Chinese Materia Medica ⁽⁶³⁾

Baishao (White Peony Root) is the dried root of Paeonia lactiflora of the Ranunculaceae family, produced mainly in Zhejiang and Anhui; that from Zhejiang is considered the most authentic, and it is one of the famous "Eight Herbs of Zhejiang" (Baizhu, Baishao, Zhebeimu, Hangjuhua, Yuanhu,…

Chinese-medicine shihu is the stem of Dendrobium nobile, Dendrobium loddigesii, Dendrobium candidum, Dendrobium chrysanthum, and Dendrobium fimbriatum of the Orchidaceae family. Dendrobium candidum is also called Tiepi Fengdou, and there are now many health products on the market sold under that name. Clinically one may…

The centipede, also called Wugong (Wugong, Tianlong, Baijiao, Baiwuchong), is the whole body of Scolopendra subspinipes and Scolopendra multidens of the Scolopendridae family. Centipede has a very long history of medicinal use. Shennong Bencao Jing (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) includes centipede, holding that it "maintains…

Honeysuckle (Jinyinhua) is the flower bud of Lonicera japonica, Lonicera confusa, Lonicera hypoglauca, and Lonicera fulvotomentosa of the Caprifoliaceae family. On the market, honeysuckle is further divided into two types, Jinyinhua and Shanyinhua (wild honeysuckle); the flower buds of Lonicera confusa and Lonicera fulvotomentosa are…

Yinchenhao (also called yinchen) is the rootless seedling or above-ground part of Artemisia scoparia or Artemisia capillaris (Asteraceae), mostly harvested in the third or fourth lunar month. There is a folk saying: “March yinchen, April hao; May and June it is firewood.” Yinchen can be…

The Chinese medicinal zhuling is the dried sclerotium of the fungus Polyporus umbellatus (Polyporaceae), grown mainly in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Yunnan and Henan. Zhuling has a black skin and yellow interior; the Bencao Tujing says it has “a black skin and grows in blocks, resembling…

Among Chinese medicinal materials there is an herb called mugua. It shares its name with the edible papaya we commonly eat, but the two are actually different. The medicinal mugua is the nearly ripe dried fruit of Chaenomeles speciosa (Rosaceae), grown mainly in Anhui, Hunan,…

Both Xiatianwu and Yanhusuo (also called Yuanhu), plants of the Papaveraceae family, are commonly used analgesics in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and their active pain-relieving constituents are alkaloids. The analgesic effect of Xiatianwu and Yanhusuo reaches roughly half that of morphine, but unlike morphine they…

Renshen, Xiyangshen, Dangshen, and Taizishen are four qi-tonifying herbs commonly used in clinic and four healthy-qi-supporting herbs commonly used in oncology. Many tumor patients themselves buy one of these four ginsengs or their extracts as a health supplement. I am often asked by patients which…

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…