Abrus herb, the “chicken-bone herb” of the South
Ji Gu Cao reads “chicken-bone herb”: once dried, its stems and twigs are thin, brittle and curved like small poultry bones. It is a gatherer’s name, not a scholar’s. This climbing legume was first recorded on Mount Baiyun, in Canton; its reference terroir is Guangdong and Guangxi, which counts it among its ten emblematic plants. In Lingnan, the far south of China, it is simmered in soup with lean pork and jujubes, and it is one of the bases of liang cha, the cooling herbal tea of the hot, humid months.
Cooling without emptying the Middle
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ji Gu Cao is cool, with a sweet and slightly bitter flavour. Coolness counters Heat, bitterness dries Dampness, and sweetness supports the Spleen in its work of transformation: it cools without emptying the Middle, which is why the South could put it in the cooking pot. It is associated with the Liver and the Stomach. Tradition credits it with clearing Heat and letting Dampness flow out, and a repertory of southern plants sums it up in a few words: it clears retained Heat, soothes the Liver and harmonises the Spleen.
Soothing the Liver, what sets it apart
This is the action that separates it from its neighbours: soothing the Liver, which tradition holds to be the master of the movement of Qi. When this movement stalls, digestion feels it; Ji Gu Cao restores the free flow of Qi. Gentler than other plants in the same register, it is the one the South put into its soups and teas. With capillary wormwood, it forms a pair in which each brings what the other lacks. Its history is entirely modern: long a folk plant, absent from the great texts, it only entered the Chinese Pharmacopoeia in 1977.
Key benefits
Free Liver Qi & Lightness
By soothing the Liver, Ji Gu Cao helps free the Liver Qi and restore its free flow.
Coolness & Damp-Heat Cleared
Cool and slightly bitter, it clears Damp-Heat, a quality valued in the southern herbal teas of the hot, humid months.
Digestion & a Spared Middle
Its sweet flavour supports the Spleen, and it contributes to good digestion without emptying the Middle.
