贝母
Naming
Chuan Bei Mu (Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae)——Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Shen Nong’s Herbal)
Origin
The dry bulb of perennial herbaceous plant Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don or F. unibracteata Hsiao et K. C. Hsia or F. przewalskii Maxim or F. delavayi Franch. of family Lilium.
Location
Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces in China.
Harvest
Collected in summer and autumn or when snow melts.
The actual smell and taste
Light smell and lightly bitter taste.
Best quality
Firm, powder like, white.
Property
Bitter, sweet, lightly cold; lung and heart meridians entered.
Actions
Clear and resolve heat-phlegm, moisten and resolve dry-phlegm, stop cough, dissipate nodulation and resolve swelling.
Indications
A. Dry cough due to lung heat
This herb is bitter in flavor and lightly cold in nature. It can clear lung, purge heat and resolve phlegm. Furthermore it can moisten and resolve dry-phlegm in the terms of its sweet flavor and moist nature. It can also stop cough. So it is indicated for the syndrome of heat-phlegm and dry-phlegm especially for long-term cough due to internal injury and dryness of lung due to yin deficiency manifested by scanty phlegm and dry throat or bloody phlegm. For consumptive cough due to deficiency of lung yin and long-term productive cough, it is combined with yin-nourishing, lung-moistening and phlegm-resolving herbs such as Bei Sha Shen, Nan Sha Shen, Mai Dong. For cough caused by lung heat and dryness, it is usually combined with Zhi Mu in Er Mu San from Ji Jiu Xian Fang (Fairy prescriptions for first-aid) in order to clear heat, moisten dryness, resolve phlegm and stop cough. For excessive phlegm-heat, it is combined with heat-clearing and phlegm-resolving herbs. For instance it is combined with She Dan Zhi and made into patent of She Dan Chuan Bei Mo (Ye).
B. Scrofula, swollen abscess, acute mastitis, lung abscess
This herb is capable of clearing and resolving stagnant heat and resolving phlegm and dissipating nodulation. For scrofula resulted from phlegm-fire stagnation and accumulation, it is usually combined with toxicity-relieving and abscess-curing herbs as well as hardness-softening and nodulation-dissipating herbs. For instance it is combined with Xuan Shen and Mu Li, etc. in Xiao Lei Wan from Yi Xue Xin Wu. For swollen abscess and acute mastitis due to exuberant heat-toxin accumulation, it is combined with heat-clearing and toxicity-relieving herbs and abscess-removing and nodulation-dissipating herbs such as Jin Yin Hua, Lian Qiao and Pu Gong Ying, etc. For pyemesis of lung abscess, it is combined with Jie Geng, Yu Xing Cao and Yi Yi Ren to clear heat, relieve toxicity, cure abscess and expel pus.
Dosage and Administrations
Decoct 3~10 g. Make powder and take l～2 g.
Cautions
Contraindicated to Wu Tou.