27 traditional Chinese medicine herbs to protect, nourish & heal
Ancient wisdom meets modern wellness with 27 traditional Chinese medicine herbs for fertility, liver, anxiety, menopause, coughs and more.
Herbs in Chinese medicine have treated everything from anxiety to infertility for thousands of years
Chinese medicine practitioners look at your whole body as an interconnected system where imbalances in one area ripple through everything else. They identify what’s actually causing you health problems, then create personalised herbal formulas that rebalance your system from the root rather than covering up symptoms.
Almost two-thirds of Australians use some form of complementary medicine, with more than a third consulting practitioners. This massive interest has made Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) one of the most popular holistic practices in the country, with hundreds of herbs that have the potential to heal almost any ailment you can think of.
This guide breaks down how Chinese herbs work and how modern practitioners combine evidence-informed practices with thousands of years of traditional knowledge.
Principles of how herbs are used in Chinese medicine
Chinese herbal medicine is based on completely different principles than Western pharmaceuticals. Instead of targeting specific symptoms with isolated compounds, practitioners look at your whole body as an interconnected system where imbalances in one area affect everything else. Herbs work together synergistically to restore harmony rather than simply suppressing whatever’s bothering you.
This approach has been refined over thousands of years through careful observation of how different herbs affect the body’s natural processes. While a Western doctor might hand you a prescription and send you home, Chinese traditional medicine practitioners create personalised formulas combining multiple herbs that work together. These are some of the most important principles of Chinese medicine:
Key concept | Description | How it guides herbal treatment |
Opposite but complementary forces that need balance for health | Cooling herbs (yin) treat heat conditions like inflammation, whilst warming herbs (yang) treat cold conditions like poor circulation | |
Qi (vital energy) | Life force that flows through meridians and powers bodily functions | Herbs that tonify qi boost energy and strengthen immunity, whilst herbs that move qi relieve stagnation causing pain or digestive issues |
Five Elements | Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, representing interconnected organ systems | Each element corresponds to organs, so herbs are chosen based on which element needs support |
Pattern differentiation | Identifying the root cause of symptoms rather than just fixing what’s visible | Two people with headaches might receive completely different formulas depending on whether their pattern shows liver qi stagnation, blood deficiency or wind-heat invasion |
Synergistic formulas | Combining herbs with different roles for balanced effect | A formula might use one primary herb addressing the main health concern, several supporting herbs that enhance its effects and additional herbs to prevent unwanted reactions |
Chinese medicine herbs for fertility
Getting pregnant isn’t just about timing ovulation correctly or checking hormone levels. TCM practitioners look at whether your kidney system has enough essence to create healthy eggs, if your liver qi flows smoothly enough to regulate your cycle and whether your blood quality can nourish a growing embryo. These concepts sound strange if you’re used to Western medicine, but they’ve guided fertility treatment for thousands of years.
About 15% of Australian women trying to conceive use herbal supplements specifically to boost their fertility. Many turn to TCM after months or years of perfectly timed intercourse that goes nowhere or whilst preparing their bodies before starting IVF. Herbs work slowly to rebalance your system rather than forcing your body to ovulate or manipulating hormones artificially.
These are the most popular Chinese medicine herbs for fertility:
Dang gui (Angelica sinensis): Nourishes and moves blood whilst regulating menstrual cycles. Practitioners include it in nearly every formula addressing women’s reproductive health because it’s that important.
Bai shao (White peony root): Builds blood and smooths out liver qi, which helps reduce period cramping whilst supporting regular ovulation patterns.
Shu di huang (Rehmannia glutinosa): Deeply nourishes kidney yin and blood, both extremely important for developing healthy eggs.
Gou qi zi (Goji berry): Tonifies liver and kidney whilst nourishing blood. Traditional use focuses on improving egg quality and supporting successful implementation.
Tu si zi (Dodder seed): Strengthens kidney yang and essence, which is particularly useful when fertility struggles come from kidney deficiency patterns that show up as luteal phase defects or poor egg quality.
