Chinese windmill palm

Slow, persistent bleeding from a weak or deficient patient with no fever, thirst or red tongue, where the aim is simply to hold the blood in

Uterine bleeding that drags on for weeks after the acute phase, pale and thin, in a patient who is tired and cold

Overview. Zong lu is the Chinese windmill palm, a hardy fan palm of central and eastern China that is now planted as an ornamental across the temperate world. The medicine is the fibrous mat at the base of the old leaf stalks, cut from the trunk, aged and then charred to a black, brittle carbon known as zong lu tan. In Chinese medicine it is a pure astringent hemostatic: it has no cooling, warming or blood-moving action of its own, so it is chosen when the only task is to stop leakage of blood or fluids.

Clinical Notes. Reach for zong lu tan when bleeding is chronic, pale and low-grade rather than bright, hot and forceful. It suits deficiency-type uterine bleeding, chronic hematuria and blood in the stool without inflammatory signs, and it is a routine member of charcoal combinations such as the classic ten-ash powder beside charred da ji, xiao ji, ce bai ye and he ye.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: neutral. Taste: bitter, astringent. Channels: Lung, Liver, Large Intestine. Actions: Astringes and stops bleeding from any orifice; Binds up leakage in the lower burner (chronic diarrhea, discharge).