Jiu Jie Cha

Jiu Jie Cha (九節茶), also known as Zhong Jie Feng (腫節風), is the dried whole plant or aerial portion of Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai (Chloranthaceae), an evergreen subshrub native to subtropical China, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The plant grows 50–120 cm tall with conspicuously swollen jointed nodes, opposite glossy lanceolate to elliptic serrate leaves, and small greenish-white flowers in terminal spikes, followed by small bright red berries. The whole flowering plant is harvested in summer or autumn and dried. In TCM, Jiu Jie Cha is classified as bitter, pungent, and neutral (some sources slightly warm), entering the Liver and Heart channels, and is used to clear heat, detoxify, dispel wind-damp, invigorate blood, and reduce swelling for traumatic injury, fractures, rheumatic pain, pneumonia, appendicitis, and cancer-supportive care.