Gastrodia Elata (tien ma)  天麻

Nature: Warm, sweet, pungent, attributive to liver.

Characteristics: The tuber of a perennial alpine plant with a large central root and twelve smaller tubers on the side. The fresh tubers are used as food and the dried tubers are used as medicine. It is a superior herb that is well recognized as the most effective remedy for headaches, vertigo and other neuralgic afflictions caused by inflammations of the liver.

Therapeutic effects:  Calming nervous exhaustion, headache, neuralgia, vertigo and dizziness; expel wind evil and alleviate pain for migraine, numbness of extremities and general fatigue.