---
title: "Xia Ku Cao"
url: "https://books.drcassone.com/21/traditional-medicines-of-east-asia/619/xia-ku-cao"
---

 ![xia ku cao, prunellae spica.jpg](/u/xia-ku-cao-prunellae-spica-HqKlET.jpg) 

# Xia Ku Cao

### Prunellae Spica

_acrid, bitter, cold_

#### PRIMARY FUNCTION:

_**Clear Heat and Drain Fire**_

CLASSICAL MANIFESTATIONS:
- Red eyes
- Painful eyes
- Swollen eyes
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Lumps on neck
- Swollen glands
- Goiter
- Scrofula
- Lipoma
- Hypertension

Xia Ku Cao is acrid, bitter, and cold. It enters the gallbladder and
liver systems to treat patterns of heat. It can treat eye related
disorders involving heat or eye disorders due to liver patterns that
are worse at night.

**Channels:** liver, gallbladder

COMMON APPLICATIONS AND CLINICAL
POSSIBILITIES:
- Lipoma
- High blood pressure
- Antitumor
- Goiter
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Disorders of the eye
- Breast abscess
- Diuresis

**Formulas:**
- Long Dan Bi Yuan Fang

**Contraindications:** prescribe Xia Ku Cao cautiously to
patients that present with poor digestive function

**Zoo Image:** a walrus with a goiter wearing a liver fire bike helmet and
sunglasses is inflating a tire with a bulge

[Cassone Wellness](https://cassonewellness.com/)