Han Lian Cao – Eclipta – Herba Ecliptae

Han Lian Cao

English Name: eclipta

Pharmaceutical Name: Herba Ecliptae

Medica Category: Yin-Tonifying Herbs

Properties: Han Lian Cao enters the Liver and Kidney channels; it is sweet and sour in nature and cold in temperature.

What is Han Lian Cao?:

The Chinese Herb Han Lian Cao is the dried, aerial parts of eclipta (Eclipta prostrata L.), a hardy, shrubby-type plant that thrives in boggy, wet soils around the world. It grows to approximately 2 ft. tall with a thin, wooden stem, dark green leaves, and small white flowers resembling daisies (hence the common moniker “false daisy” for this herb). The fresh herb can be juiced and taken orally, made into a topical paste (better to clear heat and cool blood in this form), or these aerial parts can be dried and taken in pill or powder form.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Han Lian Cao:

Han Lian Cao nourishes Liver yin and tonifies the Kidney (both tonifying yin and supplementing jing (essence) and marrow) to address common presentations such as blurred vision, dizziness, vertigo, soreness of the lower back and knees, and prematurely graying hair.

Han Lian Cao (fresh herb) clears blood heat to address various forms of bleeding such as hemoptysis, epistaxis, uterine bleeding, hematuria, hematochezia, and subcutaneous bleeding or purpura. The juice of fresh herb can made into a paste to address external bleeding due to trauma (the powdered form will work for this application too).

–safety/clinical notes:

Use with caution for Spleen and Kidney deficiencies, or with persons with diarrhea (from cold in the middle).

Use with caution in persons with food stagnation caused by Spleen qi deficiency.