黃芩 속서근풀 (황금)

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性寒, 味苦, 無毒.

   It is cold in nature, bitter in taste, and non-toxic — a heat-clearing herb that can be used without worry of toxicity.

2. 治熱毒骨蒸, 寒熱往來, 解熱渴.

   It treats heat-toxin bone-steaming fevers, alternating chills and fever, and relieves feverish thirst — clearing heat that lodges deep in the body.

3. 療黃疸, 腸澼泄痢, 痰熱胃熱, 利小腸.

   It treats jaundice, dysentery with diarrhea, phlegm-heat and stomach heat, and promotes flow through the small intestine — addressing damp-heat across the digestive and hepatobiliary systems.

4. 治乳癰, 發背, 惡瘡, 及天行熱疾.

   It treats breast abscesses, carbuncles on the back, malignant sores, and epidemic febrile diseases — broadly useful for hot, suppurating conditions.

5. 生原野, 隨處有之.

   It grows in open fields and is found everywhere — a common herb that does not require a rare locale to obtain.

6. 三月三日一云二月八月採根, 暴乾.

   The root is harvested on the third day of the third month — or, by another account, in the second and eighth months — then sun-dried, since spring and autumn are when its medicinal potency is fullest.

7. 其腹中皆爛, 故一名腐腸.

   Its core is often rotted away, so it is also called fuchang, meaning 'rotted intestine' — a name referring to the hollow center that develops in mature roots.

8. 惟取深色堅實者, 爲好.

   Only roots that are deep in color and firmly solid are considered good — pale or spongy specimens were judged inferior in potency.

9. 圓者名子芩, 破者名宿芩. 《本草》

   The round, solid roots are called zigin and the cracked, hollow ones suguin — a distinction recorded in the Bencao that separated young roots from aged ones for different uses.

10. 中枯而飄, 故能瀉肺中之火, 消痰利氣, 入手太陰經.

    Roots with a dry, light hollow core drain fire from the lungs, dissolve phlegm, and free the qi, entering the Hand Taiyin lung meridian — the light material rises to act on the upper organs.

11. 細實而堅者, 治下部, 瀉大腸火, 入水而沈.

    Thin, dense, firm roots — which sink when placed in water — treat the lower body and drain fire from the large intestine, following the principle that heavy material descends to act below.

12. 入藥, 酒炒上行, 便炒下行, 尋常生用. 《入門》

    In formulas, stir-frying with wine sends its action upward, stir-frying with urine sends it downward, and it is ordinarily used raw — a preparation method from the Ruimen showing how the same herb can be steered to different parts of the body.

13. 子

    What follows concerns the seeds of scutellaria.

14. 主腸澼, 下膿血. 《本草》

    The seeds chiefly treat dysentery and discharge pus and blood downward — according to the Bencao, unlike the root, they were used specifically for inflammatory bleeding in the intestines.