<p>Zang Qi said, &ldquo;In the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, there is no differentiation between fresh, dried or steamed Di Huang&rdquo;. The Bie Lu explains, &ldquo;Sheng Di Huang refers to Di Huang that has been recently picked.&rdquo; Li Shizhen said, &ldquo;Shu Di Huang refers to Di Huang which has been steamed and dried. In all herbal books, Shu Di Huang refers to dried Di Huang.&rdquo;</p>

<p>When Di Huang is dried, like Gan Jiang (dried Ginger) is depleted of water. Whereas, Di Huang like Sheng Jiang (fresh Ginger), is fresh and abundant in water. Di Huang that is fresh and contains water makes sense, compared to Di Huang that is dried. In Zhang&rsquo;s formulas, only Sheng Di Huang (fresh Di Huang) is used and not Shu Di Huang (dried Di Huang).</p>
