Cang Er Zi (Xanthium Fruit)

Name

Cang Er Zi (xanthium fruit, Fructus Xanthii), recorded in the Shennong Bencao Jing.

Source and quality

Plant

The ripe burr (involucre) of the annual Xanthium sibiricum Patr., family Asteraceae.

Where it is grown

Throughout China.

Harvest

Ripe fruit in autumn.

Smell and taste

Little smell; slightly bitter.

Better grade

Large, full, brownish-yellow burs.

Processing

Dry-fried and the spines removed.

Nature and action

Acrid, bitter, warm, toxic; enters the lung. Disperses wind-cold; opens the nose; eases pain.

When it is used

Wind-cold on the exterior

It is not a first-choice sweating herb for a plain cold. It is used when wind-cold comes with headache, body ache and a blocked, running nose, usually with Qiang Huo and Bai Zhi.

Blocked nose and turbid discharge

This is its main job: open the nose, dry the discharge, and ease forehead and sinus pressure. It has long been a lead herb for “bi yuan” (sinus-type obstruction), taken internally or used on the surface. With Xin Yi and Bai Zhi it is Cang Er Zi San. When the picture is more wind-heat or damp-heat, it is combined with Bo He, Ju Hua or Huang Qin. Modern clinic also uses the same logic for acute, chronic and allergic rhinitis — still as part of a pattern, not as an over-the-counter decongestant.

It can assist other herbs in wind-cold-damp bi, and in wind-cold itch or headache.

Dose

Decoction 3–10 g, or in pills and powders. Roast and grind, spines off: that is how the tradition reduces toxicity and frees the juice.

Cautions

Not for headache from blood deficiency. Overdose can poison. This is a toxic herb; do not self-dose above the monograph range.