HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsAdhesive Rehmannia Root Tuber

Adhesive Rehmannia Root Tuber

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Rehmanniae Radix

Chinese Name

地黄

Category

Roots and rhizomes

Adhesive Rehmannia Root TuberMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei.

Macroscopic Features

Xian di huang: Fusiform or cylindrical strip-shaped, 8~24cm long. Outer skin is thin, externally pale reddish-yellow, and with curved longitudinal wrinkles, scars of bud, horizontal long lenticels and irregular scars. Fleshy and easily broken; fractured surface is pale yellowish-white, orange-red oil spots can be seen, xylem is yellowish-white; faint odor; slightly sweet and bitter. Sheng di huang: irregular spherical or long spherical lumps, 6~12cm long, 3~6cm diameter; externally grayish-brown or grayish-black, whole body is wrinkled with irregular horizontal curves; thin ones are often flake-shaped, slightly flat and twisted; soft texture, firm after dried, heavy, difficult to break; fractured surface is smooth, purple-black or brownish-black and lustrous, oily and sticky; faintly aromatic odor; slightly sweet. Shu di huang: irregular lumps, segments, uneven size and thickness; externally brownish-black and lustrous and sticky; soft texture and pliable, difficult to break; fractured surface is brownish-black and lustrous; sweet taste.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material of Xian di huang is reddish-yellow, thick and strong. Sheng di huang is large, heavy, brownish-black oily fractured surface and sweet. Shu di huang is large with brownish-black inner and outer surface and lustrous.

Properties

Xian di huang: sweet, bitter; cold. Sheng di huang: sweet, cold. Shu di huang: sweet, slightly warm.

Functions

Xian di huang: Clears heat, engenders fluids, cools blood, stops bleeding. Sheng di haung: clears heat, cools blood, nourishes yin, and engenders fluids. Shu di huang: nourishes yin, supplements bloods, boosts essence, and fills the marrow. Apply to yin deficiency and hectic fever, diabetes, hematemesis, non-traumatic hemorrhage, metrorrhagia, irregular menstruation, threatened miscarriage, diarrhea due to yin damage.

Processed Form

Shu di huang (Rehmanniae radix praeparata): Dried di huang stir with 30% yellow rice wine, steam to black and moisture, take out and dry. Or steam dried di huang for 8 hours and moisten overnight, resteam 4~8 hours on the next day and moisten overnight, take out and sun-dry 80% dry, slice and dry. Irregular lupms, black externally and enternally, wrinkles on outer surface. Soft texture; fractured surface is moisture, lustrous oily lumps in the center, very sticky; sweet taste. Nourishes yin, supplements blood. Apply to yin deficiency and anemia, relative weakness in the loins and knees, hectic fever and bone steaming, seminal emission, metrorrhagia, irregular menstrual periods, diabetes, frequent urination, deafness, and dizziness. Charcoal shu di huang: put shu di huang into calcined pot about 80% full and cover with one pot, sealed with yellow mud, press with heavy stuff, calcine with slow and fast fire till the paper on the cover pot turned into burnt yellow, block the fire, cool and take out; or straightly fry to charcoal. Promotes stop-bleeding and astringing functions.

Origin

The fresh or dried tuberous rhizome of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch.(Scrophulariabeae)

Adhesive Rehmannia Root TuberHerbs in the formula

Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction

Action：Clears and drains excessive fire of the liver and gallbladder, and clears damp-heat in the liver channel.

Indication：1. Flaming up of excessive fire of the liver and gallbladder, which manifests as headache and red eyes, pain in the rib-side, bitter taste in the mouth, deafness, swelling of the ears, a red tongue with a yellow coating, and a forceful wiry, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Pubescent Angelica and Mistletoe Decoction

Action：Dispels wind-dampness, relieves pain, boosts the liver and kidney, supplements qi and blood.

Indication：This formula is indicated for long-term bi syndrome associated with deficiency of the liver and kidney and insufficiency of qi and blood. The symptoms include pain and flaccidity of the waist and knees, disorder of flexion and extension of the joints, numbness, fear of cold with a preference for warmth, palpitations, and shortness of breath. The tongue is pale with a white coating and the pulse is thready and weak.

View Details Dampclearing formulas

Red-Guiding Powder

Action：Clears heart fire, nourishes yin, and promotes urination.

