Chinese Materia Medica (Single-Herb Herbology)
What to know
Single-herb questions test properties, not just names. For each herb know nature (cold, cool, neutral, warm, hot), flavor (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, salty, bland, astringent), channel entered, actions, indications, dosage range, preparation, and contraindications. Understand the seven relations of combination-single, mutual accentuation, mutual enhancement, mutual restraint, mutual suppression, mutual antagonism, and mutual incompatibility-and why processing changes toxicity or direction. Recognize that different parts (root, rhizome, leaf, seed) and species can have different effects.
Traps
Examiners exploit herbs with similar names, translated names, or shared flavors. A pungent herb is not automatically dispersing; a bitter herb is not automatically draining. Dosage traps include confusing raw versus prepared forms and grams versus qian. Do not assume a familiar culinary herb is clinically inert.
Worked example
Ma Huang (Ephedra) and Gui Zhi (Cinnamon twig) are both pungent, warm, and release the exterior. Ma Huang is stronger for wheezing and absence of sweating; Gui Zhi warms channels and harmonizes ying-wei, better for sweating with aversion to wind. Rule of thumb: compare herbs by nature, flavor, channel, and unique action-not by category alone.