Photo: Stanislav Doronenko, CC BY 2.5 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ox Knee
Achyranthes bidentata
Also known as Niu Xi, Achyranthes, Twotooth Achyranthes, Chinese Achyranthes, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Ox knee takes its name, and its Chinese name Niu Xi, from the swollen, knobby nodes along its stem that early herbalists thought resembled the bent knee joint of an ox. For centuries in Chinese herbalism, the root has been dug, dried, and simmered into decoctions meant to strengthen the tendons and bones and to ease stiffness and aching that settles into the low back and knees. Herbalists traditionally valued it as a herb that moves blood and guides other remedies downward through the body toward the legs, which is why it so often appears in formulas built around the lower half of the body. It has also long held a place in traditional women's health practices, prized for its ability to encourage healthy circulation.
How to grow & use it
✦The full apothecary for Ox Knee
Traditional remedies and step-by-step preparations, a complete growing guide, and how to harvest, dry, and store it, all unlocked with HerbLens Unlimited.
- ✦Remedies & preparations
- ✦ Growing guide
- ✦Harvest & storage
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- ✦Eucommia bark
- ✦Dipsacus root
- ✦Chinese rehmannia
- ✦Cyathula root (a close botanical relative often used interchangeably)
- ✦Dipsacus asper (for traditional tendon and joint support)
“For when you want old, steady wisdom for the low back and knees, the kind passed down through generations of root diggers.”
The swollen joints along the stem that give this plant its ox knee name were traditionally read as a kind of botanical signature, a visual clue that led old herbalists to reach for the root whenever knees and joints needed support.
Ox knee root is traditionally avoided in pregnancy, since its blood-moving action was believed to raise miscarriage risk, and also avoided with heavy menstrual bleeding. Use caution if you take blood thinners like warfarin, since it may add to bleeding risk.