Pharmaceutical Name:

Radix Scutellariae

Botanical Name:

Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi

Common Name:

Scutellaria Root
Scute
Skullcap

Source of Earliest Record:

Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The roots are dug in spring or autumn.  The fibrous roots are removed and dried in the sun.

Properties and Taste:

Bitter and cold

Meridian:

Lung, gall bladder, stomach and large intestine

Functions:

To clear heat and dry dampness
To reduce fire and release toxins
To stop bleeding and calm fetus

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Damp-heat syndromes:

a)       Damp-heat febrile disease.
*Use with Talc (Huashi) and Rice paper pith (Tongcao) a)       damp-heat febrile disease.

b)       Jaundice.
*Use with Capejasmine (Zhizi), Oriental wormwood (Yinchenhao) and Bamboo leaf (Zhuye).

c)       Dysentery or diarrhea .
*Use with Coptis root (Huangqin) .

d)       Boils, carbuncles and furuncles .
*Use with Honeysuckle flower (Jinyinhua) and Trichosanthes root (Tianhuafen).

2.      Cough due to heat in the lungs. 
*Use with Mulberry bark (Sangbaipi) and Anemarrhena rhizome (Zhimu).

3.     Hemorrhage due to heat in the blood manifested as vomiting with blood, epistaxis, hematuria, and uterine bleeding.
*Carbonize and use with fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang), Imperata rhizome (Baimaogen) and Biota tops (Cebaiye).

4.      Threatened abortion (restless fetus).
*Use with Chinese angelica root (Danggui) and White Atractylodes (Baizhu).

Dosage:

3-10 g

Cautions:

This herb is contraindicated in cases with deficiency cold of the spleen and stomach.  The raw herb is used to calm the fetus by clearing heat, the herb stir-baked in wine is used to stop bleeding, and the carbonized herb clears heat in the upper jiao.