What it is:
This herb is thetuber of Alisma orien-talis (San). Juzep. (family Alismataceae) which is produced mainly in Fujian andSichuan provinces.It is collected inwinter, sliced, dried in sunlight, and stir-baked with wheat bran or with salt water.

Property:
Sweet and tasteless in flavour, cold in property, acting on the kidney and urinarybladder channels.

Effects:
inducing diuresis, excreting dampness and expellingpathogenic heat.

Used for:
Dysuria, edema,diarrhea, stranguria with turbid urine,leukorrhagia, phlegm retention, etc. This drug is sweet and tasteless in flavour and has the effects of excreting dampness.It has the effect of inducing diuresis similar to poria and can be used for various syndromes of water and dampnessretention. This drug is cold in property and can expel heat in the kidney and urinarybladder, so it is very suitable for expelling heat in the lower-jiao. For dysuria and edema, it is often used with poria and umbellate pore-fungus,as in Umbellate Pore-fungus Decoction (Zhuling Tang). For vertigo due to phlegmretention, it isusually used with white atractylodesrhizome, known asOriental WaterPlantain Decoction(Zexie Tang).

Dosage andadministration: 5-10g, decocted in water for an oral dose. Precautions: It may lead to spermatorrhea if used in large dosage.