Cinnamon Twigs (Guizhi)
| Pharmaceutical Name: | Ramulus Cinnamomi |
| Botanical Name: | Cinnamomum cassia Presl |
| Common Name: | Cinnamon twigs Cassia twigs |
| Source of Earliest Record: | Shennong Bencao Jing |
| art Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: | The twigs are picked in the spring, dried in a shady place or in the sunshine and then cut into slices or pieces. |
| Properties and Taste: | Pungent-spicy, sweat and warm |
| Meridian: | Heart, lung and urinary bladder |
| Functions: | To promote diaphoresis and relieve exterior syndrome; To promote blood circulation; To warm the meridians and disperse cold |
| Indications and Combinations: | 1. Wind-cold type of exterior syndrome. *Use with Ephedra (Mahuang) increases the diaphoretic action of the herb. 2. Wind-cold type of exterior deficiency syndrome manifested as sweating, aversion to wind, fever, and superficial and tardy pulse. *Use with White peony root (Baishao) in the formula Guizhi Tang. 3. Arthritic pain caused by invasion of exogenous wing, cold, and damp manifested as soreness and pain in the joints, limbs, shoulders, and back. *Use with Prepared aconite root (Fuzi). 4. Deficiency of yang in the hart and spleen manifested as palpitations, edema, and shortness of breath. *Use with Poria (Fuling) and White atractylodes (Baizhu). 5. Weakness of yang in the chest (including what is known as Angina pectoria in Western medicine) manifested as pain in the chest palpitations, or intermittent pulse. *Use with Macrostem onion (Xiebai) and Trichosantes fruit (Gualou) 6. Amenorrhea abdominal pain due to cold invasion and blood stasis. *Use with peach seed (Taoren), Moutan bark (Mudanpi) and Poria (Fuling) in the formula Guizhi Fuling Wan. |
| Dosage: | 3-10 g |
| Cautions: | The herb is contraindicated in warm-febrile disease as well as cases of deficient yin with heat signs. It should be used with caution in pregnant women. |