What it is:
This herb is the dry glue pieces made from the hide of Equus asinus L. (family Equidae) . The donkey- hide gelatin is obtained after a series of processes of the hide: washing, soaking, plucking, rinsing and stewing. The herb is produced mainly in Shandong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. It is used unprepared, or stir- baked with oyster shell powder or cat-tail pollen powder into small glue balls for use.

Property:
Sweet in flavour, neutral in property, acting on the lung, liver and kidney channels.

Effects:
Tonifying the blood, arresting bleeding, nourishing yin and moistening dryness.

Used for:
1. For dizziness and palpitation dueto blood deficiency, it is often used with prepared rehmannia root, chinese angelica root, astragalus root and dangshen.

2. Hematemesis,hemoptysis,epistaxis,hemafecia, metrorrhagia, metrostaxis, especially effective for chronic for chronic bleedings accompanied with deficiency of yin and blood. It can be used alone after melting in hot water for oral use, or used in combination with other herbs according to the actual condition of disease. For hematermesis and hemoptysis, it can be used together with ophiopogon root , dried rehmannia root,etc.;for hemafeciadue to deficiency of the spleen- yang, it is often given with white atractylodesrhizome, prepared lateral root of aconite and clay-lining of a kitchen range, as in the Decoction of Baked Yellow Earth(Huangtu Tang); for metror-hagia, metrostaxis, profuse menstruation,vaginal bleeding during pregnancy and incessant bleeding after abortion, it is often used together with dried rehmannia root, white peony root andargyi leaf, as in Donkey-hide Glue and Argyi Leaf Decoction (Jiao Ai Tang).

3. For vexation and insomnia due toyin deficiency, it is often used with coptis root, white peony root and egg yolk, as in Decoction of Coptis and Donkey-hide Glue (Huanglian Ejiao Tang).

4. For dyspnea and cough due to consumption or dry cough due to yin deficiency, it is often used together with glehnia root, ophiopogon root , mulberry leaf, bitter apricot kernel , etc.

Dosage and administration: 5- 10g melted by heating for oral administrationwith water, or dissolvedin boiling water or yellow rice or millet wine fororal administration. For tonifying theblood and nourishing yin, it is used unprepared; for arresting bleeding, it should be stir- baked with cat- tail pollen;for moistening the lung,it shouldbe stir-baked with powder of oyster shell.

Precautions:
This herb is sticky and greasy in property and can hinder digestion, so it is improper to prescribe it for patients with weak spleen and stomach marked by poor appetite, or vomiting and diarrhea.