Pharmaceutical Name:

Flos Genkwa

Botanical Name:

Daphne genkwa Sieb. Et Zucc.

Common Name:

Genkwa flower

Source of Earliest Record:

Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The flower buds are gathered in spring and dried in the sun, baked or fried with vinegar.

Properties and Taste:

Pungent, bitter, warm and toxic

Meridian:

Lung, kidney and large intestine

Functions:

To transform water and stop cough
To resolve phlegm and stop cough
To kill worms

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Edema in the face or body, ascites and retention of fluids in the chest.
*Use with Kansui root (Gansui) and Peking spurge root (Daji) in the formula Shizao Tang.

2.      Sudden cough and cold-damp type of chromic bronchitis.
*Use with Jujube (Dazao) .

3.     Scabs, white ringworm and stubborn ringworm.
*Ground herb into powder and use with powdered Realgar (Xionghuang) and pig fat oil for external application.

Dosage:

1.5-3 g

Cautions:

This herb must not be used with Licorice root (Gancao) as it counteracts it.  This herb is contraindicated during pregnancy.