The level of Western medicine in Taiwan is already so good that many Chinese living overseas fly back to see the doctor here. It would seem then that the old Chinese herbal medicines would have fallen by the wayside. Yet the truth is that herbal medicine is all the rage in Taiwan.

Have you seen wild clove? It might be growing on any small plot of earth near your home, for it requires little space. It has heart-shaped leaves and reddish-purple, white or yellow blooms. Growing only knee-high, this green plant is also known as "purple jasmine" or "zhufan hua" (which means the "rice-cooking flower").

Most people don't pay much attention to such wild flowers, at most noting their pretty blooms with an "ah" as they pass by. But in writer Zeng Yan's fridge, you can often find bags of wild clove. In the throes of a writing project, she sometimes suffers from sleeplessness or migraines. At such times she goes out to pick the flower. Back home she boils the blooms, and they turn the water a pretty reddish purple. She takes this drink with honey or sugar. Even her six-year-old daughter likes it. Zeng says it settles her down.

Hoeing your way to health

Ten years ago Zeng moved to Taiwan from Yunnan Province on the mainland, and now she lives in the Taipei suburb of Hsintien. From a very young age, she climbed the wild hillsides, digging everywhere with her father, who was very knowledgeable about Chinese medicine. Sometimes people in her village would come by asking for medical advice. In their remote district, there were no herbal pharmacies, and if he had written prescriptions, there would have been no place to fill them. But this absence didn't concern her father a bit: "Within your field of vision," Zeng says, quoting her father, "there is medicine all about you, and you can pick up a hoe to cure what ails you."

Zeng has personal experience with the effectiveness of herbal medicine. During the Cultural Revolution, when there was a hepatitis epidemic in mainland China, her mother came down with it, and the teenage Zeng saw her father mix the leaves of oriental arborvitae with gentian and other herbs to treat her mother.

For the leaves of the oriental arborvitae her father used the traditional "black-burning" method, boiling them with two packets of herbal medicine in an air-tight clay pot covered with earth. "The resulting broth is very bitter and slightly poisonous," Zeng says. She remembers that her mother "felt nauseous and dizzy and vomited" after drinking the mix. But she miraculously recovered several days later. Afterwards, her father gave this prescription to quite a few patients, saving many of their lives.

Weeds can also bowl you over

In Taiwan, there are quite a number of people who, like Zeng Yan, have a good understanding of herbal medicines. Liao Su-chiung, a housewife in her fifties, learned a lot about herbal medicines from her parents, and whenever she gets the chance to go to the mountains she gathers herbs that she finds along roads. In suburban areas she finds the dandelion, and she climbs cliffs for mountain cockroach grass. Then there's pian di ji, which is shaped like a little ball and quite similar to coriander. All these she often plucks and makes into teas. "They strengthen the liver, lower the 'heat' in one's body, and protect the digestive tract," she says, enumerating their medical benefits.

"Weeds can also bowl people over," Wei Wen-tzu says in Taiwanese. A member of the Chiayi Herbal Medicine Society, Wei explains that one shouldn't overlook some common flowers and weeds. In certain people, they can treat minor ailments such as colds and stomach aches. And they may even help with difficult and complicated medical problems.

Many years ago, Wei Wen-tzu's son had a rare kind of hernia that was causing fluid to accumulate in the scrotum, which was hard to drain. He brought his son to many famous doctors, both of Western and Chinese medicine, but to no avail. "The doctors of Western medicine used techniques like draining the scrotum with a syringe," he recalls. "But if it was drained in the morning, it would be full again by the afternoon." Exasperated, he decided to try a prescription recommended by a relative, which called for frying lean pork in sesame oil with the leaves of a paper mulberry tree. Quite unexpectedly, his son's ailment--then described as chronic and incurable--was cured after a few such meals, never to flare up again.

