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Identifying herbs can be both fascinating and challenging, as there are numerous plant species with varying characteristics, appearances, and uses.

Here is some basic Chinese herbal identification video to help learning and identification the herbs.  

Herbal Dosage:

Dosage for patients must be carefully considered and analyzed by the practitioner, and be given thoughtful consideration to such factors as:

• body weight or body surface area

• character of the illness condition

• general health of the patient

• severity of the symptoms (for acute or serious conditions, larger dosage may be appropriate, and for chronic or mild conditions, small dosages are preferred)

• form of the medication (herbs in the form of decoction may be given in a higher dosage than herbs given in powder form)

• previous experiences and use of herbs

• gender of the patient (e.g., during menstrual period, dosage may be smaller)

• climate and seasonal differences (e.g., cold or hot temperatures can affect the skin pores and the amount of sweating, pungent and bitter herbs that dry damp are less used in dry climates)

• age of the patient (older patients and children may require lower doses).

Other considerations effecting dosage include:

• quality (e.g., herbs that are wild may require smaller doses than farmed herbs) 

• texture(flowers and leaves may require smaller doses; non-toxic plant herbs commonly use 3-10 grams; non-toxic mineral herbs commonly use 10-30 grams)

• flavour (e.g., stronger flavour may require small doses)

• toxicity (e.g., dosage of toxic herbs need cautioned consideration).

Herbs that eliminate a pathogen (promote urination, promote bowel movement, promote sweating) or increase blood/Qi movement, should be closely monitored and reduced in dosage or stopped when the condition improves.

Aside from dosage, another important consideration is the number of days that the herbal medication may be prescribed.

Duration of the prescription will be influenced by many factors including the patient’s condition, experience and understanding of herbal medications, and severity of symptoms. Prescriptions of longer than 1 week should be limited to situations where the practitioner is very familiar with patient’s history , condition,  and is knowledgeable about the formula to know that it can be taken for a longer duration without risk of adverse effects.