Ju Hua Cha Tiao San菊花茶调散
Chrysanthemum Powder to be Taken with Green Tea
Ingredients11 herbs
Indications
Wind evil attacking the head, with a component of heat or upward-disturbing wind. Wind is light and rises, so it strikes the highest part of the body first; here it clouds the head and irritates the eyes rather than merely aching with cold.
Clinical Manifestations
- Headache with dizziness from external wind
- Vertex or frontal headache with a feeling of pressure
- Headache with red, hot or gritty eyes
- Recurrent headache stirred up by wind or weather change
- Headache with slight twitching of the face or lids
Health Categories
Modern Applications
Common adjustments
- Clear wind-cold with no heat signs at all — the parent formula Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San without Ju Hua and Jiang Can is the closer fit
- Marked wind-heat with sore throat and thirst — wind-heat releasing herbs such as Sang Ye 桑叶 and Bo He 薄荷 are emphasised and the warm acrid herbs reduced
- Headache from ascendant Liver yang — pounding, worse with anger, red face — this is internal wind and belongs to the second half of the chapter; acrid dispersing herbs make it worse
- Eye symptoms predominate — Ju Hua 菊花 is increased and eye-brightening herbs such as Man Jing Zi may be added
Contraindications
Not for headache from qi and blood deficiency, which is dull, worse with fatigue and better with rest — dispersing herbs deplete further. Not for internal wind or ascendant Liver yang headache. A headache that is the worst of a person's life, comes on like a thunderclap, follows a head injury, or arrives with fever and a stiff neck, confusion, or new weakness is not a formula problem: it is an emergency. Jiang Can is an insect product and is avoided by anyone with a known allergy to it.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only — not a self-treatment guide.
Pregnancy
Used with caution in pregnancy and generally avoided. Chuan Xiong moves blood upward and strongly, Xi Xin is acrid and dose-restricted, and Jiang Can is an insect medicinal with little safety data in pregnancy. Headache in pregnancy — especially new, severe, or with visual change or swelling — must be assessed medically first, as it can signal pre-eclampsia.
Related Formulas
References
Source 《丹溪心法附余》
- Classical source (public domain) — 《银海精微》, authorship traditionally but unreliably ascribed; no line quoted here.
2. Scheid, Bensky, Ellis & Barolet. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies, 2nd ed. — composition & dosage cross-checked.
3. 《方剂学》（全国中医药行业高等教育规划教材）— listed as an appended formula to 川芎茶调散.
4. Pharmacopoeial monograph on 细辛 Asari Radix et Rhizoma — root-only restriction and dose ceiling.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.