Indication：This formula is indicated for intense heat in the heart channel. The symptoms are vexing heat in the chest, sores in the mouth and tongue, thirst, red complexion, preference for cold drinks, difficult and painful urination that is dark, a red tongue, and a rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Yin-Nourishing and Lung-Clearing Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and clears lung heat, resolves toxins and improves the condition of the throat.

Indication：Yang Yin Qing Fei Tang is indicated for diphtheria due to yin deficiency and dryness-heat. The symptoms include white, curd-like spots in the throat that are hard to scrape off, a swollen and sore throat, with or without fever at the beginning of the disease, dry nose and lips, with or without coughing, raspy breathing resembling wheezing, a rapid, forceless or thin, rapid pulse.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Humor-Increasing Decoction

Action：Increases body fluids to moisten dryness.

Indication：Zeng Ye Tang is indicated for yangming warm-febrile disease with fluid inadequacy and constipation. The symptoms are constipation and thirst. The tongue is red and dry, and the pulse is thin and rapid or deep and forceless.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Chinese Angelica Six Yellow Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin, drains fire, consolidates the exterior, and arrests sweating.

Indication：This formula is indicated for night sweating caused by yin deficiency and intense fire. The symptoms are night sweating with fever, red complexion, vexation, thirst and dry lips, dry stool, dark urine, a red tongue body with a yellow coating, and a rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Yellow Earth Decoction

Action：Warms yang and fortifies the spleen, nourishes blood and stanches bleeding.

Indication：Huang Tu Tang is indicated for pattern of spleen yang insufficiency, and spleen failing to control the blood. The symptoms are bloody stool, in which the stool comes out first, spitting of blood, nosebleed, flooding and spotting (beng lou) of dark colored menstrual blood, cold four limbs, sallow complexion, a pale tongue with a white coating, and a deep, thin and weak pulse.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Harmonious Yang Decoction

Action：Warms yang and reinforces blood, disperses cold and unblocks stagnation.

Indication：This formula is indicated for yin carbuncles. For example, a deep-rooted abscess attached to the bone (suppurative osteomyelitis), sloughing deep-rooted abscess (digital gangrene), multiple abscesses, phlegm nodules, and arthroncus of the knee due to patterns of yin-cold. The affected area will have diffuse swelling without discoloration of the skin, aching pain without fever, lack of thirst, a pale tongue body with a white coating, and a deep, thin pulse or slow, thin pulse.

View Details Warming interior formulas

Kidney Qi Pill

Action：Supplements the kidney and assists yang.

Indication：Shen Qi Wan is indicated for patterns of kidney yang deficiency manifesting lumbar pain, flaccidity of the lower limbs, cold sensation of the body below the waist, spasm of the lesser abdomen, dysuria or abnormally severe profuse urination at night, impotence, premature ejaculation, a pale, swollen tongue, and a deficient, weak pulse that is deep and thin at the chi position. It is also applicable for patterns of phlegm-retention, edema, xiao ke, beriberi, bladder colic, and dysuria during pregnancy, and so on.

View Details Tonic formulas

Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction

Action：Clears heat, resolves toxins, cools the blood, and dissolves stasis.

Indication：Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is indicated for the heat entering the blood level. The manifestations include:

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Antelope Horn and Uncaria Decoction

Action：Cools the liver and extinguishes wind, and increases fluids to relax the sinews.

Indication：Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang is indicated for a pattern of exuberant heat stirring wind. The symptoms are persistent high fever, irritability, restlessness, twitching and spasms of the extremities, convulsions, coma, a dark red tongue body with a dry tongue coating, or a burnt tongue with prickles, and a wiry, rapid pulse.

View Details Wind-calming formulas

Ying Level Heat-Clearing Decoction

Action：Clears heat from the ying level, resolves toxins, vents heat from the ying level, and nourishes yin.

Indication：This formula is indicated for the heat in the ying level. The symptoms are fever aggravated at night, vexation and sleeplessness, occasional delirious speech, thirst or not, inconspicuous macules and papules, crimson colored, dry tongue, and a thready, rapid pulse.

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Stomach-Heat-Clearing Powder

Action：Drains stomach fire and cools the blood.

Indication：This formula is indicated for toothaches caused by stomach fire. The symptoms are toothache radiating to the head, aversion to heat and a preference for cold on the teeth, bad breath that is hot, heat in the face, thirst, gingival atrophy bleeding, redness, swelling, and ulcers in the gum, swelling and pain in lips, tongue, and cheeks, a red tongue with a yellow coating, and a slippery, rapid pulse.

