棕衣炭
Carbonized petiole of windmill palm (Zonglutan)

Pharmaceutical Name: Petiolus Trachycarpi carbonisatus

Botanical Name: Trachycarpus fortunei H. wendl.

Common Name: Carbonized palm fiber, Carbonized petiole of windmill palm

Source of Earliest Record: Bencao Shiyi

Part Used: The palm fiber is gathered in the period of the Winter Solstice (twenty-second solar term), and then it is carbonized.

Natural Properties & Taste: Bitter, astringent and neutral

Meridians: Lung, liver and large intestine

Therapeutic Effects:
To stop bleeding

Indications:
1. Hemorrhages due to extravasation of blood by heat manifested as cough with blood, vomiting with blood, epistaxis, bloody stool and uterine bleeding. Carbonized petiole of windmill palm (Zonglutan) is used with Imperata rhizome (Baimaogen), Japanese thistle (Daji), Small thistle (Xiaoji) and Capejasmine (Zhizi) in the formula Shihui San.

2. Hemorrhages due to deficiency of yang qi leading to failure of the spleen to control blood manifested as uterine bleeding or bloody stool. Carbonized petiole of windmill palm (Zonglutan) is used with Astragalus root (Huangqi), Ginseng (Renshen) and White atractylodes (Baizhu).

Dosage: 3-10 g