A few of my favorite things about prescribing tinctures.

1. Ease of delivery.  Just a few dropper fulls in water, or on the tongue gets the herbs into your system.
2. Absorption.  Tinctures are especially useful for those with digestive issues!  The small quantities required and lack of adulterants make them easier to put to use in the body.
3. Recognition.  Due to the prevalence of western herbal medicine, people are more used to seeing herbal medicine in dropper bottles and capsules.
4. Custom control: Customizing formulas is very important for TCM.  Having single tinctures means we have the same amount of flexibility of ingredients and dosage as you would a bulk or granule formula.  The ease of capsules without the restriction on prescriptions!
5. Comparable cost.  Tinctures are no more expensive per day than the standard bulk or granule formula! 

Gotu Kola aka Ji Xue Cao, Luei Gong Gen, Asiatic Pennywart or Centella Asiatica

We've been building up our stock of this great herb, and we're happy to say we now have it in bulk, granule, and tincture!  It has a mild flavor, it's actually a vegetable in Southeast Asia, and is claimed to have wide ranging health benefits.

It's bitter and acrid/pungent in flavor, and cold in nature going to the lung, spleen, kidney and bladder.
It clears heat by promoting urination, resolves swelling and removes toxicity.  It is also used as a memory tonic in Asian herbal medicine traditions as as a nervine in Western herbalism to improve concentration and assist the function of the adrenal glands.  It is also said to improve blood flow, preventing and assisting the healing of spider and varicose veins, as well as intestinal vasculature.  It really seems like a cure all.  It is a vegetable, after all.

I've been adding it to a few formulas for a variety of ailments.  Most recently in a modification of Dang Gui Bu Xue Tang to synergistically work with the formula to guide this blood nourishing combination to clear the skin, heal wounds, regulate the immune system and clean toxins.
Another time in a modification of Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan to clear further promote urination, strengthen the spleen, and dispel blood stasis by strengthening the vessels.

It's also featured in our "Beau-Tea" blend to darken the hair, regulate blood sugar, and clear the skin along with He Shou Wu, Gou Qi Zi (Goji berries/Wolfberry), Lo Han Guo (Monk fruit), Nettles and Mu Zei (Horsetail).

It's a great herb, and perhaps under utilized in traditional Chinese herbal medicine formulas.