Wolf
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Heat Clearing Herbs to Clear Heat and Toxics
Wolf
Latin:
Herba Euphorbiae Humifusae
Origin:
The whole herb of Euphorbia Humifusa Willd., an annual herb, of the Euphorbiaceae family. The plant is native to east Asia, but is now naturalized in south and central Europe.
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The plant requires well-drained soil and cannot grow in the shade. It grows to about 0.15 m high. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by insects.
In China, the herb is grown all over, but mostly produced in the provinces along the Yangtze River Valley and in the south of China. It is harvested in summer and autumn, then washed clean, dried in the sun and cut into sections for use.
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Properties:
Bitter and pungent in flavor, mild in nature, it is related to the liver, stomach and large intestine channels.
Functions:
Clears away heat to expel toxic substances and removes heat from the blood to arrest bleeding.
The decoction is used in the treatment of jaundice, dysentery, enteritis (inflammation of the intestine), poisonous snake bites and traumatic bleeding.
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Applications:
1. To treat dysentery due to toxic heat, carbuncles with swelling and snake bite:
(A) Dysentery due to toxic heat and hemafecia with pus:
This herb can be used alone or in combination with purslane (Herba Portulacae), etc., in order to enhance the effects of clearing away heat to remove toxic substances and relieve dysentery.
(B) Carbuncles with swelling and snake bite:
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The fresh herb is mostly mashed for external application.
2. To treat a variety of bleeding syndromes such as hemafecia, hematuria, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis and traumatic hemorrhage:
(A) Hemafecia due to blood stasis and bleeding hemorrhoids:
This herb can not only clear away heat to remove toxic substances, but also relieve dysentery and bleeding hemorrhoids simultaneously. It can be used in combination with garden burnet root (Radix Sanguisorbae), etc.
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(B) Hematuria and strangury with blood:
This herb can not only arrest bleeding, but also induce diuresis to relieve strangury. It can be used together with herbs that are effective in treating hematuria such as cogongrass rhizome (Rhizoma Imperatae), field thistle (Herba Cephalanoploris), etc.
(C) Metrorrhagia and metrostaxis and hematochezia:
Use it with madder root (Radix Rubiae), etc.
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(D) Traumas with swelling, bleeding and pain:
This herb can be ground into powder by itself for external application.
3. To treat jaundice due to damp-heat and dysuria:
This herb can be used alone or in combination with capillary artemisia (Herba Artemisiae Scopariae), gardenia fruit (Fructus Gardeniae), etc.
Dosage and Administration:
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15-30 g.
Decoct the herb and other ingredients for drinking. Use an adequate amount externally.
Cautions on Use:
The sap contains a latex which is toxic on ingestion and highly irritant externally, causing photosensitive skin reactions and severe inflammation, especially on contact with eyes or open cuts. The toxicity can remain high even in dried plant material. Prolonged and regular contact with the sap is inadvisable because of its carcinogenic nature.
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Reference Materials:
'Supplementary Notes to Shen Nong's Herbal Classic with Illustrations' :
"Promoting blood circulation and normalizing the functioning of qi."
'Compendium of Materia Medica' :
"To treat carbuncles with swelling, malignant boils, incised wounds and traumatic injuries with bleeding, blood stasis, hematochezia and metrorrhagia and metrostaxis."
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"Eliminating blood stasis, arresting bleeding and inducing diuresis."
Toxic or Side Effects:
The sap contains a latex which is toxic on ingestion and highly irritant externally.
Modern Researches:
The herb contains tannin, gallicin, gallic acid, quercetin, inositol, etc.
This herb has marked inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus albus, hemolytic streptococcus, Neisseria catarrhalis, Bacillus diphtheriae, Bacillus coli, typhoid bacillus, paratyphoid bacillus, Bacillus pyocyaneus, Bacillus enteritidis and Salmonella cholerae suis. It can clearly neutralize the exotoxin of Bacillus diphtheriae and also inhibit leptospirae and influenza virus.
The local use of the powder of this herb produces a hemostatic effect on the incised bleeding of the femoral arteries of experimental dogs.
The whole plant is depurative, diuretic and styptic., 百拇医药