellowish-brown and granular. Rhizome has wide pith, with star spots arranged in whorls or scattered; xylem of root is well developed, with radial striations, cambium is obvious, without star spots. Delicately aromatic odor; bitter and slightly astringent taste, sticky and gritty when chewed.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material is firm, with a delicate aromatic odor and a bitter and slightly astringent taste.

Properties

Bitter, cold.

Functions

Relieves stagnation, clears dampn-heat, reduces fire, cools blood, eliminates stasis, relieves toxin. Apply to constipation induced by sthenic fever, heat and distention and full of chest, damp-heat diarrhea, jaundice, strangury, edema and sbdominal fullness, difficulty of urination, conjunctival congestion, swelling pain of throat, sor of mouth and tongue, vomiting due to heat stomach, apostaxis, cough with blood, epistaxis, hematochezia, hematuria, blood stasis, amenorrhea, postpartum stasis and pain, abdominal mass accumulation, trsumatic injury, carbuncle and ulcer due to heat toxin, erysipelas, empyrosis.

Processed Form

Sheng da huang (also called sheng jun): Clean the crude drug, grades with different size, moistens to even inner and outer moisture; slice into flakes or lumps and dry. Jiu da huang: spry sliced da huang with yellow rice wine, moistens with a cover, fry with slow fire, take out and cool (100 jin of da huang slices with 14 jin of yellow rice wine). Da huang tan: da huang slices fried with fast fire till inner and outer surface is burnt brown (keep its nature), spray with seldom water, take out and dry.

Technical Terms

‘Brocade pattern’: This refers to brocade-like reticulations seen on the exterior or the horizontally cut surface of da huang medicinal materials that are formed by interconnected off-white parenchyma, reddish-brown rays, and star spots.

Origin

The dried root and rhizome of Rheum palmatum L. or Rheum tanguticum Maxim. ex Balf, or Rheum officinale Baill. (Polygonaceae).

Rhubarb|Tangute RhubarbHerbs in the formula

Immature Bitter Orange Stagnation-Moving Pill

Action：Promotes digestion, removes stagnation, clears heat, and removes dampness.

Indication：Food accumulation with damp-heat, marked by distending pain of the abdomen and stomach cavity, diarrhea, constipation, dark, scanty urine, a greasy yellow tongue coating, and a deep, forceful pulse.

View Details Digestive formulas

Turtle Shell Decocted Pill

Action：Moves qi, invigorates blood, dispels dampness, dissolves phlegm, softens hardness, and disperses concretions.

Indication：Bie Jia Jian Wan is indicated for chronic malaria with masses below the costal region and abdominal masses. Long-lasting malaria causes masses to gather underneath the costal region. It is called chronic malaria with masses. Symptoms include: Masses underneath the costal region that stay firm when pushed, abdominal pain, weak muscles, decreased appetite, occasional cold or fever, and inhibited menses.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Phlegm-Removing Pill

Action：Drains heat and expels phlegm.

Indication：Gun Tan Wan is used to treat patterns of excess heat and obstinate phlegm. Such patterns manifest many symptoms including mania and palpitations due to fright, severe palpitations and fainting, coughing and panting while expectorating thick phlegm, vertigo and tinnitus, nodules around the neck, wriggling of the mouth and eyes, insomnia or strange dreams, sudden pain of the joints, vexation and stuffiness due to sighing and choking, and constipation. The tongue coating is yellow and thick and the pulse is slippery, rapid and powerful.

View Details Phlegm-expelling 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 Dragon Decoction

Action：Purges by promoting defecation, supplements qi and nourishes the blood.

Indication：This formula may be prescribed for yangming bowel excess with deficiency of qi and blood. This pattern is characterized by either the discharge of clear, watery stool that is pure green or constipation. There is stomach cavity and abdominal distention and pain which refuses pressure, fever, thirst, mental fatigue, shortness of breath, delirious speech, picking at their pajamas, teasing air as if arranging thread, unconsciousness, reversal counterflow cold of the four limbs, a dry yellow or dry black tongue coating, and a weak pulse.

View Details Purgative formulas

Original Qi-Restoring and Blood-Moving Decoction

Action：Invigorates blood and dispels stasis, soothes liver and unblocks the collaterals.

Indication：Fu Yuan Huo Xue Tang is indicated for injuries from falls, fractures, contusions, and strains, as well as, patterns of blood stasis marked by unbearable hypochondriac pain due to obstructive stasis.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Cannabis Fruit Pill (Spleen Confinement Pill)

Action：Moistens the intestines, drains heat, and moves qi to promote defecation.

Indication：Ma Zi Ren Wan is indicated for spleen confinement constipation due to dryness-heat in the stomach and intestines. The symptoms are dry stool, frequent urination, a red tongue body, a dry slightly yellow tongue coating, and a rapid pulse.

View Details Purgative formulas

Diaphragm-Cooling Powder

Action：Drains fire, promotes defecation, clears heat from the upper, and discharges heat through the purgative method.

