---
title: "Yuan Zhi"
url: "https://books.drcassone.com/21/traditional-medicines-of-east-asia/641/yuan-zhi"
---

 ![yuan zhi, polygalae radix.jpg](/u/yuan-zhi-polygalae-radix-ttxnKM.jpg) 

# Yuan Zhi

### Polygalae Radix

_acrid, bitter, slightly warm_

#### PRIMARY FUNCTION:

_**Nourish the Heart and Calm the Spirit**_

CLASSICAL MANIFESTATIONS:
- Insomnia
- Palpitations
- Anxiety
- Restlessness
- Disorientation
- Spasms
- Seizures
- Productive cough
- Boils
- Abscesses
- Swollen and painful breasts

Yuan Zhi is bitter to drain and detoxify, acrid to break up and
disperse, and slightly warm to treat cold patterns. It enters the
lung and the heart systems.

Yuan Zhi enters the lung system to break up and move phlegm.
The affinity to the lung system also allows Yuan Zhi to treat boils
and abscesses on the skin. It can be used topically.

**Channels:** lung, heart

COMMON APPLICATIONS AND CLINICAL
POSSIBILITIES:
- Heart palpitations
- Anxiety
- Nervousness
- Cough
- Antimicrobial
- Mastitis
- Sleep disorders
- Poor memory
- Pneumonia
- Bronchitis
- Dyspnea

**Formulas:**
- An Shen Ding Zhi Wan
- Di Huang Yin Zi
- Ding Zhi Wan
- Gui Pi Tang
- Long Chi Qing Hun Tang
- Ren Shen Yang Rong Tang
- Sang Piao Xiao San
- Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan

**Contraindications:** do not prescribe Yuan Zhi to patients
with gastrointestinal tract disorders or to patients with
deficiency heat patterns

**Zoo Image:** the heart queen deer and kidney king deer are getting married by
a spirit that has his lungs spit on by a deer with sores

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