Witnessed by: TCM
Deer antler velvet (Cervus nippon), of the Cervidae (Mammalia) family. The deer, which grows a branching antler each year; the drug is that antler taken young, before it ossifies; native range: the sika deer of Japan, Korea, northeast China and the Russian Far East, with the red deer across Eurasia; almost wholly farmed for this drug. Globally recognized as lu rong (鹿茸) in Chinese, and deer antler velvet, pilose antler in English. The part used is the young unossified antler in velvet, sliced across. Sliced across, thin round wafers rimmed with a fine brown velvet hide, the cut face waxy and honeycombed with fine blood channels, pinkish-brown toward the tip and coarser at the base; the smell distinctly bloody-animal, the taste slightly salty.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
DEER ANTLER VELVET
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- deer antler velvet
- Scientific name
- Cervus nippon Temminck, 1838 — the principal source; Cervus elaphus L. is co-official
- Family
- Cervidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the young unossified antler in velvet, sliced across
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet (甘) · salty (咸)
Temperature
- TCM
- warm (溫)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Liver · Kidney
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- tonifies the Kidney yang and fortifies the fire of the gate of vitality, augments the essence and the blood, strengthens the sinews and the bones, tonifies the Governing vessel, regulates the Penetrating and Conception vessels and stabilises the Girdle vessel, and promotes the healing of yin-type sores
Cautions
- Contraindications
- yin deficiency with heat, blazing fire, phlegm-heat, and any exterior condition still unresolved
- Toxicity
- low intrinsic toxicity, but a sudden or large dose raises yang too fast — dizziness, headache, red eyes, nosebleed and a racing heart; hence the classical instruction to begin small and increase by degrees
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