Chinese herbs for yin deficiency
Yin deficiency shows up when your body loses its cooling, moistening and calming qualities. You might feel hot at night, wake up sweating, struggle with dry skin or eyes or notice your mind racing when you’re trying to sleep. Western medicine might diagnose these symptoms as menopause, insomnia or anxiety, but TCM sees them as your yin being depleted and unable to balance yang’s heating nature.
Your yin might deplete slowly due to chronic stress, overwork, ageing or an illness that drains your body’s reserves. Women going through menopause experience classic yin deficiency as their kidney yin naturally declines. People who push themselves relentlessly without adequate rest eventually burn through their yin, leaving them wired but exhausted.
These are the best Chinese herbs for yin deficiency:
Herb | Primary function | Typical symptoms it addresses |
Shu di huang (Rehmannia glutinosa) | Nourishes kidney yin and blood | Night sweats, hot flushes, lower back weakness, tinnitus, premature greying |
Mai men dong (Ophiopogon) | Moistens lungs and nourishes heart yin | Dry cough, persistent thirst, insomnia, anxiety, dry throat |
Gou qi zi (Goji berry) | Tonifies liver and kidney yin | Blurry vision, dizziness, dry eyes, poor night vision, fatigue |
Bai he (Lily bulb) | Nourishes lung and heart yin | Restlessness, emotional instability, chronic cough, poor sleep quality |
Tian men dong (Asparagus root) | Nourishes kidney and lung yin | Dry mouth, persistent low-grade fever, dry constipation, night sweats |
Chinese herbs for liver health and emotional balance
Your liver in TCM has nothing to do with detoxing alcohol or processing medications. It’s the organ system responsible for keeping qi flowing smoothly throughout your body, which directly affects your emotional state. When liver qi gets stuck, you feel irritable, frustrated, tense in your neck and shoulders or experience mood swings that seem to come from nowhere.
Liver qi stagnation is probably the most common pattern TCM practitioners see in modern life. Chronic stress, suppressed emotions and constant deadlines all jam up your liver’s ability to keep energy moving freely. You might notice this as PMS getting worse, digestive issues that flare during stressful periods or feeling like you’re about to snap at people for no good reason.
Here are the Chinese herbs for liver practitioners most often use to smooth out liver qi:
Chai hu (Bupleurum): The main herb for moving stuck liver qi and relieving the frustration and chest tightness that come with stagnation. Almost every liver-soothing formula includes it.
Bai shao (White peony root): Nourishes liver blood whilst softening liver qi, which helps reduce the emotional volatility and physical tension that stagnation causes. This Chinese herb for the liver is especially good for premenstrual mood swings.
Xiang fu (Cyperus): Specifically targets liver qi stagnation causing menstrual irregularities, breast tenderness and emotional ups and downs related to hormonal cycles.
Yu jin (Turmeric root tuber): Moves qi and blood whilst cooling heat that develops when stagnation persists for too long.
Chinese herbs for anxiety and emotional wellbeing
Anxiety in TCM isn’t just a chemical imbalance that can be fixed with a pill. It’s your heart and spleen failing to communicate properly or your liver qi getting so jammed up that it disrupts your emotional stability. When your heart spirit (shen) can’t settle because your spleen isn’t producing enough blood to anchor it, you feel anxious, worried and unable to quiet your mind. When liver qi stagnates, it creates tension and restlessness that makes it impossible to relax.
Nearly one in five Australians deals with an anxiety disorder and many of them find conventional treatments ineffective. TCM approaches anxiety by addressing the underlying patterns creating it rather than just suppressing the feelings. This takes a lot longer than popping a pill but can provide more sustainable relief without the risk of becoming dependent on medication.
Here are the Chinese herbs for anxiety TCM practitioners use:
Suan zao ren (Sour jujube seed): Nourishes heart blood and calms the spirit. It’s especially helpful for anxiety accompanied by insomnia, palpitations and night sweats. Works beautifully for people whose minds won’t stop racing at bedtime.
