Chinese pulsatilla

Frequent small stools of blood and mucus with painful straining, abdominal cramping, thirst and fever, a red tongue with a yellow greasy coat and a rapid pulse

Yellow, foul, itchy vaginal discharge with a damp-heat picture, treated with the decoction inside and a cooled wash outside

Overview. Bai tou weng is the dried root of Pulsatilla chinensis, a spring-flowering pasque flower of dry grassy hills across northern and eastern China, Korea and eastern Siberia, whose silky seed heads give it the name white-haired old man. It is a different plant from the European Pulsatilla vulgaris and Anemone pulsatilla of Western herbalism and homeopathy, which are used in drop doses for quite different purposes, and it is also listed under the synonym Anemone chinensis. In Chinese medicine it is the defining herb for hot, bloody dysentery and the chief ingredient of Bai Tou Weng Tang.

Clinical Notes. The classic use is Bai Tou Weng Tang: bai tou weng with huang lian, huang bai and qin pi for damp-heat dysentery with blood, pus, tenesmus and fever, with gan cao and e jiao added for the weakened or postpartum patient.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: cold. Taste: bitter. Channels: Stomach, Large Intestine. Actions: Clears heat and resolves toxin in the intestines; Cools the blood and stops dysentery with blood and pus; Drains damp-heat from the lower burner and the genital region; Kills parasites, used mainly against amoebae and trichomonas.

Conservation. Wild populations in parts of northern China have declined from collecting pressure and grazing; cultivated material is increasingly available and should be preferred.