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Stomach-Boosting Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and boosts the stomach.

Indication：Yi Wei Tang is indicated for stomach yin damage. The symptoms include a burning sensation and dull pain in the gastric cavity, hunger with no desire to eat, dry mouth and throat, and dry stool. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thready and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Wind-Dispersing Powder

Action：Scatters wind and eliminates dampness, clears heat and nourishes the blood.

Indication：Xiao Feng San is indicated for rubella and eczema. The symptoms are itching skin, red rashes that affect a large part of the body, fluids that leak upon scratching, a white or yellow tongue coating, and a superficial, rapid pulse.

View Details Wind-calming formulas

Sweet Wormwood and Turtle Shell Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and vents heat.

Indication：This formula is indicated for patterns where yin has been damaged along with latent pathogens. The symptoms are night fever that abates at dawn, fever that abates without sweating, a red tongue body with a scanty coating, and a thready, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction

Action：Boosts qi, enriches yin, unblocks yang, and restores the pulse.

Indication：1. Zhi Gan Cao Tang is indicated for patterns of yin-blood and yang-qi deficiency with malnutrition of the heart vessel. The symptoms are intermittent or knotted pulse, palpitations, weakness, emaciation, weak breathing, etc. The tongue is peeled with a scanty or dry and thin coating.

View Details Tonic formulas

Blood Stasis-Expelling Decoction

Action：Invigorates blood, dissolves stasis, and moves qi to relieve pain.

Indication：Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang is indicated for blood stasis in the chest. Symptoms include chest pain, headache, and chronic stabbing pain at a fixed location, continual hiccups or choking when drinking water, nausea, internal heat, dizziness, severe palpitations, insomnia, dreaminess, impatience, irascibility, tidal fever at night, dark lips or eyes, a dark red tongue with ecchymosis or purple spots, and a choppy or wiry, tight pulse.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Lily Bulb Metal-Securing Decoction

Action：Enriches and nourishes the lung and kidney, relieves cough and dissolves phlegm.

Indication：Bai He Gu Jin Tang is indicated for a pattern of lung-kidney yin deficiency with deficiency fire flaming upward. The symptoms are coughing, labored breathing, blood in the sputum, dry and sore throat, dizziness and blurred vision, afternoon tidal fever. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thready and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Cinnabar Mind-Calming Pill

Action：Tranquilizes the heart and calms the mind, clears heat and nourishes the blood.

Indication：Zhu Sha an Shen Wan is indicated for insufficient yin-blood caused by the hyperactivity of heart fire. The symptoms are insomnia, profuse dreaming, (severe) palpitations, restlessness, and vexation. The tongue tip is red, and the pulse is thin and rapid.

View Details Sedative and tranquilizing formulas

Rehmannia Drink

Action：Nourishes kidney yin, supplements kidney yang, opens the orifices, and resolves phlegm.

Indication：Di Huang Yin Zi is indicated for yin fei syndrome (aphasia and apraxia) due to kidney qi deficiency and phlegm invading upward manifested as aphasia due to stiffness of the tongue, apraxia of the legs, thirst without a desire to drink, cold legs, and flushed face. The pulse is deep, thin, and weak.

View Details Tonic formulas

Jade Lady Decoction

Action：Clears stomach heat and nourishes kidney yin.

Indication：This formula is indicated for stomach heat and yin deficiency. The symptoms are toothache, headache, loose teeth, gingival bleeding, vexing heat and thirst, a red tongue with a dry yellow coating, xiao ke, and swift digestion with rapid hungering.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Left-Restoring Pill

Action：Enriches kidney yin, supplements essence, and boosts marrow.

Indication：Zuo Gui Wan is used to treat patterns of true yin deficiency marked by dizziness, blurred vision, soreness of the waist and knees, seminal emission, efflux diarrhea, spontaneous sweating, night sweat, a dry mouth and tongue, a red tongue with a scanty coating, and a thready pulse.

View Details Tonic formulas

Four Substances Decoction

Action：Supplements and regulates the blood.

Indication：Si Wu Tang is used to treat patterns of ying-blood deficiency and stagnation manifesting dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations, insomnia, a lusterless complexion, menstrual irregularities, oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea, abdominal pain around the navel or mass (s) formed within the abdomen, a pale tongue, pale lips and nails, a thready, wiry pulse or thready, choppy pulse.

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Right-Restoring Pill

Action：Warms and supplements kidney yang, supplements essence, and boosts marrow.

