Bupleurum, the root that unknots the Liver Qi

Chai Hu combines two characters, the first of which means kindling wood: the name may evoke the woody hardness of the dried stems and roots. Bupleurum is a perennial of the Apiaceae family, with small yellow flowers in umbels and leaves with parallel veins. It is a “northern plant”: its reference terroirs are the dry meadows and sunny slopes of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Inner Mongolia, and Luoning county, in Henan, produces the highly prized Wang Fan Chai Hu. Tradition makes it the key plant for knotted Liver Qi, to the point that it gave its name to a whole family of formulas.

Freeing the Liver, unknotting what is knotted

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the root is slightly cool, with a pungent and bitter flavour. Pungency disperses and sets knotted Qi in motion, bitterness makes it descend, and its slight coolness keeps Qi that has long been constrained from turning into Heat. It enters the Liver, which according to tradition is in charge of the free flow of Qi throughout the body, the Gallbladder and the Lung. When vexation, frustration or pent-up anger knot the Liver Qi, it gently sets it moving again; the vinegar-processed form is preferred for this use. It is the principal ingredient of Xiao Yao San, the “free and easy wanderer” powder.

Harmonising the Shao Yang, raising the Yang

Its signature role is to harmonise the Shao Yang, the hinge between the surface and the interior: light, it pushes outwards what has lodged halfway, while Baikal skullcap clears within; this is the pair of Xiao Chai Hu Tang. Used in small amounts alongside tonics, it also lifts sunken Qi: it supplements nothing by itself, it guides the formula upwards. One root, several uses: the amount used, like the preparation, decides which one prevails.