Chinese mugwort - 艾叶 (Ai Ye)
Argy Wormwood Leaf
艾叶
Ai Ye·Armoise de Chine
Artemisiae Argyi Folium
- Traced and verified origin
- Dispatched within 24/48h, packed to order
- Kept away from light and moisture
According to the classical texts
温经止血 散寒止痛 调经安胎
Pinyin
Wen Jing Zhi Xue · San Han Zhi Tong · Tiao Jing An Tai
Overview
Chinese mugwort is one of the most emblematic plants of the Chinese pharmacopoeia.
Its downy leaves, picked in spring before flowering, give off a warm, faintly camphorous aromatic scent.
It has been used for more than two thousand years, mentioned as early as the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, and it is the raw material of moxa, the mainstay of moxibustion.
The underside of the leaves carries a characteristic silvery-white down that makes them recognisable at first glance.
Traditional uses
Held to warm the meridians and drive out cold, Mugwort is traditionally attached to the harmony of the Blood’s rhythms and accompanies constitutions marked by inner cold.
In external use, it is the foremost herb of moxibustion: its dried, compressed leaves are burnt above the acupuncture points to spread a penetrating heat.
Also traditionally used to preserve the cohesion of the Blood where cold scatters it.
Preparation and traditional-use quantity
- Decoction (internal): 3 to 9 g per day, simmer for 20 to 30 minutes in 500 ml of water
- Moxa (external): dried leaves rolled into sticks or cones, burnt at a distance from the skin above the acupuncture points
- Footbath: a handful infused in hot water to warm cold extremities
- Traditional warming cushion: dried leaves in a bag, warmed and laid on the small of the back
Precautions
A herb of warm nature: to be used with care in cases of settled heat, or of deficient with empty heat.