The origin of herbal medicine

Sounds a bit like the stuff of myth. A doctor who received a strict and conservative training might just dismiss the tale with a wave of the hand. But such stories are recounted among the people, and those who have borne witness to them can provide visible evidence that is hard not to believe. This is one reason why folk herbal medicines continue to exist.

In traditional Chinese medicine, there is a long history of using herbs. Chiu Nien-yung, a senior specialist in the graduate school of Chinese Medicine at China Medical College, points out that Chinese medicine began with roots and bark, whose medicinal use was recorded at least as early as 400 B.C. The Book of Mountains and Seas notes that the legendary Chinese ancestor Shen Nong, who is revered as the god of Chinese medicine, had tried "the hundred herbs." An account with a more mythic feel to it has Shen Nong using a red whip to beat the hundred herbs. In this way he was able to learn the characteristics of each and pass down knowledge of herbal medicine.

Shen Nong Bencao Jing, the granddaddy of all books about traditional Chinese medicine, was written during the Western Han dynasty 2000 years ago. It was passed along to Tao Hongjing of the Liang dynasty in the Five Dynasties era, and then recompiled in the Eastern Han by such famous doctors as Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing. Its core knowledge was passed along and added to through the late Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, when it was finally recollected as the Compendium of Materia Medica, the bible of Chinese herbal medicine.

Traditional herbal medicines are mostly based on descriptions found in the Compendium, but there are also some Chinese herbal prescriptions not in that book. Many might not be used by formally trained doctors of Chinese medicine, but are rather "non-mainstream" prescriptions whose uses have been passed along by word of mouth. These are called "folk medicines" or "alternative prescriptions," and a slang term for them is "blue-grass medicine." Many of these medicinal herbs have grown out of the lives of local people, and have a heavy local flavor to them. Often their pharmacological properties have yet to be rigorously studied.

Picking up Grandma's secret recipe

In recent years, in response to the stumbling-blocks Western medicine has encountered and the back-to-nature and health-food booms, many people have turned around to look at the wisdom of their ancestors and try once again the herbal remedies. "Blue-grass medicine" has suddenly become all the rage.

To make breakthroughs in treating various difficult and complicated illnesses, large pharmaceutical companies in America are allocating funds to test various herbal prescriptions. The research institute of a Chicago-based pharmaceutical company has signed a contract with the Chicago Botanical Gardens to get the plants it needs for research and analysis. Several multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merck have separately spent large sums collecting plants in Central and South America and analyzing their medicinal properties.

An article in a recent Newsweek points out that a US herbal medicine chain claims to have opened a store on almost every day for the last three years. Estimated gross for 1995: over US$1 billion.

In Taiwan herbal medicine is going even stronger. In more than 10 counties and municipalities islandwide, folk medicine research groups have been established without any kind of government promotion. All are growing fast.

An herbal medicine boom in Taiwan?

Take, for instance, the Taichung City Herbal Medicine Research Society, which is the oldest of these groups. It had only 20-some-odd members when it was founded 13 years ago. Now its membership has already surpassed 1000, with more than 100 new members joining in each of the last two years. "It has gone from being the exclusive province of herbal pharmacists and doctors of Chinese medicine to including housewives, students, and people employed in government, industry and commerce," says Chen Chuan-huang, a member of the society's executive committee.

The society's regularly scheduled "herb identification walks"--always among the most popular activities these groups sponsor--are often well over-enrolled. "Always many more people than expected sign up," Chen says. "Often three tour buses won't hold them all."

And "blue-grass" pharmacies, once deemed a dying breed, have been making a comeback.

The crowds of buyers scrambling for herbs always make a big impression on visitors to Taipei's "blue-grass alley." Proprietors simply don't have time for a leisurely ten-minute chat. The stores are packed. Clutching their prescriptions, customers buy herbs to soak in broths or stew in teas, to use for nourishing the body, or even to treat conditions that mainstream medicine has deemed as chronic and incurable.

