TCM Properties

Traditional Use

Disperses Wind-Cold and relieves pain — used for headaches, toothache, facial pain, and rheumatic pain from wind-cold invasion or cold obstructing the channels
Opens the nasal orifices — used for nasal congestion, sinus headache, rhinitis, and sinusitis from wind-cold or Lung Qi blockage
Warms the Lung and dissolves fluid accumulation — used for cough with watery phlegm, wheezing, and fluid retention in the Lung from cold-fluid obstruction

Disperses cold and relieves Bi syndrome — addresses cold-type joint pain and arthritis
Assists Yang Qi in driving out deep-lodged cold — used in combination formulas for Shao Yin-level cold patterns

Ma Huang Fu Zi Xi Xin Tang (麻黄附子细辛汤) — Ephedra, Prepared Aconite, and Asarum Decoction; treats Shao Yin cold pattern with both exterior and interior cold; simultaneous exterior release and interior warming
Xiao Qing Long Tang (小青龙汤) — Minor Blue-Green Dragon Decoction; treats wind-cold exterior pattern with underlying cold-fluid accumulation causing cough and wheezing

Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica, c. 200 CE) — listed as upper-class herb; documents actions for wind-cold headache, nasal obstruction, and toothache

Methyleugenol — primary phenylpropanoid in volatile oil; analgesic and local anesthetic activity; also a potential carcinogen under prolonged exposure
Safrole — phenylpropanoid in volatile oil; DEA List I chemical (US); potential carcinogen at high doses; largely destroyed by decoction
Asarinin — major lignan; potent anti-inflammatory via COX-2 and PAF inhibition
Sesamin — lignan isomer of asarinin; anti-inflammatory and antioxidant
Alkamides (DDA, N-isobutyl-dodecatetraenamide) — analgesic and anti-inflammatory; inhibit PGE2 and TNF-α
Asarones (alpha and beta) — volatile oil constituents with bronchodilatory properties

Analgesic — alkamide-rich extracts significantly reduce acetic acid-induced writhing and increase thermal pain threshold in rodents; DDA shows high oral bioavailability (PMID 35868550)
Anti-inflammatory — lignan fraction (asarinin, sesamin) inhibits COX-2 activation, PAF-induced inflammation, and LPS-activated NO production with 27.9–72.6% inhibition at pharmacological doses (PMID 28098805)
Nine novel lignans isolated (neoasarinin A-C) alongside 37 known compounds; lignan-rich CHCl3 extract identified as primary active anti-inflammatory fraction (PMID 28098805)

Pregnancy — acrid, warm, strongly moving herb; traditional contraindication throughout pregnancy
Yin deficiency with heat signs — warm acrid nature worsens heat patterns; contraindicated without cold-type presentation
Qi deficiency or sweating disorders — strongly dispersing action depletes Qi and Wei energy

Dose limit: 1–3 g/day in decoction; 0.5–1 g/day in powder per Chinese Pharmacopoeia — do not exceed
Contains safrole (DEA List I chemical, US) in volatile oil — largely destroyed by standard decoction but present in raw powder; avoid prolonged powder use
Contains methyleugenol (potential carcinogen at high chronic doses) — decoction form preferred over extended powder or tincture use
Contains minute aristolochic acid analogs (0.009–0.042 mg/g, far below toxic threshold) — controlled dose and duration are safe per PMID 34899315
Banned or restricted in UK, EU, and other jurisdictions for some preparations — verify local regulations before prescribing
MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database