He huan pi (Mimosa bark): Calms the spirit and relieves constraint, traditionally used for emotional distress and the kind of anxiety that comes with depression. Helps when you feel emotionally stuck or unable to move past trauma.
Bai zi ren (Biota seed): Nurtures the heart whilst moistening the intestines, which is really good for anxiety and constipation.
Yuan zhi (Polygala): Calms the heart whilst opening the heart orifice, which helps with the type of anxiety that clouds thinking and makes it difficult to focus.
Chinese herbs for anxiety work best when paired with dietary changes that support spleen qi, like having regular meals and reducing sugar and caffeine intake. Always work with qualified practitioners rather than self-prescribing Chinese herbs for anxiety, especially if you’re already taking psychiatric medications to treat your disorder.
Chinese medicine for cough and respiratory support
Your cough isn’t “just a cough” in TCM. Is it dry and hacking? Wet and phlegmy? Does it wake you at night? Come on suddenly with a cold? Stick around for weeks after you’re better? Each pattern needs completely different herbs because the underlying problem isn’t the same.
Roughly 8.5 million Australians live with chronic respiratory conditions, plenty of them dealing with coughs that conventional medicine can’t seem to fix beyond temporary relief with steroid inhalers. TCM looks at why your lungs keep producing coughs rather than just shutting the cough reflex down.
The whole point is figuring out your specific pattern instead of just stopping the cough. A productive cough clearing phlegm from your longs is actually doing you a favour. Completely suppressing it might trap pathogens inside and make things worse. TCM herbs help your body resolve what’s causing the cough whilst supporting the cough’s natural clearing function until it’s not needed anymore.
These are the best herbs in Chinese medicine for a cough:
Cough type | What it looks like | Common herbs | What they do |
Wind-cold cough | Sudden cough, clear/white phlegm, chills, body aches, no fever | Zi su ye (Perilla leaf), Sheng jiang (Fresh ginger), Jie geng (Platycodon root) | Warm you up and kick out the cold |
Wind-hear cough | Sudden cough, yellow phlegm, sore throat, fever, thirsty, headache | Jin yin hua (Honeysuckle flower), Lian qiao (Forsythia fruit), Sang ye (Mulberry leaf) | Cool the heat, soothe your throat and clear the infection |
Dry cough | Persistent dry hack, barely any phlegm, dry throat, worse at night | Chuan bei mu (Fritillaria bulb), Mai men dong (Ophiopogon root), Sha shen (Glehnia root) | Moisten your lungs, nourish yin and stop the irritation |
Phlegm-damp cough | Chronic wet cough, tons of sticky white phlegm, chest feels full | Ban xia (Pinellia rhizome), Chen pi (Tangerine peel), Fu ling (Poria mushroom) | Dry out dampness, transform phlegm and strengthen digestion |
Weak lung cough | Feeble chronic cough, can’t breathe deeply, exhausted | Huang qi (Astragalus root), Ren shen (Ginseng root), Wu wei zi (Schisandra berry) | Build lung strength, boost immunity and stop the cough |
Chinese herbs for menopause and hormonal balance
Menopause in TCM isn’t a disease that needs to be fixed but a natural transition where your kidney essence gradually declines. The problem happens when your kidney yin and yang fall out of balance during this shift, creating hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings and sleep problems. Nearly three in ten Australian women under 55 who’ve gone through menopause deal with moderate to severe hot flushes and night sweats and maybe TCM is the answer.
Western HRT works for some women but not everyone wants synthetic hormones or can take them safely. TCM herbs rebalance your system rather than replace hormones artificially. Here are the most common Chinese herbs for menopause:
Zhi mu (Anemarrhena rhizome) and Huang bai (Phellodendron bark): These cooling herbs clear heat from deficiency, directly addressing hot flushes and night sweats.