Indication：This formula is indicated for the heat that has been generated from the constraint of pathogens in the upper jiao and middle jiao. The symptoms are vexing heat in the chest and diaphragm, red complexion, parched lips, vexation and agitation, thirst, mouth and tongue sores, restless sleep, delirium, pharyngeal pain, spitting of blood, nosebleed, constipation, dark urine, and incomplete defecation. The tongue is red with a yellow coating, and the pulse is slippery and rapid.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Virgate Wormwood Decoction

Action：Clears heat, drains dampness, and relieves jaundice.

Indication：Yin Chen Hao Tang is indicated for damp-heat jaundice. The symptoms are bright yellow discoloration of the skin, fever, absence of sweating or only sweating on the head, thirst with a desire to drink, nausea, vomiting, slight abdominal distension, scanty and dark urine, diarrhea, or constipation. The tongue is red with a greasy and yellow coating. The pulse is either deep, rapid or slippery, rapid and powerful.

View Details Dampclearing formulas

Peach Kernel Qi-Guiding Decoction

Action：Breaks up blood and expels stasis through purgation.

Indication：Tao He Cheng Qi Tang is indicated for patterns of blood amassment in the lower jiao. The symptoms are distension and spasmodic pain in the lower abdomen, normal urination, fever at night, menstrual block due to blood stasis, and painful menstruation; there may even be delirium, dysphoria, and mania. The pulse will be deep and excessive or choppy.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Peony Decoction

Action：Clears heat in the large intestine, dries dampness, invigorates the blood, and moves qi.

Indication：This formula is indicated for damp-heat dysentery. The symptoms are dysentery with stool containing pus and blood, abdominal pain, abdominal urgency with rectal heaviness, burning sensation in the anus, scant dark urine, a greasy yellow tongue coating, and a wiry rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing 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

Rhubarb and Cortex Moutan Decoction

Action：Drains heat, breaks up stasis, dissipates masses, and relieves swollen sores.

Indication：Da Huang Mu Dan Tang is indicated for the initial stage of intestinal abscess caused by the stagnation of dampness, heat, and blood stasis. The symptoms are pain which refuses pressure in the right lesser abdomen (lateral aspects of the lower abdomen), pain that can be as severe as strangury or even accompanied with swollen mass in the right lesser abdomen, bent right foot which cannot stretch otherwise the pain being worsened, normal urination, frequent fever, spontaneous sweating, and aversion to cold. The tongue coating is thin, greasy, and yellow. The pulse is slippery and rapid.

View Details Purgative formulas

Major Chest Draining Decoction

Action：Drains heat and expels water through purgation.

Indication：Da Xian Xiong Tang is indicated for thoracic accumulation caused by the binding of water and heat. The symptoms are pain that refuses pressure below heart, hardness in the diseased location, or there is a full, hard, and painful region below the heart and above the lesser abdomen and touching is not tolerated. Other accompanying symptoms are shortness of breath, vexation, constipation, and mild tidal fever in the afternoon. The tongue is red with a yellow greasy or watery coating, and the pulse is deep and tight or deep, slow, and powerful.

View Details Purgative formulas

Major Bupleurum Decoction

Action：Harmonizes shaoyang and drains interior heat bind.

Indication：This formula treats a combined shaoyang-yangming pattern characterized by alternating chills and fever, fullness and discomfort in the chest and rib-side, frequent vomiting, constant vexation, epigastric pi and hardness or epigastric fullness and pain, constipation or diarrhea with fever, a yellow tongue coating, and a powerful wiry, rapid pulse.

View Details Harmonizing formulas

Major Purgative Decoction

Action：Drastically purges heat accumulation.

Indication：1. Excess heat in the yangming fu-organs. The symptoms are constipation with frequent flatulence, gastric stuffiness and abdominal fullness, abdominal pain that feels worse with pressure, and the abdomen is tense and firm when pressed. In severe cases, there may be tidal fever, delirious speech, and profuse sweating from the palms and soles. The tongue coating is dry and yellow with prickles, or dry and parched black with cracks. The pulse is deep and excessive.

View Details Purgative formulas

Ten Charred Substances Powder

Action：Cools blood and stanches bleeding.

Indication：Shi Hui San is indicated for hemorrhages due to blood heat. Examples include vomiting of blood, spitting of blood, expectoration of blood, coughing of blood, nosebleed. If the color of the blood is bright red, the situation is acute and severe. The tongue body is red and the pulse is rapid.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Eight Corrections Powder

Action：Clears heat and subdues fire, promotes urination, and relieves strangury.

Indication：Ba Zheng San is indicated for damp-heat strangury. The symptoms are frequent urgent urination, odynuria, dribbling urination, dark yellow urine, retention of urine in severe cases, cramps and fullness of abdomen, and a dry mouth and throat. The coating is yellow and greasy and the pulse is slippery and rapid.

View Details Dampclearing formulas