Chinese Goldthread Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Chinese Goldthread (Coptis chinensis), known as Huang Lian, is a small evergreen perennial of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native to cool, shaded mountain forests of Sichuan, Hubei, Guizhou, and Shaanxi in central China, where it is grown under shade at 1,000 to 2,000 meters. It reaches 15 to 25 centimeters with long-stalked, leathery, three-lobed, sharply toothed leaves and a few tiny greenish-yellow flowers in early spring. The rhizome is the striking part: a cluster of knotted, branching, claw-like pieces, dark grey-brown outside and brilliant golden yellow inside from the alkaloid berberine, and among the most bitter substances in the plant kingdom. We extract the dried root.