Herb Encyclopedia

Goji berry is one of the most celebrated tonic herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine, cultivated for over 600 years in the oases of Ningxia. Prized as a yin and blood tonic, it is traditionally used to nourish the liver and kidneys, brighten the eyes, and support healthy aging. Today it is enjoyed worldwide as a superfruit, eaten raw, brewed in teas, or simmered in soups.

Astragalus is regarded as the premier qi-tonifying herb in Chinese medicine, with a documented history reaching back to the Shennong Ben Cao Jing. Harvested from four-year-old roots in Inner Mongolia, the fibrous yellow root strengthens defensive qi, supports healthy immune response, and promotes the generation of flesh and blood after illness.

Known as the 'King of Herbs', ginseng has been treasured for over two thousand years as the supreme tonic of primal qi. Our red ginseng roots from the Changbai Mountains are steam-cured in the traditional Korean method, which concentrates the ginsenosides and gives the root its characteristic amber color and warming, invigorating nature.

A rare case of an American herb fully adopted into the Chinese materia medica, American ginseng was traded through Canton since the 18th century. Cool in nature where Asian ginseng is warm, it tonifies qi while nourishing yin — making it the preferred ginseng for hot constitutions, dry climates, and modern stressed lifestyles.

The legendary 'Mushroom of Immortality' (Ling Zhi, 'spirit plant'), reishi has been depicted in Chinese art for two millennia as a symbol of longevity and spiritual potency. Modern cultivation makes this once-rare fungus available as slices for decoction, with a deeply earthy, slightly bitter profile best extracted slowly.

Dang Gui — literally 'should return' — is the quintessential women's herb of Chinese medicine and the premier blood tonic. The Minxian growing region of Gansu produces roots with the highest oil content, prized for their aromatic sweetness. It both nourishes and invigorates the blood, earning its place in countless classical formulas.

Called the 'Great Harmonizer' (Guo Lao — 'respecter of the elderly' for its gentle longevity), licorice enters all twelve meridians and moderates the nature of every formula it joins. Present in the majority of classical Chinese prescriptions, it also stands alone as a spleen tonic, lung soother, and natural sweetener.

Chrysanthemum has been cultivated in China for over 3,000 years, and its use as a cooling tea is documented since the Han dynasty. The large white Hangzhou flower and small golden Boju are both prized: they clear liver heat, benefit the eyes, and gently disperse wind-heat — the elegant daily tea of Chinese wellness culture.

Named 'gold-silver flower' for buds that open white and age to gold, honeysuckle is the foremost heat-toxin-clearing herb in Chinese medicine. The Pingyi region of Shandong supplies buds picked at dawn before opening, when their chlorogenic acid content peaks. A staple of summer cooling teas and skin-clearing decoctions.

The beloved Chinese date is both food and medicine, nourishing the middle burner and generating blood. Xinjiang's desert sun produces exceptionally sweet, fleshy dates. In formulas jujube moderates harsh herbs and protects the stomach; in the kitchen it sweetens soups, congees, and teas — the comfort food of Chinese households.

Dang Shen — 'the people's ginseng' — emerged as the affordable everyday alternative to ginseng during the Qing dynasty. Gentler than ginseng yet genuinely qi-tonifying, it builds spleen and lung qi, generates fluids, and nourishes blood, making it the workhorse tonic root of family soup pots across China.

Bai Zhu is the chief spleen-strengthening and dampness-resolving herb of Chinese medicine. The 'Yuqian shu' of Zhejiang — large, plump, and cloud-patterned — is the finest grade. It dries dampness while tonifying qi, the twin actions that make it central to nearly every classical spleen formula.

Fu Ling is a fungus sclerotium growing around pine roots, revered for over two thousand years as the gentlest of all dampness-draining herbs. Neutral and bland, it promotes urination without damaging qi, strengthens the spleen, and calms the spirit — the quiet pillar of formulas from Si Jun Zi Tang to Gui Pi Tang.

White peony root from Bozhou — the medicine capital of China — nourishes the blood and softens the liver, easing the tension and pain that arise from liver blood deficiency. It is one-quarter of the foundational Si Wu Tang blood formula and the key herb for soothing cramps and spasms anywhere in the body.

Shu Di Huang — raw rehmannia repeatedly steamed and dried with wine until black as lacquer and sweet as malt — is the single most important blood and kidney-yin tonic in Chinese medicine. The Jiaozuo region of Henan produces the canonical 'Huai di huang'. It anchors Liu Wei Di Huang Wan and the entire yin-tonifying category.

Named 'five-flavor seed' for the remarkable berry that carries all five tastes — sour, sweet, pungent, bitter, salty — schisandra is the master astringent of Chinese medicine. It binds lung qi, secures the kidneys, generates fluids, and quiets the heart spirit. The wild berries of the Changbai range are small, dense, and intensely aromatic.

