Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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He Shi is the dried ripe fruit of Carpesium abrotanoides, a plant in the daisy family. Chinese medicine uses it for one main job. That job is to expel worms from the gut.
Worms here means parasites that live in the gut. In English the herb is sometimes sold as carpesium fruit or common carpesium fruit.
It is a short-course herb, not a daily tonic. Tradition uses it for a day or two at a time. A laxative often follows, to help clear the gut.
A practitioner always sets the dose.
The evidence is worth knowing up front. He Shi has a long record inside one tradition. But we could not find any published human trials of it.
Long use tells you that people have relied on something. On its own, that does not prove it works. Modern worm medicines have been tested in people, and this herb has not.
The traditional idea is simple. He Shi is thought to be toxic to worms in the gut. It is said to irritate them.
The worms then lose their grip on the gut wall. They pass out in the stool.
Lab work points to sesquiterpene lactones as the likely actors. These are bitter plant compounds. In test-tube and animal studies, extracts have shown activity against several parasites.
How well that carries over to a person is unknown. A person swallows a decoction, which is a tea boiled from the herb.
No human study confirms how the herb works. None shows what dose is needed. None shows how much of the active material your body takes in.
He Shi is almost always sold as a raw crude herb. It is used in short courses.
- Whole or crushed dried fruit, simmered into a decoction (a tea boiled from the herb) - Fine powder, taken in a small measured dose - Pills or boluses made from the powder in traditional formulas - Sometimes part of a ready-made deworming formula
It is not a common ingredient in Western-style capsules or tinctures. It is not sold as a food or a daily supplement.
He Shi shows up in Chinese herb books from the Tang dynasty on. The Ming dynasty Ben Cao Gang Mu lists it. For centuries it has been grouped with the worm-expelling herbs.
Classical texts pair it with herbs such as Shi Jun Zi and Ku Lian Pi. They warn that it is harsh. It is for short use, not for taking often.
That caution is part of the tradition itself. It is not a modern add-on.
Some reactions to He Shi need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Stop taking it and see a doctor if you get repeated vomiting, severe belly pain, dizziness that does not settle, or a rash.
Get urgent medical care if you have yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, confusion, fainting, a fast or irregular heartbeat, or blood in your stool.
See a doctor rather than self-treating if you think you have worms. A stool test gives you an answer, and confirmed worm infections have proven prescription treatments. Also see a doctor if belly pain, weight loss or itching around the anus keeps coming back after a course.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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