Too much heat

Chiu Nien-yung, who keeps in close contact with "blue-grass" pharmacists, estimates that their business has grown tremendously over the past several years. "Just the amount spent on 'blue-grass teas' is impressive all by itself," he says. Li Han-chiang, owner of the Hanchiang Blue Grass Pharmacy, which has been doing business for 20 years near the edge of the Taichung Railway Station's First Plaza, points out that he can do NT$1 million a month now. Quite an improvement over the NT$20-30,000 when the pharmacy just opened. Moreover, for the last three or four years, business has grown more than 20 percent per annum.

Li suggests that the growth of blue-grass pharmacy business is directly related to the health-food and natural-medicine booms, as is the rise in the number of people researching herbal medicine. "Most herbal medicines are characterized as 'cold' in Chinese medical terms," Li notes. "In the past, when living standards were low, few 'heat-dispellers' were used, and most of those were used to treat illness. Now everyone gets more than ample nutrition, but many people have problems with their metabolism and circulation, and so herbal medicines that can dispel heat are very popular."

The best sellers at the Han Chiang Blue Grass Pharmacy are such popular health foods as aloes and the fungus Ganoderma lucidum. "Whatever they are writing about in the magazines and newspapers sells best." Other items are hot sellers at certain times of the year, such as heat-dispellers like "blue-grass tea" in summer. During winter, he does a brisk business in herbs effective against rheumatism and general fortifiers that are added to soups or other dishes. "The same herbs will sell much better in foods and drinks than in herbal prescriptions," he says.

Gone to find herbs in the mountains?

Today's trips to look for herbs in the mountains have a lot in common with the "medicine picking" of days past.

Taiwan has a sub-tropical climate, with lush plant growth, diverse topography, and great variation in altitude. The botanical composition of the forests varies greatly, and there are numerous species of plants. Currently, as many as 1,500 plants with medicinal properties have been identified. These provide herbal medicine gatherers with ample opportunities to go into action.

Carrying shovels and scoops in their hands, and hoes and hemp bags on their backs, they gather before dawn on a holiday to hear a speaker explain the properties of various herbs. Afterwards, in the company of fellow herbal enthusiasts, novice and old hand alike march off happily on that bright and pleasant day to pick herbs in the mountains.

There they come across ailanthus prickly ash, a green plant whose branches are covered with thorns. It is said to be effective in fighting tuberculosis and cancer. Over here are plants with snow white blooms, known as June snow. The roots can reduce swelling of the lymph glands and chronic kidney ailments. Even mountain hibiscus and the light-blue horse orchid can soothe sore throats. Practically every wild herb and flower the lecturer comes across is, in his description, a precious ingredient of herbal medicines.

An organic correspondence

Wild herbs are often hidden in forests and will be overlooked if one isn't paying attention. It's just like any other field of knowledge: "To find precious medicinal plants, you've got to rely on knowledge, experience and a little bit of luck," says Li Shun, who has 30 years experience picking herbs and who now lives alone in rural Nantou County.

Taiwan's very precious medicinal flower "golden thread lotus" typically grows deep in dark and wet forests. Gentian, an antiseptic, can often be found in fields or along roads in high mountain areas. In forests poisonous snakes like to hide themselves by many of these herbs, so one must be careful to avoid getting bitten.

There is an organic correspondence between a herb's medicinal effects, on the one hand, and its outward appearance and growing characteristics, on the other. Lu Tien-cheng, director of the Chiayi Herbal Medicine Society and a doctor of Chinese medicine, says that as a general rule wild flowers and herbs that have dark green blooms help protect the liver. Those with yellow blooms have properties related to the spleen. Black ones are good for the kidneys, and red ones have properties related to the heart and circulatory system. There's also the matter of leaf type. If the plant is a vine, or the leaves grow in strings, it quite likely has effects on the circulation of blood. And those that grow best by water or in very wet climates are quite likely good at spurring urination.