The extraordinary 'winter worm, summer grass' grows at 3,500–5,000 m on the Tibetan plateau, where a parasitic fungus emerges from caterpillar larvae each spring. For centuries it has been the ultimate lung-and-kidney tonic of the imperial pharmacopoeia — tonifying yang while nourishing yin, gentle enough for long-term use.

Du Zhong is the only species in its family — a living fossil tree whose bark, when snapped, reveals silken latex threads. It is the premier herb for strengthening the lower back and knees by tonifying liver and kidney yang, and the traditional remedy for pregnancy-related lumbar soreness and unstable fetus.

The iron-stick yam of Henan's Huai region is simultaneously a revered medicine and a beloved food — the epitome of the Chinese principle that food is medicine. Neutral and sweet, it gently tonifies the spleen, lung, and kidney without cloying, making it safe for children, elders, and long-term convalescence.

From the flower that rises unstained from the mud, the lotus seed gathers astringent and spirit-calming virtues. It secures the spleen against chronic diarrhea, the kidney against leakage, and the heart against restlessness. The Xiangtan 'white lotus' — skinless, coreless, ivory-white — is the premium grade for sweet soups.

Dried longan — 'dragon eye' fruit — is the sweetest of the blood tonics, nourishing heart blood to quiet a restless mind and spleen qi to steady the emotions. A key ingredient of Gui Pi Tang, the classical formula for the overworked and sleepless, it is as delicious stirred into teas as it is effective.

The deep-purple mulberry nourishes yin and blood of the heart, liver, and kidneys — traditionally used for premature graying, dry eyes, and the thirst of wasting disorders. Sun-dried at peak ripeness, the berries concentrate anthocyanins into a tart-sweet treasure that modern research has embraced for the very compounds tradition prized.

Yu Zhu — 'jade bamboo' — is the gentle yin-moistening rhizome of the autumn-dryness tradition. Sweet and cool, it generates fluids without cloying, making it the herb of choice for dry throats, dry coughs, and the parched aftermath of fevers. A staple in Cantonese slow-cooked soups for its mild sweetness.

Tian Men Dong — 'heaven's gate winter' — is the great moistener of lung and kidney yin, treasured in Daoist longevity traditions. Glutinous, translucent tubers clear deficiency heat where ophiopogon cannot reach, particularly for deep dryness with night sweats and wasting thirst.

Mai Dong is the everyday yin tonic of Chinese households — small translucent tubers that nourish stomach fluids, moisten the lung, and quiet a racing heart. Zhejiang's Cixi county supplies the canonical grade. It anchors Sheng Mai San, the summer formula for sweat and exhaustion.

Bai He — 'hundred unions', named for its tightly layered scales — nourishes lung yin and quiets the heart spirit. Classical texts credited it with treating 'lily disease', the ancient description of melancholy and restlessness after febrile illness. Today it is beloved both as a medicine for dry coughs and as a delicacy in Cantonese desserts.

The ginkgo tree — 'grandfather-grandson tree' — has stood in Chinese temple courtyards for over a thousand years. While the seed (bai guo) is the classical medicine, the golden fan-shaped leaf is the modern blood-mover, supporting circulation to the brain and extremities and among the most researched botanicals in the world.

San Qi — 'three-seven', named for its 3–7 year maturation and leaf structure — is the legendary bleeding-stopping, bruise-healing herb of Yunnan. Famously carried by Yunnan Baiyao users and American Civil War soldiers alike, it uniquely stops bleeding while dispelling stasis: stopping blood without leaving stagnation behind.

Hong Hua — the golden-orange flower that once dyed imperial robes — is the brisk blood-mover of Chinese medicine, dispelling stasis and unblocking menstruation where gentler herbs fail. Xinjiang's high-altitude safflower carries the deepest pigment and highest hydroxysafflor content.

Danshen — red as cinnabar — is the leading herb for heart and chest blood stasis in modern Chinese practice. 'One dan shen equals four substances', the saying goes, for it nourishes blood while moving it. Its tanshinones are among the most researched compounds in cardiovascular herbal medicine.

Where fresh ginger disperses at the surface, dried ginger warms the interior's core — the fire-stoker of the middle burner. Sichuan's Qianwei 'jian jiang' has been the canonical grade for centuries. It rescues yang in collapse, warms the lungs to transform cold-phlegm, and damps the damp-cold diarrhea of winter.

Rou Gui — the thick, oil-rich bark of Guangxi — kindles the 'life gate fire' (ming men) at the root of kidney yang. Where cinnamon twig warms the channels, the bark itself anchors the deep fire, guiding yang home. Its sweet-warm aroma graces both classical decoctions and kitchen desserts.

In Cantonese families, aged tangerine peel is a family treasure — the older, the more precious. Xinhui peel aged a decade develops deep aroma and gentle power: regulating qi, drying dampness, transforming phlegm, and sweetening the digestibility of any formula. As the saying goes, 'two chen pi, half a ginseng'.

