Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Sophora flavescens
Also known as Ku Shen
Pronounced Bitter Sophora / Ku Shen (koo shun); Sophora flavescens (so-FOR-uh fla-VESS-enz).
Cold, dry, and intensely bitter: a damp-heat scouring drain that clears heat, dries dampness, kills parasites, and quiets itch.
Contraindicated. Traditional texts prohibit use in pregnancy, and the quinolizidine alkaloids (matrine, oxymatrine) are pharmacologically active with insufficient human safety data and potential uterine and cardiac activity. Avoid (aligns with AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook conservative classing for potent alkaloidal roots and the classical TCM contraindication).
Avoid. No adequate lactation safety data exist; the active alkaloids may transfer into milk. Insufficient data; avoid.
Not for internal use in children. The narrow toxic margin and bitter-cold, depleting nature make internal pediatric dosing inappropriate. Supervised external washes only, if used at all.
Extremely bitter and cold. Even short internal courses readily injure the spleen and stomach in cold or deficient patients. Narrow toxic margin: overdose causes irritability, muscle twitching and cramps, excitation, and, in gross overdose, dyspnea and respiratory depression. Prolonged or high-dose internal use may burden the kidneys. Practitioner-administered only; not for casual self-dosing.
Classical Eighteen Incompatibilities: absolutely incompatible with Li Lu (Veratrum nigrum). Contraindicated in spleen and stomach deficiency-cold, yang deficiency, and fluid-deficient states lacking true damp-heat. Avoid in pregnancy and lactation. Not for internal pediatric self-treatment.
Not at-risk. Sophora flavescens is widely cultivated and commercially abundant across China and is not listed by United Plant Savers or CITES. Source cultivated, lab-tested root (confirm the pharmacopoeial marker of roughly 1.2 percent or greater total alkaloids and screen for heavy metals and adulterants) from reputable suppliers.
Not in canonical biblical texts. Native to East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, and Siberia); first recorded in the Han-era Shennong Ben Cao Jing and continuous in Chinese materia medica thereafter.
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