Sweet Wormwood Herb Classic Formulas

Primary Actions

Clears Deficiency Heat and cools bone-steaming fever — tidal fever, night sweats, and steaming-bone sensation from Yin deficiency; principal TCM herb for late-stage febrile disease with lingering Heat in the Ying level
Clears Summer-Heat and releases exterior — summer febrile illness, alternating fever and chills, and nausea
Resolves malarial disorder — alternating chills and fever of malaria; the primary source of artemisinin, the modern WHO first-line anti-malarial drug
Cools the Blood — skin eruptions and bleeding from Blood Heat

Qing Hao Bie Jia Tang (青蒿鳖甲汤) — Wu Jutong's (温病条辨, 1798) classical formula for late-stage Wen Bing with Yin deficiency and residual heat in the Ying level; Qing Hao combined with Bie Jia (soft-shelled turtle shell), Sheng Di Huang, Zhi Mu, and Mu Dan Pi — the definitive formula for 'steaming-bone fever' with night sweats and low-grade persistent fever
Hao Qin Qing Dan Tang (蒿芩清胆汤) — modern classic for Damp-Heat in the Gallbladder with alternating fever-chills and bitter taste; Qing Hao combined with Huang Qin, Zhi Ban Xia, Chi Fu Ling, Zhu Ru, Bi Yu San

Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang (肘后备急方, Ge Hong, ~340 CE): 'To treat malaria, take a handful of Qing Hao in two sheng of water, wring out the juice, and drink it all' — this passage, a direct cold-water extraction avoiding heat-labile destruction of artemisinin, was specifically cited by Tu Youyou as the inspiration leading to the discovery of artemisinin; the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Tu Youyou for this discovery
NAMING NOTE: The stub pinyin 'Huang Hao' (黄蒿) is a regional dialect name for Artemisia annua; the official Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020 name is 'Qing Hao' (青蒿), Latin Herba Artemisiae Annuae — both names refer to the same plant (A. annua) and the same drug; 'Huang Hua Hao' (黄花蒿, yellow-flowered wormwood) is the specific botanical Chinese name; 'Huang Hao' is used in north China dialects