Large-leaf gentian

Aching joints that migrate from place to place, flare in humid weather and coexist with dryness, thin stools or a slightly depleted constitution that would not tolerate the harsher wind-damp herbs

Chronic low-grade afternoon fever with sweating at night and a thin, rapid pulse in a patient recovering from a long illness, where the heat is from deficiency and the sinews are also stiff

Sudden facial paralysis or limb stiffness after wind-stroke when the pattern mixes wind, damp and blood deficiency

Overview. Qin jiao is the root of large-leaf gentian and three close relatives from the grasslands and mountain slopes of northwestern and western China, from Shaanxi and Gansu across to Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet. The stout, twisted, straw-coloured taproot is dug in spring or autumn and dried. Unlike the intensely bitter long dan cao gentian used to purge Liver fire, qin jiao is milder, moister and neutral in temperature, and it belongs with the herbs that dispel wind-dampness. It is one of the few in that group that also clears deficiency heat.

Clinical Notes. This is the wind-damp herb to choose when the patient is dry, tense or depleted, because it is described as moist and does not scatter fluids the way angelica pubescens or notopterygium do. It treats painful obstruction of any temperature: with cinnamon twig and fresh ginger for cold-damp aching, with honeysuckle stem and phellodendron for hot, swollen joints.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: neutral, tending slightly cool. Taste: bitter, acrid. Channels: Stomach, Liver, Gallbladder. Actions: Dispels wind-dampness from the channels and relaxes the sinews; Relieves painful obstruction (bi) whether cold or hot in character; Clears deficiency heat and steaming bone fever with afternoon heat and night sweats; Clears damp-heat and reduces jaundice; Unblocks the channels in hemiplegia and spasm after wind-stroke; Moistens rather than dries, so suits chronic pain in a somewhat depleted patient.