Dogbane Leaf

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Clears heat and helps lower rising pressure - Luo Bu Ma leaf is used in modern TCM practice for hypertension-like presentations with dizziness, headache, irritability, and Liver heat or rising Yang patterns.
• Strengthens the Heart and promotes urination - traditional indications extend to palpitations, edema, and fluid retention when heat and circulatory strain coexist.
• Calms agitation and eases restlessness - the leaf is widely used as a medicinal tea when irritability, poor sleep, and tension accompany elevated pressure.

Secondary Actions

• Luo Bu Ma sits at the border of herb and tea, and many people encounter it more often in medicated-tea or wellness-drink form than in classical decoction formulas.
• The leaf material is the part most commonly used; later shorthand often says Luo Bu Ma even when the actual medicinal item is Luo Bu Ma Ye.

Classic Formulas

• Luo Bu Ma tea preparations - later medicinal-tea traditions use the leaf alone or with Ju Hua for dizziness, irritability, and elevated pressure.
• Luo Bu Ma with Ze Xie or Che Qian Zi - later pairing logic when head pressure coexists with edema and scanty urination.

Classical References

• TCM Wiki describes Luo Bu Ma as sweet, bitter, and cool, entering the Liver channel, with actions of clearing heat, decreasing blood pressure, strengthening the heart, and inducing diuresis.
• Modern Chinese herb manuals commonly present Luo Bu Ma as a mild but useful leaf for hypertension, edema, and agitation, especially in tea form.