What are the effects and functions of Chinese Azalea?
Chinese Azalea, also known as Yellow Azalea, Sanqiansan, Balima, etc., is the dried flower of the plant Chinese Azalea (Rhododendron molle) in the family Ericaceae and the genus Rhododendron. It is produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan and other places. As a medicine, it has the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, dissipating blood stasis and relieving pain, and has therapeutic effects on conditions such as wind-dampness arthralgia, migraine and general headache, traumatic swelling and pain, and stubborn tinea. Now let us take a look at the effects and functions of Chinese Azalea together!
The Medicinal Effects of Chinese Azalea
[Nature and Flavor] Pungent in flavor, warm in nature, highly toxic.
[Meridian Entry] Liver meridian.
[Effects] Dispels wind and removes dampness, dissipates blood stasis and relieves pain. Mainly treats wind-dampness arthralgia, migraine and general headache, traumatic swelling and pain, and stubborn tinea.
Medicinal Contraindications of Chinese Azalea
The entire plant of Chinese Azalea is toxic. Accidental overdose can cause symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, spasms, slowed heartbeat, decreased blood pressure, and difficulty breathing. In severe cases, it can cause respiratory arrest and death.
Related Discussions on Chinese Azalea
1. "Ben Jing Shu Zheng": Chinese Azalea is a toxic medicine. However, its nature can dispel wind-cold-dampness, so it can treat severe arthralgia. Arthralgia is caused by wind, cold, and dampness. However, it should not be used by people whose primordial qi is not deficient and whose spleen and stomach are still strong. Whenever using such toxic medicines, they must also be combined with medicines that calm the stomach and harmonize qi and blood.
2. "Ben Cao Xin Bian": Chinese Azalea must only be used occasionally to produce extraordinary effects when external pathogenic factors are difficult to expel outward, and must never be used frequently to show off novelty. It can only be used up to three fen, and for severe injuries it absolutely must not exceed one qian.
3. "Herbal Medicine Illustrations": Sou Shan Hu can treat traumatic injuries and is an essential medicine for internal injuries. For severe cases, one qian and a half; for mild cases, one qian. It must not be used in large amounts. After frost, the leaves fall, leaving only the withered root. Physicians in Hunan regard this medicine as one that releases the exterior and enters the Yangming meridian; this medicine is still used in folk prescriptions.
Medicinal Prescriptions of Chinese Azalea
1. To treat wind-dampness arthralgia, with the body, hands, and feet unable to extend and contract freely, pain in the limbs and joints, and hesitant speech: Chinese Azalea flowers, unlimited amount. Mix with wine, steam for the time of one cooking, take out and sun-dry, then pound and sift into powder. Use one ge of cow's milk, warm it, and mix down one qian.
2. To treat wandering pain due to wind-phlegm: Chinese Azalea flowers and Tian Nan Xing (Arisaema erubescens). Pound them together while fresh to make cakes, steam on a rice steamer four or five times, then store in a thin kudzu cloth bag. When needed, take out and roast, then grind into powder, and make into pills the size of Wu Zi with steamed cakes. Take three pills each time with warm wine. For pain in the waist, legs, and bones, take on an empty stomach; for pain in the arms, take after meals.
3. To treat blood-wind wandering pain in women, with pain wherever it settles: Chinese Azalea flowers, dried scorpion, and aconite, half a liang each; earthworm, twenty pieces. Pound the above four ingredients and sift into powder, then refine with honey into pills the size of small beans. Take five to seven pills each time, swallowed with decocted Schizonepeta wine, twice a day.
4. To treat left-side paralysis and right-side paralysis: raw dried Rehmannia, Vitex fruit, and white stiff silkworm, one liang each; Trogopterus dung, half a liang; Chinese Azalea flowers, Tian Nan Xing (Arisaema erubescens), white glue incense, and wild aconite, one liang each. Grind the above into fine powder, cook pinellia powder in wine to make a paste, and form pills the size of longan. Take one pill each time, divided into four doses, swallowed with wine, twice a day.
5. To treat neurotic headache and migraine: Pound fresh Nao Yang Hua (Chinese Azalea flower) into a paste and apply externally to the back of the head or the painful area for two to three hours.
6. To treat traumatic injuries: Sanqiansan, two qian; Xiao Bo Gu, one liang; Ze Lan, two liang. Pound together into a paste, stir-fry with wine until hot, and apply to the affected area.
7. To treat malaria: Chinese Azalea flowers, one fen; tender pine tree tips, five qian. Decoct in water and take.
8. To treat wind and insect toothache: Chinese Azalea, one qian; wild aconite, two qian and a half. Grind into powder, melt wax into pills the size of beans. Wrap one pill in cotton, bite on it, and let the saliva flow.
9. To treat stubborn skin tinea and itching: Fresh Nao Yang Hua, five qian. Pound into a paste and rub onto the affected area.
10. To treat favus of the scalp: Rub fresh Nao Yang Hua onto the affected area, or sun-dry and grind into powder, mix with sesame oil, and apply to the affected area.