Ellipsoid or slat-shaped, slightly compressed, shrunken and somewhat curved, 3~15 cm long, 1.5~6 cm wide, 0.5~2 cm thick. Externally yellowish-white to pale yellowish-brown, with longitudinal wrinkles and many transverse annulations arranged by latent buds, sometimes brown funiculi visible. Apex with reddish-brown to deep brown parrot-beak like buds or remains of stem; the lower end with a rounded scar. Texture hard and uneasily broken, fracture fairly even, yellowish-white to brownish, horny. Odour, slight; taste, sweetish.

Headache, dizziness and numbness of the limbs; infantile convulsion; epilepsy; tetanus.

1. Calming the endopathic wind and relieving convulsion and spasm.

It is prescribed for patients with symptoms caused by up-stirring of liver-wind marked by convulsion. It is commonly used, in compatibility with other material to treat patients with the above-mentioned symptoms, no matter they are caused by syndromes of cold type or heat type.

2. Calming the liver and suppressing liver-yang.

This medicine is used in the treatment of such symptoms as vertigo and headache caused by the hyperactivity of liver-yang. It can also be used in the treatment of vertigo due to the up-stirring of the wind-phlegm syndrome.

3. Removing obstruction in the channels to relieve pain.

It is applied in the treatment of arthralgia due to the wind, cold and dampness, or in the treatment of lassitude and insensibleness of the limbs caused by deficiency of the liver and kidney.