https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/A4PeQB2Vq1CW8xtc-5KQOA
Welcome everyone to share your experiences with the herbs in the replies, to help other students search and learn.
33. Reed Rhizome (Lugen)
Familiar zongzi leaf flavor again, but the grassy smell is lighter than that of zongzi leaves, and the aftertaste has a hint of sweetness.
Confirmed effects: moistening the lungs and generating fluids. Secondary effects: by benefiting water and generating fluids, it clears heat, relieves irritability, and quenches thirst; it treats vomiting due to deficiency of stomach fluids.
Textbooks consider Reed Rhizome to be diuretic. My experience is that a small dose under 15g has no diuretic effect; instead, it can treat frequent urination caused by kidney qi deficiency. At doses above 15g, it has a certain diuretic effect.
34. Trichosanthes Root (Tianhuafen)
Bitter, but the aftertaste is rather mild; not pleasant to drink, but not particularly unpleasant either.
Its fluid-generating effect mainly benefits the head and face. It has some effect on dull complexion, spots, dry skin, and dandruff; it is a base formula for Siwu Tang. Combined with Honeysuckle (Jinyinhua), it can treat facial acne. The base formula is according to the pulse diagnosis class.
Its effectiveness in treating thirst caused by heat diseases and internal injury diabetes is also certain and can be combined with Reed Rhizome.
Trichosanthes Root also has a slight ability to clear turbidity.
35. Bamboo Leaf (Zhuye)
The water brewed from it can taste a little like the water used for cooking zongzi (zong leaves; northern regions use reed leaves, southern regions use broad leaf ruzhu).
So the broad leaf ruzhu is also called “big leaf bamboo,” which makes sense.
Not very pleasant to drink. When cooled, drinking it in big gulps can cause nausea, like licking a cool mat; but if sipped slowly while hot, it’s quite interesting, with a sweet aftertaste. Sensitive students can sense the “clearing of turbidity” ability of bamboo leaf mentioned in the Thirty-Six Golden Formulas lecture.
Chewing bamboo leaves directly is even less pleasant— the fibers are tough and hard to chew. Therefore, the recommended way to use this herb is “boiled.”
The “bamboo trio”: bamboo leaf, bamboo sap (zhuli), and bamboo shavings (zhuru). I originally planned to put bamboo sap and bamboo leaf together, but the supplier could not keep up with shipment, so we will ship the next batch later. Bamboo sap is very interesting; the fire-roasted process and water-boiled process differ greatly in price. This time we provide the fire-roasted method.