Lung heat,blood deficiency treated with TCM Swallowwort Root

What is Bai Wei or Swallowwort Root?
Also known as Radix Cynanchi Atrati, it refers to the dried root or tuber of Cynanchum atratum Bge and Cynanchum versicolor Bge.

Cynanchum atratum Bge and Cynanchum versicolor Bge.
The plant of Cynanchum atratum Bge is perennial herb, 40 to 70cm high, and with milky sap. The rhizome is short and with most long thin strip roots in clusters. The stems are erect, usually unbranched, and densely gray-white pubescent. Leaves are opposite, shortly stipitate, ovate or ovate-elliptic, 5 to 10cm long, and 2.5 to 7cm wide. The flowers are inflorescences umbellate, axillary, dark purple, and 1 to 1.5cm in diameter. Most seeds are in ovoid shape, narrowly winged, and white long woolly-like pilose. Florescence is from May to July and fruiting time is from August to October. Usually it grows in mountain slopes or woodsides.

Cynanchum versicolor Bge looks like Cynanchum atratum Bge. But it is with the sprawling stem, shortly pubescent, and ovate or elliptic-lanceolate leaf blade. The flowers are smaller, 1cm in diameter, yellowish green in early bloom and black purple later. Usually it grows in mountainous regions.

Property and indications
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is deemed as bitter, salty, cold, and nonpoisonous in nature. And it covers meridians of stomach, lung and kidney.

Main functions are to clear heat, cool blood, promote urination, treat stranguria, relieve toxicity accumulated by internal heat, and cure boils. Main clinical usage and indications are fever due to impaired Ying blood by warm pathogenic factor, fever of deficiency type, heat that feels like comes from the bones caused by consumption, coughing up blood due to lung heat, postpartum fever caused by blood deficiency, persistent low grade fever for no reason, sleepiness due to wind-warm scorching heat, difficulty in urination or blood urine caused by heat, swollen and painful throat, toxic ulcers, snakebite, and pyogenic infections.