The Herb Cabinet 本草

黄芩 huáng qín

Scutellaria baicalensis · Baikal skullcap

Cold Bitter LungGallbladderStomachLarge Intestine

“One of my three yellows — this one for the upper burner. Where huang lian cools the gut, huang qin cools the chest: hot coughs, bitter mouths, restless heat.” — Lao Xinglin

What the tradition says

The pharmacy keeps three great bitter yellows — huang qin, huang lian, and huang bai — famously dividing the body's three burners between them. Huang qin takes the top: hot phlegmy coughs, high fevers with a bitter mouth, damp-heat in the chest and gallbladder^[1]. It also cools the blood in hot bleeding patterns, calms heat-type restlessness in pregnancy (a classical "quiet the fetus" herb), and partners chai hu in the shao yang formulas for lingering half-in-half-out illness^[1].

What the research says

Baicalein and baicalin, the root's flavones, are laboratory darlings — anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cancer-cell studies abound — but human trials are the missing floor of the building: MSKCC's summary is that larger human safety-and-efficacy studies are still needed^[2].

Where to be careful

• Liver: acute liver injury has been reported with products

containing skullcap compounds^[2] — stop and seek care for fatigue, nausea, dark urine, or yellowing.

• Interactions: it may blunt statins, add to bleeding risk with

anticoagulants, and shift CYP-metabolized drug levels^[2].

• Tradition's own line: too cold for the cold — pale, chilly,

loose-boweled patterns^[1].

In the pharmacy

The golden root of Scutellaria baicalensis, sliced to show a hollowing amber core. Not the same plant as American skullcap (S. lateriflora) — different species, different uses, chronically confused on supplement labels.

Reviewed 2026-08-25