Zao Jiao Ci皂角刺
Gleditsiae Spina · Chinese Honeylocust Spine · Gleditsia Thorn
Overview
The woody thorn of the Chinese honeylocust, cut from trunk and branches and sliced. It is a piercing, outward-driving medicine rather than a nourishing one: acrid and warm, it bores through congealed tissue to bring an unripe abscess to a head so that pus can discharge, and it is used in the same spirit to break through knotted lumps and blocked channels. Our dispensary record flags it as toxic, and it belongs only in a prescription written for a particular person at a particular stage of a sore.
Nature & Flavor
Acrid · WarmChannels
Liver · StomachTypical Dosage
3–10 g in decoctionActions
3 core actions
- Expels toxin, brings an abscess to a headSores and abscesses that are swollen and painful but have not yet come to a head or begun to discharge; its classical role, as in Xian Fang Huo Ming Yin 仙方活命饮.
- Dissipates swelling, breaks through hardnessHard, stubborn lumps in the breast or the neck nodes, and a knotted, tense breast with milk that will not flow.
- Dispels wind, kills parasitesGround and applied externally for scabies, ringworm and stubborn itching skin lesions.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Zao Jiao Ci
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Abscesses and boils that are swollen and not yet discharging
- Hard breast lumps and blocked flow of milk
- Persistent scaly or itching skin lesions, used externally
- Stubborn wind-damp blockage of the channels (an adjunct role)
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
Our dispensary data flags this herb as toxic. In practice it is prescription-only: never self-dosed, never taken beyond the practitioner's amount, and never above 9 g a day. It is wrong once a sore has already opened and is draining — at that stage it pushes out what is already leaving and wastes the patient's reserves — and wrong in a depleted person with no real toxic accumulation to expel. Contraindicated in pregnancy. An abscess that is spreading, feverish, or on the face needs conventional assessment as well; this herb is not a substitute for drainage or antibiotics.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: Contraindicated in pregnancy — a sharply piercing, downward-driving herb, and one of those traditionally avoided while carrying.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
2. 《中华人民共和国药典》.
3. 《中华本草》.
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.