Indication：You Gui Wan is intended for patterns of kidney yang insufficiency and ming men fire deficiency marked by mental fatigue and general weakness due to aging or chronic disease, fear of cold, hypothermic limbs, sore loins, impotence, spermatorrhea, infertility, decreased food intake, unformed stools, urinary incontinence, a pale tongue with a white coating, and a deep, delayed pulse.

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Celestial Emperor Heart-Supplementing Elixir

Action：Enriches yin and clears heat, nourishes blood and calms the mind.

Indication：Deficiency of yin and insufficiency of blood have lead to the disturbance of the mind. Symptoms include palpitations, vexation, insomnia, mental fatigue, forgetfulness, nocturnal emission, feverish feeling in palms and soles, aphtha, a sore mouth and tongue, and dry stool. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thin and rapid.

View Details Sedative and tranquilizing formulas

Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill

Action：Supplements and nourishes the liver and kidney.

Indication：Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is indicated for liver-kidney yin deficiency. The symptoms are soreness of the waist and knees, dizziness, tinnitus, deafness, night sweat, seminal emission, xiao ke (wasting-thirst), steaming bone fever, feverish feeling in the palms and soles, a dry mouth and throat, loosening of the teeth, heel pain, dribbling of urine, and unclosed fontanel in children. The tongue is red with scanty coating and the pulse is deep, thready, and rapid.

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Field Thistle Drink

Action：Cools blood and stanches bleeding, promotes urination and relieves strangury.

Indication：Blood strangury or bloody urine is due to the accumulation of heat in the lower jiao. This condition is marked by blood in the urine, and frequent painful urination that is hot with an unsmooth stream. The tongue is red and the pulse is rapid.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Major Yin-Supplementing Pill

Action：Enriches yin and subdues fire.

Indication：Da Bu Yin Wan is used to treat patterns of yin deficiency with deficiency fire marked by steaming bone fever, night sweat, seminal emission, cough, hemoptysis, vexation, irascibility, pain and redness of the feet and knees, a red tongue with scanty coating, and a rapid, powerful pulse at the chi position.

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Large Gentian Decoction

Action：Scatters wind and clears heat, nourishes and invigorates blood.

Indication：Da Qin Jiao Tang is indicated for an early stage of a wind attacking the channels and collaterals pattern. The symptoms are deviation of the eyes and mouth, difficulty in speaking due to stiff tongue, an inability to move the extremities, often accompanied by aversion to cold with fever, spasms and tension of the extremities, a white or yellow tongue coating, and a superficial, rapid pulse or wiry, thin pulse.

View Details Wind-calming formulas

Major Wind-Stabilizing Pill

Action：Enriches yin and extinguishes wind.

Indication：Da Ding Feng Zhu is indicated for a pattern of stirring of wind due to yin deficiency. The symptoms are clonic convulsions of the extremities, weak physique, lassitude of the spirit, a deep red tongue body with a scanty tongue coating, and a weak pulse; patients have a strong tendency of desertion.

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Eight-Gem Decoction

Action：Boosts qi and supplements blood.

Indication：Ba Zhen Tang is intended for a syndrome of qi and blood deficiency marked by pale or withered-yellow complexion, dizziness, auditory vertigo, lassitude of the four limbs, shortness of breath, reluctance to speak, palpitations, and decreased food intake. The tongue is pale with a thin, white coating and the pulse is thready, weak or deficient, big, and weak.

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Nine Ingredients Notopterygium Decoction

Action：Induces sweating, expels dampness, and clears internal heat.

Indication：Jiu Wei Qiang Huo Tang is indicated for an exterior pattern with externally contracted wind-cold-dampness complicated by interior heat. The symptoms are aversion to cold, fever, absence of sweating, headache, painful stiff nape, pain and soreness of the limbs and body, bitter taste, and thirst. The tongue coating is white or light yellow, and the pulse is superficial or superficial and tight.

View Details Exterior-releasing formulas

Effective Integration Decoction

Action：Enriches yin and soothes the liver.

Indication：Yi Guan Jian is appropriate for patterns of liver-kidney yin deficiency with liver qi constraint characterized by pain in the chest, abdomen, and hypochondriac regions, acid regurgitation, bitter taste, dry mouth and throat, a dry, red tongue, and a thready, weak or weak, wiry pulse. This formula is also applied for shan qi (hernia).

View Details Tonic formulas