Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Ligusticum chuanxiong
Also known as Chuan Xiong
Pronounced Szechuan Lovage / Chuan Xiong (chwahn shyong); Ligusticum chuanxiong (lih-GUSS-tih-kum chwahn-shee-ONG).
Warm, dry, acrid blood-and-qi mover: the aromatic vasodilator that ascends to the head and descends to the blood chamber to unblock stasis and stop pain.
Contraindicated for self-care. Chuan Xiong is a blood-invigorating emmenagogue with uterine-stimulant potential; standard modern Chinese materia medica references list it as contraindicated or for use only under qualified supervision in pregnancy. (Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed., 2004; Chen and Chen, Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology, 2004.)
Insufficient reliable data; avoid. No established lactation safety profile for this blood-moving herb; use only under professional guidance. (Bensky et al., 2004; Mills and Bone, Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy, 2nd ed., 2013.)
Not established; avoid in infants and young children except under qualified practitioner care. Chuan Xiong is a strong blood-mover without pediatric safety data. (Bensky et al., 2004.)
Strongly ascending and dispersing; large or prolonged doses may cause headache, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting. Discontinue before surgery because of antiplatelet activity. Not appropriate for headaches from rising liver yang or yin deficiency.
Avoid in yin deficiency with heat, rising liver-yang headache, active bleeding, heavy menstruation (menorrhagia), and profuse sweating. Contraindicated in pregnancy for self-care.
Low conservation concern. Chuan Xiong is a cultivated cultigen propagated vegetatively from rhizome nodes (ling zi) and grown as an agricultural crop in Sichuan and neighboring provinces; it is not wild-harvested and not listed as at-risk. Source from reputable growers who test for sulfur-dioxide fumigation and heavy metals.
Not in canonical biblical texts. A Chinese materia medica herb native to Sichuan, first recorded in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Han dynasty, c. 200 CE).
The same herb can calm one person and wire another. Our free assessment reads your pattern across temperature, moisture and tone, then matches herbs to it.
Teaching children at home? Eden's Table builds a full herbalism curriculum around plants like this one.
