Clear Heat / Relieve Toxicity: Qing Dai

Qing Dai

Qing Dai has a lot of unusual characteristics. For one, it is salty. Not many of our herbs have been salty so far. It has the consistency of salt. Blue salt. It is also very cold. Just a few these herbs in this group are very cold. Qing Dai is one of them. Because it is so cold, it is recommended in very small doses, 1.5 to 3 grams, and even then it is recommended in pill or powder form because it is difficult to dissolve in water. The other odd thing about it is that it is actually Da Qing Ye, but soaked and treated with Lyme, and the stems removed.

So this pretty blue powder is unusual but also powerful. Because it is very cold, it cools the blood, addressing toxicity. It looks like the kind of substance that you could dump on a fire and it would put it right out. Also, since it goes to the blood level, it reduces maculae, constipation, incoherent speech, and convulsions, common with blood level heat. It's blood cooling function also reduces swellings like mumps and mouth sores.

Qing Dai goes to the lung, stomach, and liver. Therefore, it serves to drain liver fire and extinguishes wind to stop tremors, such as the kind in palsies. The lung function means that it is also useful for coughs, chest pain, streaked sputum and yellow sputum.

No pictures or clever associations. I'm running out of study time!