American Ginseng (Xi Yang Shen)
| Pharmaceutical Name: | Radix Panacis Quinquefolii Radix Ginseng Americane |
| Botanical Name: | Panax Quinquefolium L. |
| Common Name: | American Ginseng |
| Source of Earliest Record: | Shennong Bencao Jing |
| art Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: | The three to six year old roots are dug in autumn, dried in the sun and cut into slices. |
| Properties and Taste: | Bitter, slightly sweet and cold |
| Meridian: | Heart, lung and kidney |
| Functions: | To replenish Qi and promote body fluids To nourish Yin and clear heat |
| Indications and Combinations: | 1. Deficient yin in the lungs and excessive fire manifested as asthma and cough with bloody sputum. *Use with Ophiopogon root (Mai dong), Donkey hide gelatin (E jiao), Anemarrhena rhizome (Zhi mu) and Tendrilled fritillary bulb (Chuan bei mu). 2. Exhaustion of qi and yin from febrile disease manifested as thirst, irritability, shortness of breath and deficient pulse. *Use with Fresh rehmannia root (Sheng di huang), fresh Dendrobium (Shi hu) and Ophiopogon root (Mai dong). |
| Dosage: | 3-6 g |
| Cautions: | This herb should be cooked separately, then added into the decoction of other herbs. It is contraindicated for a person with cold and dampness in the stomach. It counteracts the herb Black false bellebore (Lilu). When frying or decocting, pots made from iron should not be used. |