Anti-Cancer Herbs ⁽¹⁷¹⁾

The day before yesterday, a fellow townsman from Hubei sent me some photos of herbs and asked me to help identify them. After careful identification, I believe the photos she sent are of Tiankui (Semiaquilegia adoxoides). (After this article was published, a reader pointed out…

Araceae plants are not uncommon; many of us have contact with them, though we may not know their origins. For example, the common houseplants we grow at home, such as the sago palm (Alocasia odora) and the Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), are Araceae plants.

In textbooks of Chinese material medica, vitex fruit (Manjingzi) is classified as an exterior-releasing herb. Chinese medicine holds that vitex fruit is pungent and bitter in flavor, slightly cold in nature, and enters the bladder, liver, and stomach meridians; it has the actions of dispersing…

I previously introduced a case I had recently treated of a patient with persistently low platelets after chemotherapy; for details see my article An Account of My Experience Treating a Case of Thrombocytopenia After Chemotherapy. In that article I mentioned that this patient's platelets were…

Liuying Wan is a commonly used TCM remedy for acute tonsillitis, epiglottitis, and other throat diseases, but it can also be used to treat cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. For cancer, Liuying Wan may be taken orally, or crushed, steeped in yellow rice wine,…

The great TCM classics of every era contain formulas using arsenic compounds to fight cancer, and clinically arsenic compounds do indeed have a reasonably good anticancer effect. Xionghuang (realgar, arsenic sulfide) and Pishuang (arsenic trioxide) are the most commonly used arsenicals, and both are highly…

Jianghuang (Curcumae Longae Rhizoma, turmeric) is one of the commonly used Chinese medicines. It was first recorded in China's first official materia medica, the Xinxiu Bencao (Newly Revised Materia Medica, also called the Tang Bencao or Yinggong Bencao), compiled in the Tang Dynasty by Su…

In Yangke Xinde Ji (Reflections on Surgery) there is a formula called Huajian Wan (Hardness-Dissolving Pill), recorded in the chapter "Household Plasters, Elixirs, Pills and Powders." It is indicated for constrained fire in the Liver channel, breast phlegm nodules (ru tan), breast lumps (ru pi),…

Heshouwu (Fallopia multiflora / Fo-ti) is a household-name Chinese herb. As the name suggests, many believe it turns white hair black, to the point that shampoos advertise Heshouwu extract as restoring dark hair. Most people know Heshouwu as a tonic, but not that it also…

Qingzao Jiufei Tang (Dryness-Clearing Lung-Rescuing Decoction) is a celebrated Chinese medicine formula for respiratory diseases. It comes from Yimen Falü (Medical Principles and Laws) by Yu Chang, a famed physician of the early Qing. Yu Chang (style name Jiayan, hao Xichan Laoren) lived from the…