A fine line

It all sounds quite logical, but perhaps you're thinking that there must be some problems yet to be explained. If so, you're right. A fundamental truth about folk medicine is that many of its secrets await explanation. To shed light on these areas, a lot of people will indeed be needed to get involved in research. Hsu Hsiu-fu, who is director of the Taichung Herbal Medicine Research Society and the head of the bureau of health for Changhua County, mocks some people's understanding of herbal medicines. "If you want to put it coarsely, you could say that they are wrongly repeating untruths about herbs." As a result, herbs are often used incorrectly and excessively.

"There's a fine line between medicine and poison," Lu Tien-cheng notes. Herbal medicines can save people, but used poorly they can cause great harm. Three or four years ago, an incident in Chiayi was big news. On Mt. Ali, a famous tourist spot, a stand was selling an herbal medicine touted to cure asthma. One customer's entire family ended up poisoned.

The stand was selling Datura alba. "It stimulates the nervous system, and so is called 'crazy flower.' Though traditionally prescribed to treat asthma, first the flower must be dried and a blowpipe used to extract the beneficial component. It should be no surprise that a stand selling it raw in large quantities to uninformed buyers would lead to people getting poisoned.

Hard to understand

Current research on Taiwan's herbs is putting these plants in their proper scientific families and classes and analyzing their pharmacological properties. Research is proceeding under the auspices of the Academia Sinica and the National Science Council and is being conducted at various medical schools, but there are still many problems awaiting resolution.

For instance, some concepts governing the traditional use of herbal medicines, such as Chinese medical differentiation between "hot" and "cold" ingredients, are hard to verify with modern scientific instruments. Furthermore, there are simply too many factors influencing a prescription's medical effectiveness: body type, environment, simultaneous use of other Chinese or Western medicines, etc. Great study is needed just to know how to prepare and cook the herbs and decide upon dosage. Major breakthroughs will be needed before herbal medicine research is truly scientific.

Regarding the growing number of herbal medicine researchers springing up everywhere, Lu Tien-cheng believes that what's important isn't knowing the number of current prescriptions or the quantities of herbs harvested on each trip to the mountains. "Currently many frequently seen Chinese herbs are cultivated in large quantities. The truth is that unless you are bringing back wild plants as specimens, it's better for the environment not to pick them at all," he says.

"If you want to pick an herb make sure to leave its roots," says Lu. This should be a fundamental tenet of herb pickers. Some herb-picking groups gather plants whether or not they recognize them, and whether or not they are mature. After repeated entreaties by the lecturer not to disturb some immature precious herbs on one such trip, people refrained from picking the plants right then. But when the lecturer returned the next day, he found that they had disappeared. There is quite a bit of such shocking behavior.

Damage by herb pickers and the rapid development of Taiwan's forests are causing many precious herbs to disappear. This makes Lu think that the only long-term approach is to take the rarer herbs and start cultivating them down on the plains. Only by so doing will man secure a sustainable supply.

Let's take a new look at the secret prescriptions of our ancestors. "Using them is not only a matter of knowing their medicinal effects, but also their side effects. Treasure them, and don't cut them down, dig them up or consume them recklessly. Cultivate them and pass them along to future generations," says Hsu Hsiu-fu, whose exhortations get to the heart of the matter. Might his advice not be a key to passing down an herbal medicine culture that is thousands of years old?

Common Suburban Herbs

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides relieves headaches and is good for urinary problems. It is also used to prevent eyes from filming over, watering or being oversensitive to light.

Oriental arborvitae, which is also known as Japanese cypress, is thought to be particularly fortifying for women. It is good for the lungs, cleans the blood, eliminates blood in urine, stops vomiting, and relieves arthritic pain.

Wild clove treats headaches and irregular menstruation, calms and induces sleep, and helps with urinary problems, dropsy, and hernias.

Jave water dropwort, known in Taiwan as snake bed, treats impotence, increases male sexual performance and is fortifying for women too. It is also good for the kidneys and for warming up those exposed to the wind and cold.

