Radix Scrophulariae
Source
Root of Scrophularia ningpoensis Hemsl., family Scrophulariaceae.
Characteristics
Root
cylindroid or more slender at two ends, some curved; 6-20 cm long, 1-3
cm in diameter; surface grey-yellow with transverse lenticels and vertical
wrinkled grooves. Prepared as crosscut pieces; black, with radial striae.
Tough in texture, with a smell of burnt sugar. Sweet, bitter and salty
in taste, slightly cold in nature, and attributive to lung, stomach and
kidney channels.
Indication
1. Clear away heat, cool the blood, nourish yin and nioisturize dryness:
For seasonal febrile diseases involving yingfen and xuefen with restlessness,
thirst and eruptions, febrile diseases consuming yin with thirst, insomnia,
constipation and dry, red tongue, lung-heat syndrome with dry cough or
hemoptysis, diabetes, etc.
2. Purge the sthenic fire, clear away toxic material, soften the hard
lumps and disperse the stagnation: For intense heat-syndrome or yin-deficiency
syndrome with sorethroat, diphtheria, etc., usually used together with
Radix Rehmanniae, Radix Ophiopogonis, Radix Scuteliariae, Fructus Forsythiae;
for subcutaneous nodes due to phlegm fire, scrofula and goiter, used together
with Bulbus Fritillariae Thunbergil and Concha 
Ostreae.
In addition, for gangrene of finger or toe, used together with Radix Angelicae
Sinensis, Flos Lonicerae and Radix Glycyrrhizae.
Pharmacological
Action
1. Its alcoholic extract and its component methoxycinnamic acid can lower
the typhoid vaccine-induced fever in rabbits.
2. Its water or alcoholic infusion and decoction exert a mild hypotensive
effect on anesthetized animals.
3. Lowering the level of blood sugar. Its infusion inhibits the growth
of some dermatornyces.
Administration Decoction: 9-30g.