Sweet and cold, Imperatae Rhizoma (bai mao gen) enters the Lung, Stomach, Small Intestine, and Bladder channels to clear latent lurking heat, cool the blood, and stop bleeding. It also benefits the Stomach and alleviates thirst, cools heat, and promotes urination. Its sweetness is not cloying, its coldness is not harmful to the Stomach, and when it promotes urination, this does not injure the yin, but rather leads heat downward and out of the body through the urine. For all of these reasons it is an excellent herb for treating bleeding in the upper or lower body due to heat, cough due to Lung heat, and damp-heat leading to painful urinary dribbling. The primary types of bleeding for which it is used include vomiting blood, nosebleed, and blood in the urine, for which it is especially effective. Bensky