Pharmaceutical Name:

Herba Houttuyniae

Botanical Name:

Houttuynia cordate Thunb.

Common Name:

Houttuynia

Source of Earliest Record:

Mingyi Bielu

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The entire plant is gathered in the time between summer and autumn.  After gathering, it is cleaned and dried in the sun.

Properties and Taste:

Pungent and slightly cold

Meridian:

Lung

Functions:

To clear heat and release toxins

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Lung abscess manifested as cough with bloody and pus-like sputum.
*Use with Platycodon root (Jiegeng) and Coix seed (Yiyiren) .

2.      Heat in the lungs manifested as cough with yellow and thick sputum.
*Use with Mulberry bark (Sangbaipi) and Trichosanthes fruit (Gualou).

3.     Boils and swelling due to toxic heat.
*Use with Dandelion herb (Pugongying) and Forsythia fruit (Lianqiao).

Dosage:

15-30 g