Cangzhu, a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. It is distributed in Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, and other areas. It can be found in the wild on mountain slopes, under trees, in thickets, and in rock crevices. It is also widely cultivated in medicinal gardens. It is also found in North Korea and the Far East region of the Soviet Union. Cangzhu's rhizome is used in medicine and has the effects of drying dampness, resolving turbidity, and relieving pain.
[Ecological Environment]
1. It grows in mountain slopes, thickets, and grasslands.
2. It grows in shaded slopes of low mountains, under trees, and in relatively dry areas.
3. It grows on mountain slopes, forest edges, under oak trees, or among thickets.
[Main Functions]
It can dry dampness, invigorate the spleen, dispel wind and cold, and improve eyesight. It is used for abdominal distension, diarrhea, edema, beriberi, rheumatic pain, colds with wind and cold symptoms, and night blindness. It mainly treats dampness and stagnation of the spleen and stomach; fatigue and excessive sleeping; abdominal masses and distension; loss of appetite; vomiting and diarrhea; phlegm and edema; dampness and swelling; external symptoms with dampness; heavy head and body pain; warm-type rheumatic pain; sore and painful joints; flaccidity and paralysis.
[Applications]
1. Used for dampness blocking the spleen and stomach, abdominal distension, cold and damp leucorrhea, damp-heat entering the lower body, swollen and painful knees, flaccidity and weakness. It is used to treat dampness blocking the spleen and stomach, which manifests as abdominal distension, loss of appetite, fatigue, thick and turbid white tongue coating. It is often used in combination with Houpo and Chenpi; for cold and damp leucorrhea, it can be used with Baizhi. For damp-heat leucorrhea, it can be used with Zhimu, Kushen, and Mutouhui; for damp-heat entering the lower body, swollen and painful knees, flaccidity and weakness, it can be used with Huangbai, Niuxi, and Yiyiren; for damp-heat disease, it can be used with Shigao and Zhimu.
2. Used for rheumatic pain, joint pain. It can be used together with Qianghuo and Duhuo.
3. Used for wind-cold external symptoms. It can be used together with Qianghuo, Xixin, and Fangfeng.
4. Used for night blindness, blurred vision. It can be used together with pig or sheep liver, Shijue Ming, etc.
