DESCRIPTION
Rhizomes short and stout, sometimes with remains of a stem at the apex. Several roots, long cylindrical, slightly curved, some branched and with rootlets, 10~20 cm long, 0.3~1 cm in diameter. Externally brownish-red or dark brownish-red, rough, longitudinally wrinkled. The bark of old roots loose mostly purplish-brown, usually scaling off. Texture hard and fragile, fracture loose, cleft or slightly even and dense, with brownish-red bark and greyish-yellow or purpolish-brown wood, showing bundles of vessels, yellowish-white, arranged radially. Odour, slight; taste, slightly bitter and astringent.

Cultivars relatively stout, 0.5~1.5 cm in diameter. Externally reddish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, the bark closely adhering to wood and uneasy to be scaled off. Texture compact, fracture relatively even, slightly horny.

ACTION
To remove blood stasis and relieve pain, to promote the flow of blood and stimulate menstrual discharge, and to ease the mind.
INDICATIONS
Menstrual disorders, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea; mass formation in the abdomen; pricking pain in the chest and abdomen, pain in acute arthritis and subcutaneous infection; fidgets and insomnia; hepatosplenomegaly; angina pectoris.

REFERENTIAL ADVICE
1. Promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis.

It is used to cure stasis due to blood-heat, irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, mass in the abdomen, postpartum lochiorrheaand other syndromes. It can also be administered for treatment of angina pectoris in coronary heart disease, hypochondriac pain due to stagnation of the liver-qi, and stomachache due to blood stasis and sluggish flow of qi.

2. Relieving restlessness and tranquilizing the mind.

The drug is used to cure impairment of ying (the vessels in which blood and qi are lodged) during the course of febrile diseases, vexation and insomnia. Liquor infusion of red sage root taken before retiring to bed can cure neurasthenia.

3. Subduing swelling and relieving pain.

It is used to subdue swelling and relieve pain in carbuncles, sores and other skin and external diseases, swelling and pain of the joints and muscles due to arthritis of heat type, etc.

The drug can be administered for the treatment of thromboangiitis obliterans and hypertension.

TIPS
It is most commonly used in blood-related disorders in women. It is also antiphlogistic to the liver, excellent for coronary diseases.