Chicory Herb — Classic Formulas

Ju Ju · Cichorii Herba

Primary Actions

  • Clears Liver and Gallbladder damp-heat and relieves jaundice - Ju Ju is especially used when yellowing of the eyes or skin, bitter taste, dark urine, rib-side discomfort, and digestive oppression point to damp-heat obstructing bile flow.
  • Strengthens the Stomach and improves appetite - despite its cooling nature, it is valued when poor appetite, epigastric fullness, nausea, or sluggish digestion arise from damp-heat rather than from pure cold deficiency.
  • Promotes urination and reduces edema - Ju Ju helps drain dampness downward when fluid retention, scanty urine, or puffy swelling accompany hepatobiliary or digestive heat patterns.
  • Clears heat and resolves toxicity - broader regional practice extends its use to inflammatory damp-heat disorders in which digestive, urinary, and liver-gallbladder symptoms overlap.

Classic Formulas

  • Yin Chen Hao Tang modifications (茵陈蒿汤加菊苣) - used when damp-heat jaundice is accompanied by poor appetite, rib-side discomfort, or sluggish bile flow and the base formula needs stronger Liver-Gallbladder support.
  • Ju Ju with Yin Chen Hao and Zhi Zi (菊苣配茵陈栀子) - common modern Uighur-TCM pairing for jaundice, bitter taste, dark urine, and hypochondriac fullness from damp-heat.
  • Digestive damp-heat decoctions with Ju Ju and Shan Zha - regional usage for poor appetite, abdominal fullness, and Stomach discomfort when food stagnation overlaps with hepatobiliary damp-heat.

Classical Text References

  • Me and Qi describes Ju Ju as a cooling herb from Uighur medicine now included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, emphasizing Liver-Gallbladder damp-heat, jaundice, digestion, and urination.
  • The same source identifies the medicinal part as the whole aerial herb and frames its best use in jaundice, poor appetite, edema, and damp-heat digestive patterns.
  • SOURCE NOTE: older English databases sometimes place Ju Ju in digestive categories with different channel attributions, but current Chinese-medicine summaries consistently center its hepatobiliary damp-heat use.