Dang gui (Angelica root): Nourishes blood and regulates hormones, helping with irregular periods during perimenopause and emotional ups and downs.
Bai shao (White peony root): Tonifies blood whilst softening liver qi to reduce mood swings and tension from hormonal changes.
Shan yao (Chinese yam): Tonifies kidney yin and spleen qi at the same time, which supports energy levels and the kidney.
Safety and professional guidance
Don’t buy Chinese herbs off the internet and start dosing yourself based on blog posts. These are powerful medicines that can cause real harm when used incorrectly or can interact with prescription medications. Always work with a registered Chinese medicine practitioner who understands how to prescribe herbs safely for your specific situation.
Quality matters tremendously with herbal products. Most therapeutic goods sold in Australia must be listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, which verifies that they follow specific quality and safety standards. Look for products with AUST L numbers on the label, as they indicate that they’ve met regulatory requirements.
Finally, remember that Chinese medicine practitioners in Australia must register with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia and meet national competency standards. Check your practitioner’s registration on the AHPRA website before accepting treatment.
Studying Chinese herbal medicine in Australia
If all this sounds fascinating to you, then you might want to look into the qualifications that will let you prescribe these herbs. Endeavour College of Natural Health’s Bachelor of Health Science (Chinese Medicine) teaches you everything from diagnostic principles to safely prescribing and dispensing herbs. This four-year degree combines online theory with hands-on clinical practice at Endeavour Wellness Clinics, where you work with real patients under qualified supervision.
Health is one of Australia’s most popular study fields, with roughly 17% of Australians aged 15–74 studying health-related courses in 2023. The demand for qualified Chinese medicine also keeps growing as more Australians seek alternatives to conventional medicine. The median salary for a Chinese medicine doctor in Australia is $71,000, so this isn’t a poorly paid profession either.
Here’s what you’ll learn in our course:
How to identify the root causes of health issues through tongue diagnosis, pulse reading and detailed questioning.
How to create personalised formulas combining multiple herbs for synergistic effects.
How to do acupuncture, moxibustion, Tui Na massages and dietary therapy along with herbal medicine.
FAQs
What are the most common herbs used in Chinese medicine?
Dang gui (Angelica root), Huang qi (Astragalus), Gan cao (Liquorice root), Bai shao (White peony) and Shu di huang (Rehmannia glutinosa) are some of the most common herbs in Chinese medicine.
Are Chinese herbs safe to use long term?
Chinese herbs are safe for extended use when prescribed by qualified practitioners. Some herbs are meant for short-term acute conditions whilst others are great for long-term health.
Can Chinese herbs be taken with Western medicine?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Some herbs interact with prescription medications and affect how they work. Always tell both your doctor and Chinese medicine practitioner about everything you’re taking.
Do Chinese herbs really work for anxiety and menopause?
Chinese herbs help many people with anxiety and menopause, though the quality of the evidence varies. Results depend on getting the right diagnosis and formula for your specific pattern rather than just your symptoms.
What to avoid when taking Chinese medicine?
Avoid self-prescribing herbs based on internet research, buying from unverified suppliers, taking herbs past their expiry date or continuing herbs that cause adverse reactions. Don’t assume natural means safe without professional guidance.
Is Chinese medicine recognised in Australia?
Yes, Chinese medicine practitioners must register with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia through AHPRA. Registered practitioners must meet the national training and competency standards, so Chinese medicine is a regulated health profession along with other allied health fields.
Become an expert in the traditional Chinese medicine herbs that have healed for thousands of years
Chinese herbal medicine treats the whole person rather than just suppressing symptoms. Whether you’re struggling with fertility, anxiety, menopause or chronic respiratory issues, herbs work to rebalance your system and restore natural health.
To become an expert at this, you’ll need at least a Bachelor of Health Science (Chinese Medicine) to learn how to diagnose patterns and prescribe formulas that help people heal.
Explore Endeavour’s course offerings and find the right path for you.