Sha Ren — the 'spring sandseed' of Yangchun — is the aromatic restorer of appetite. Its camphor-sweet warmth moves stagnant qi of the middle burner, dries dampness, and — uniquely — calms a restless fetus in traditional pregnancy care. Added in the last minutes of decoction to preserve its volatile oils.

Chai Hu is the herald of the shao yang — the herb that harmonizes the interior and exterior when illness lingers between. As the chief of Xiao Chai Hu Tang, it soothes liver constraint, lifts sinking yang, and resolves the alternation of chills and fever. No herb is more central to modern stress-related patterns.

Chinese mint — lighter and greener than Western peppermint — disperses wind-heat at the surface, lifts the rash-bound pox of childhood tradition, and vents liver qi as a cooling breath. It must be steeped briefly, added at the end of decoction, so its menthol spirit survives.

Huang Qin — 'yellow golden root' — is the great clearer of upper-burner heat: lung infections, bitter taste, and the restless heat of pregnancy tradition. Its golden roots concentrate baicalin, one of the most-published flavonoids in modern herbal research. The old saying pairs it with huang lian and huang bai as the 'three yellows'.

'As bitter as huang lian', the proverb goes — and that profound bitterness is precisely its medicine. The great clearer of middle-burner damp-heat and heart fire, coptis from Shizhu's mountain mists has anchored formulae for dysentery, insomnia-from-fire, and stomach heat for two millennia. Berberine, its signature alkaloid, is now one of the world's most studied plant molecules.

Huang Bai descends where huang qin rises — clearing the deep damp-heat of the lower burner: urinary discomfort, leukorrhea, and the steaming bones of yin-deficiency fire. Charred, it stops bleeding; salt-fried, it drains kidney fire while preserving yin — the third of the great 'yellow' heat-clearers.

Lian Qiao — the golden forsythia capsule, 'the sweetheart of scrofula' in old texts — is honeysuckle's partner in clearing heat-toxin, with particular mastery over nodules, swollen glands, and skin eruptions. Harvested green in autumn, the split fruits with seeds intact carry the strongest forsythiaside content.

Ban Lan Gen is China's household cold-season defender — the root that became a national phenomenon as granule sachets in every pharmacy. Bitter and cold, it powerfully clears heat-toxin and cools the blood, particularly for sore throats and epidemic heat conditions at their start.

The humble dandelion that Westerners weed from lawns is a revered heat-toxin clearer in China — the first-line herb for breast abscesses and swellings in classical texts, and a gentle liver-cooling daily tea in modern wellness. Wild mountain-harvested before flowering, its bitterness is mild enough for regular use.

Shan Zha is the Digestive's best friend — the bright red fruit that dissolves meat stagnation after festive feasts, and the heart-circulation ally that modern lipid research has validated. Charred hawthorn stops dysentery; raw, it moves. Tanghulu street candy and hawthorn flakes alike begin with this fruit.

Mai Ya — sprouted barley, germinated just until the sprout matches the grain — is the gentle digestive that specializes in starches and grains where hawthorn handles meat. Uniquely, generous doses assist the flow of milk; fried, it may reduce it — a herb whose direction changes with its preparation, as classical pharmacists well knew.

Yi Yi Ren is the food-medicine of dampness — the pearl barley that drains water, clears heat, and even soothes the sinews. Legend records a Han general who carried sacks of it north, accused of smuggling pearls. Dry-fried, it turns warmer for spleen-cold dampness; raw, it cools and clears damp-heat.

Qian Shi — the 'chicken-head rice' of the water-fields — astringes where coix drains: binding chronic diarrhea, leukorrhea, and leakage while gently strengthening the spleen and kidney. Su Dongpo, the Song poet, reportedly chewed the seeds daily for vitality. It is the astringent anchor of Si Shen Tang.

Suan Zao Ren is China's most trusted sleep herb — the small kernel of the wild sour jujube that nourishes heart blood and calms the spirit. The Tang physician recorded it for 'restless sleeplessness that cannot lie down'; a thousand years later it still anchors every classical insomnia formula.

From the cypress that lives a thousand years, Bai Zi Ren nourishes heart blood to still a troubled mind and moistens the intestines for the dry constipation of elders. The evergreen's longevity earned its seed a place in every classical heart-blood insomnia formula — often beside its sour-jujube cousin.

Tu Si Zi — the golden thread vine's seeds — tonifies both kidney yang and yin without drying or cloying, securing essence, brightening the eyes, and quieting a restless fetus in tradition. Its balanced warmth made it the imperial favorite for longevity formulas and the core of Wu Zi Yan Zong Wan.

Named after the Ming general said to have regained his black hair and vigor from its root, prepared He Shou Wu is the great blood-and-essence tonic for graying hair and depleted jing. Only the properly processed (zhi) root tonifies — raw (sheng) instead resolves toxins and moistens the bowels. Our roots follow the nine-steam-nine-dry tradition.