The juice of Oxalis corniculate, pounded out and used as a paste on the skin, treats itchy rashes and sores. Swallowed, it cools the body and quenches thirst. It also treats vaginal and urinary tract infections.

"Single arrow ball" is also known as "beef tendon grass" or "cricket herb." It cools the body, stops coughing, reduces swelling, and treats colds, sore throats and swollen glands.

The root bark of white mulberry spurs urination, stops coughing, and treats dropsy, high blood pressure and numbness of limbs. Mulberry leaves are good for the eyes and cool the body down. Mulberry fruit is good for the blood and protects the body from the ill effects of wind.

The Taiwan zi orchid promotes the discharge of pus and is used to treat acute appendicitis.

Among the herbs being cultivated by Taichung's Herbal Medicine ResearchSociety, some have come from as far away as Mainland China. Cultivatingherbs, unlike gathering them from the forest floor, doesn't harm the environment. It is now being forcefully promoted by herbal medicine research groups everywhere.

The vast majority of medicinal herbs must be cooked. This prescription calls for purslane, dayflower and snake's bed. After being boiled at a high temperature, it is then cooked at low heat for two or three hours.It is used t o treat hemorrhoids and provide relief for groin irritation.

The young sell herbal medicines, while the old drink herbal teas. In this common scene, one can see the legacy of herbal medicine culture beingpassed along. （photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang）

This vine is known in Chinese as "crow tendon vine" or "big blood vine." It promotes blood circulation and treats rheumatism. With few side effects, it is frequently used in folk medicines.

Among all those plants growing in the forest, snake mushroom is quitea find! It supposedly enhances male sexual performance.

In the Ming dynasty Li Shizhen wrote The Compendium of Materia Medica, which notes more than 1800 components of herbal medicine and 10,000 prescriptions. It is the most complete reference book of Chinese herbal medicines. （This Zhang clan edition was published in Hefei in 1885. Courtesy of Lin Han-chang）

The names of herbs used in folk medicines often serve as apt characterizations of the plant: "old at birth" bears fruit almost as soon as it sprouts; "rootless herb" floats on the water without visible roots. And what an amusing ring to such plant names as "mouse dragging the scale" andthe poisonous "big iron bull"!

Common Suburban Herbs Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides relieves headaches and is good for urinary problems. It is also used to prevent eyes from filming over, watering or being oversensitive to light. Wild clove treats headaches and irregular menstruation, calms and induces sleep, and helps with urinary problems, dropsy, and hernias. Jave water dropwort, known in Taiwan as snake bed, treats impotence, increases male sexual performance and is fortifying for women too. It is also good for the kidneys and for warming up those exposed to the wind and cold. The root bark of white mulberry spurs urination, stops coughing, and treats dropsy, high blood pressure and numbness of limbs. Mulberry leaves are good for the eyes and cool the body down. Mulberry fruit is good forthe blood and protects the body from the ill effects of wind. "Single arrow ball" is also known as "beef tendon grass" or "cricket herb." It cools the body, stops coughing, reduces swelling, and treats colds, sore throats and swollen glands. Oriental arborvitae, which is also known as Japanese cypress, is thought to be particularly fortifying for women. It is good for the lungs, clea ns the blood, eliminates blood in urine, stops vomiting, and relieves a rthritic pain. The juice of Oxalis corniculate, pounded out and used as a paste on theskin, treats itchy rashes and sores. Swallowed, it cools the body and quenches thirst. It also treats vaginal and urinary tract infections. The Taiwan zi orchid promotes the discharge of pus and is used to treatacute appendicitis. "Don't be greedy, don't overcull, and leave the roots." These are basicherb gathering principles. A group of people worked together pulling at a "big blood vine" and then divided the spoils. How long will it take the poor vine to grow to its former length?

"Don't be greedy, don't overcull, and leave the roots." These are basicherb gathering principles.

A group of people worked together pulling at a "big blood vine" and then divided the spoils. How long will it take the poor vine to grow to its former length?