What are the functions and effects of various Chinese medicinal materials?

Chinese medicine is different from Western medicine because Chinese medicine may be the food we eat, such as dates, onions, ginger, garlic, etc. Moreover, Chinese medicine is often mainly used for conditioning, so it does not have very strong medicinal properties. What's more, Chinese medicine has existed in our country for thousands of years, so there are very, very many types of Chinese medicine, so many that it is difficult to count them all. So, what are the effects of various Chinese medicinal materials?

Coptis chinensis: clears away heat and dampness, purges fire and detoxifies. Used for: diarrhea and abdominal pain caused by damp-heat in the stomach and intestines. Internal organs fire poison syndrome. Carbuncle, furuncle, skin eczema, wet sore, pus in the ear canal!

Huang Bai: clears away heat and dampness, purges fire and eliminates steaming, detoxifies and treats sores. Used for: various diseases caused by damp heat. Yin deficiency causes fever, bone steaming, night sweats, and spermatorrhea. Heat toxic sores, eczema and wet sores!

Atractylodes: Strengthens the spleen and replenishes Qi, dries dampness and promotes diuresis, stops sweating, and stabilizes the fetus. Used for spleen deficiency syndrome. Spontaneous sweating due to Qi deficiency. Spleen deficiency causes fetal restlessness!

Jiao Sanxian: It is not one medicine but three medicines, namely, burnt malt, burnt hawthorn and burnt Shenqu. All three herbs have good functions of eliminating accumulation and relieving stagnation, but they also have their own different characteristics. Scorched malt is very effective in digesting starchy foods; scorched hawthorn is good at treating food stagnation caused by excessive meat or greasy food; and scorched Shenqu is beneficial for digesting rice and flour foods. The combination of these three medicines can significantly enhance digestive function. Therefore, in clinical practice, doctors often use these three medicines together and call them "Jiao Sanxian". It is a good medicine for digesting food, relieving stagnation, and strengthening the spleen and stomach.

Chicken's gizzard lining: helps digestion, strengthens the stomach, astringes semen and stops nocturnal emission. Used for food stagnation and infantile malnutrition. Kidney deficiency causes spermatorrhea and enuresis. Treat nocturnal emission.

Rhubarb: It has the effect of clearing heat and promoting bowel movements. It is used for gastrointestinal heat stagnation, constipation, abdominal distension, pain that refuses to be pressed, and even persistent high fever, coma and delirium, such as Dachengqi Decoction; or cold accumulation and constipation due to insufficient spleen yang, such as Wenpi Decoction.

It has the effect of detoxifying and eliminating carbuncle, and is used for heat-toxic sores, sudden red eye pain, mouth and tongue sores, and swollen and painful gums, such as Rhubarb and Peony Root Decoction.

It has the effect of removing blood stasis and promoting menstruation. It is used for amenorrhea caused by blood stasis, postpartum blood stasis, accumulation of masses, as well as trauma, swelling and pain caused by blood stasis.

It has the effect of clearing away heat and removing dampness. It is used for jaundice, dysuria, dry stool caused by damp-heat stagnation; hot stranguria and stranguria with stones, such as Bazheng Powder.

It can also cool blood and stop bleeding, and is used for vomiting blood, epistaxis, bloody stool, metrorrhagia, and red and white leucorrhea caused by heat damaging blood vessels.

In modern clinical practice, it can be used to treat epidemic meningitis, lobar pneumonia, acute biliary tract infection, acute mumps, acute appendicitis, acute infectious icteric hepatitis, acute enteritis, bacterial dysentery, gastrointestinal bleeding, pharyngitis, gingival abscess, dermatitis, eczema, gonorrhea, herpes zoster, etc.