Dogbane, “the hemp of Lop Nur”
Luo Bu Ma is not a description, it is an address: Luo Bu transcribes Lop, as in Lop Nur, the vanished lake in Xinjiang along whose rivers the plant grows in abundance, and Ma means hemp. Word for word, “the hemp of Lop Nur”. People spun and wove this plant long before attributing properties to it, and its other Chinese name tells of its second use: Ye Cha, “the wild tea”, because the people of Lop Nur have drunk its leaves for centuries. Apocynum venetum is a perennial with small pink bell-shaped flowers that tolerates salt and drought. Its leaves are picked in summer, before flowering, and its reference terroir is Xinjiang, in the Tarim Basin.
Bringing Liver Yang back down
In traditional Chinese medicine, the leaf is cool, sweet and bitter in flavour, and enters the Liver alone: this is rare, and it shows how narrow its field is. Tradition holds that Liver Yang tends to rise, especially when the Yin no longer holds it back. Bitterness brings it back down, coolness removes the Heat that pushes it, and sweetness supports without weighing down. Its primary action is therefore to calm the Liver and bring the Yang back down; it also clears Heat and, in the same direction, lets water flow out through the urine. With chrysanthemum buds, it forms the gentlest pairing of its register, the one found in infusions.
A mind at rest, a leaf prepared like tea
Tradition continues: the rising Heat of the Liver comes to unsettle the Shen, which the Heart houses; by clearing it, the leaf lets the mind rest, with a gentle action, unlike heavy mineral substances. The leaf for infusion is made like a tea: the young leaves are steamed, pan-heated then rolled, which removes the alkaline salts and irritating compounds of the raw leaf. A good prepared leaf gives a golden-yellow liquor. Only the leaf goes into this product; the root is another substance, reserved for prescription. Modern research has looked in particular at its flavonoids.
Key benefits
Soothed Liver & anchored Yang
Cool and bitter, the leaf brings Liver Yang back down and anchors it below again, according to Chinese tradition.
Serene mind
By clearing the Heat that unsettles the Shen, it gently helps calm the mind.
Inner freshness
Through its cool nature and bitterness, it clears Heat and guides it downwards.
