Skip to content
Cura x Cura

Zong Lv Tan棕榈炭

Trachycarpi Petiolus Carbonisatus · Charred Windmill Palm Fibre · Carbonised Trachycarpus Petiole

Herbs that Stop Bleeding 止血药《本草拾遗》

Overview

  • · — the charred form of.*

The fibrous sheath and leaf-stalk base of the windmill palm, Trachycarpus fortunei — the coarse brown matting that wraps the trunk — charred until it is black but still holds its structure. Bitter, astringent and neutral, entering Liver, Lung and Large Intestine.

It does one thing, and it is chosen when that one thing is what is wanted: it binds and stops bleeding. It has no warming or cooling bias and does not move blood at all, so it can be added to a prescription of any temperature. The uncharred material is mild; charring is what makes it a haemostatic, and Zong Lv Tan rather than plain is what the bleeding formulas mean. Its most famous appearance is in Shi Hui San 十灰散, the 'ten ashes powder', where ten herbs are charred together for sudden upper-body bleeding. The classical pharmacists preferred old, weathered palm fibre to fresh —.

Nature & Flavor

Bitter, astringent · Neutral

Channels

Liver · Lung · Large Intestine

Typical Dosage

3–10 g in decoction
棕榈炭Photography for this entry is on its way.

Actions

4 core actions

  • Astringes and stops bleedingCoughing or vomiting of blood, nosebleed, blood in the urine or stool, and uterine flooding and spotting. Its astringency is purely mechanical in character — it binds without heating, cooling or moving — which is what makes it so easy to add to an existing formula.
  • Uterine bleedingIts most-used indication. For heavy or prolonged uterine bleeding it is combined according to the underlying pattern: with cooling herbs for heat, with warming herbs for cold, with tonics for deficiency. It stops the bleeding; something else has to treat the cause.
  • Charring is the pointUncharred is a weak drug. Charring 'preserving the nature' — burnt through so the material is black and brittle but still recognisable, not reduced to white ash — is what creates the haemostatic. Over-burnt material is inert.
  • The ten-ash formula Shi Hui SanIn Shi Hui San 十灰散 it joins Da Ji, Xiao Ji, lotus leaf, Ce Bai Ye, Bai Mao Gen, Qian Cao, Zhi Zi, Da Huang and Mu Dan Pi, all charred, for sudden bleeding from the upper body. Sudden or heavy bleeding is a medical emergency; the formula is named to place the herb, not to substitute for care.

In Formulas

Formulas containing Zong Lv Tan

No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.

Indications & Clinical Uses

  • Heavy or prolonged uterine bleeding
    - Coughing or vomiting of blood, and nosebleed
    - Blood in the stool or urine
    - Bleeding of any pattern where a neutral astringent is wanted alongside pattern-specific herbs

Western Medical Keywords

Searchable condition terms

Abnormal uterine bleedingMenorrhagiaHaemoptysisEpistaxisRectal bleeding

Contraindications

Cautions

  • Do not use it alone when stasis or damp-heat is driving the bleeding. This is the classical warning and the practical one: an astringent that binds without moving can trap what should be expelled — retained clots, retained lochia, an unresolved damp-heat process. The old phrase is, shutting the door with the thief still inside. Where stasis is present, pair it with blood-movers rather than relying on it.
    - It does not treat a cause. Zong Lv Tan stops bleeding; it does not tell you why the person is bleeding. Uterine bleeding, blood in the stool or urine, and coughing blood all need diagnosis. Suppressing the sign while the cause goes unexamined is the real risk with this herb.
    - Bleeding can be an emergency. Heavy or sudden bleeding, bleeding with dizziness or breathlessness, black tarry stool, or a large volume of blood coughed or vomited require emergency medical care immediately.
    - Charred, and charred properly. Ask for Zong Lv Tan, not plain; and check the material is black and brittle but still structured, not white ash.
    - No specific toxicity is recorded, and it is well tolerated. Long courses are still unnecessary — it is a herb for an episode, not a maintenance herb.

Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific prohibition, and it is not a blood-mover, so it does not carry the pregnancy risk that most bleeding-related herbs do. But any bleeding during pregnancy is a reason to contact an obstetric service immediately, not to reach for a haemostatic herb. Use only within care, on a practitioner's prescription.

For licensed practitioners’ reference only

References

  1. 棕榈 enters the materia medica through the Tang and Song 本草 literature; sources differ on which text first records it, and none is asserted here.
    2. Shi Yao Shen Shu《十药神书》— Shi Hui San (classical source, public domain).
    3. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
    4. 《中华人民共和国药典》— 棕榈, 3–9 g, normally used charred.

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.