Chuan Bei (Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae)

Name

Chuan Bei Mu (Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae), recorded in the Shennong Bencao Jing.

Source and quality

Plant

The dried bulb of the perennial Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don, F. unibracteata Hsiao et K. C. Hsia, F. przewalskii Maxim. or F. delavayi Franch., family Liliaceae.

Where it is grown

Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces.

Harvest

Collected in summer and autumn, or when the snow melts.

Smell and taste

Faint smell; lightly bitter.

Better grade

Firm, powdery and white.

Nature and action

Bitter, sweet and slightly cold; enters the lung and heart channels. Clears and resolves heat-phlegm, moistens and resolves dry-phlegm, stops cough, dissipates nodules and resolves swelling.

When it is used

Dry cough from lung heat

Chuan Bei Mu is bitter in flavor and slightly cold in nature. It clears the lung, purges heat and resolves phlegm; its sweet flavor and moist nature also let it moisten and resolve dry-phlegm, and it stops cough. It is therefore used for heat-phlegm and dry-phlegm patterns, especially chronic cough from internal injury, or dryness of the lung due to yin deficiency, with scanty phlegm, a dry throat, or blood-flecked phlegm.

For consumptive cough from lung yin deficiency and chronic productive cough it is combined with herbs that nourish yin, moisten the lung and resolve phlegm, such as Bei Sha Shen, Nan Sha Shen and Mai Dong. For cough from lung heat and dryness it is often combined with Zhi Mu in Er Mu San from Ji Jiu Xian Fang, to clear heat, moisten dryness, resolve phlegm and stop cough. Where phlegm-heat is excessive it is combined with herbs that clear heat and resolve phlegm, such as She Dan Zhi, made into the patent medicine She Dan Chuan Bei Mo (Ye).

Scrofula, swollen abscess, acute mastitis and lung abscess

It clears and resolves stagnant heat, resolves phlegm and dissipates nodules. For scrofula from stagnation of phlegm-fire it is often combined with herbs that relieve toxicity and cure abscesses, soften hardness and dissipate nodules, such as Xuan Shen and Mu Li in Xiao Lei Wan from Yi Xue Xin Wu.

For swollen abscess and acute mastitis from exuberant accumulation of heat-toxin it is combined with herbs that clear heat and relieve toxicity, remove abscesses and dissipate nodules, such as Jin Yin Hua, Lian Qiao and Pu Gong Ying. For the discharge of pus in lung abscess it is combined with Jie Geng, Yu Xing Cao and Yi Yi Ren to clear heat, relieve toxicity, cure the abscess and expel pus.

Dose

Decoction 3~10 g. Made into powder and taken 1~2 g.

Cautions

Contraindicated with Wu Tou.