Oblate or flattened ellipsoidal, 5~9 mm long, 5~7 mm wide, about 3 mm thick. Externally purplish-red or purplish-brown, smooth, lustrous, some fissured. One surface even, with 1 raised longitudinal line in the centre; the other surface slightly raised. One end dented, showing a linear hilum; the other end having a finely raised chalaza. Testa fragile; endosperm white; cotyledons 2, pale yellow, oily. Odour, slight; taste, weak.

Insomnia, dream-disturbed sleep; excessive sweating due to debility; thirst due to consumption of body fluid.

1.Nourishing the heart to calm the mind

In treating dysphoria with smothery sensation, insomnia, palpitation due to terror or severe palpitation due to deficiency of blood, which fails to nourish the heart and liver, the drug is often used in combination with Rhizoma Anemarrhenae, Poria, Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanxiong and Radix Glycyrrhizae. In treating neurasthenia, poor memory, dream-disturbed sleep, poor appetite and listlessness due to deficiency of heart and spleen Qi, the drug can be used in combination with Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae, Poria, Radix Polygalae, Rhizoma Acori Graminei, etc.

2.Nourishing Yin to arrest sweating

In treating profuse sweating due to deficiency of Yin, the drug can be used in combination with Radix Ginseng and Poria, which are ground into powder and taken with rice water, or the drug can be used in combination with Radix Rehmanniae, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Radix Ophiopogonis, Fructus Schisandrae, Arillus Longan, etc.