HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsDwarf Lilyturf Root Tuber

Dwarf Lilyturf Root Tuber

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Ophiopogonis Radix

Chinese Name

麦冬

Category

Roots and rhizomes

Dwarf Lilyturf Root TuberMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Zhejiang.

Macroscopic Features

Zhe mai dong: tuberous fusiform, 1.5~3.5cm long, middle diameter is 3~7mm. Externally earth-yellow or yellowish-white, with relatively deep irregular thin longitudinal wrinkles, sometimes one end has thin and small exposed stele. Pliable texture, fractured surface is off-white, center has thin and small round stele which can be pulled out when fresh. faintly aromatic odor, slightly sweet and astringent, sticky when chewed. Chuan mai dong: tuberous root is relatively small, externally milky-white. Slightly hard texture, faintly odor, tasteless, not sticky when chewed.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material is full, thin skin, glucose-like, thin woody heart, pale yellowish-white inner and outer, without oily.

Properties

Sweet, slightly bitter; cool

Functions

Nourishes yin, engenders fluid, moistens lung, stops cough, clear heart, eliminates vexation. Apply to damage of body fluid due to heat disease, vexation, thirst, dry throat due to lung heat, cough, and tuberculosis.

Origin

The dried tuberous root of Ophiopogon japonicas (Thunb.) Ker-Gawl.(Liliaceae)

Dwarf Lilyturf Root TuberHerbs in the formula

Yin-Nourishing and Lung-Clearing Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and clears lung heat, resolves toxins and improves the condition of the throat.

Indication：Yang Yin Qing Fei Tang is indicated for diphtheria due to yin deficiency and dryness-heat. The symptoms include white, curd-like spots in the throat that are hard to scrape off, a swollen and sore throat, with or without fever at the beginning of the disease, dry nose and lips, with or without coughing, raspy breathing resembling wheezing, a rapid, forceless or thin, rapid pulse.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Humor-Increasing Decoction

Action：Increases body fluids to moisten dryness.

Indication：Zeng Ye Tang is indicated for yangming warm-febrile disease with fluid inadequacy and constipation. The symptoms are constipation and thirst. The tongue is red and dry, and the pulse is thin and rapid or deep and forceless.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Channel-Warming Decoction

Action：Warms the channels and dissipates cold, dispels stasis and nourishes blood.

Indication：Wen Jing Tang is indicated for deficiency-cold of the chong and ren mai, obstructive blood stasis marked by menstrual spotting or purple menses with blood clots. There may be irregular menstruation such as advanced, delayed, or prolonged periods, or having a period twice a month. There may also be inhibited menses, fever at night, vexatious heat in the palms, dry lips and mouth, distention and fullness of the lower abdomen, a dark red tongue, and a thready, choppy pulse. Infertility due to deficient cold of the uterus may also manifest.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Ophiopogon Decoction

Action：Clears and nourishes the lung and stomach, directs counterflow downward and lowers qi.

Indication：Mai Men Dong Tang is indicated for lung wei (lung atrophy) due to deficiency-heat. The symptoms are coughing, labored breathing, throat discomfort, sputum that is difficult to expectorate, coughing up or spitting saliva, dry mouth and throat, feverish feeling in the palms and soles. The tongue is red with scanty tongue coating, and the pulse is deficient and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Eliminate Dryness and Rescue the Lung Decoction

Action：Relieves dryness and moistens the lung, nourishes yin and boosts qi.

Indication：Qing zao jiu fei tang is indicated for the pattern of warm-dryness damaging the lung, complicated by damage to both qi and yin. The symptoms are fever, headache, coughing with no sputum, labored breathing, dryness of the nose and throat, vexation, thirst, chest fullness and hypochondriac pain. The tongue body is dry with scanty tongue coating, and the pulse is deficient, big, and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Ying Level Heat-Clearing Decoction

Action：Clears heat from the ying level, resolves toxins, vents heat from the ying level, and nourishes yin.

Indication：This formula is indicated for the heat in the ying level. The symptoms are fever aggravated at night, vexation and sleeplessness, occasional delirious speech, thirst or not, inconspicuous macules and papules, crimson colored, dry tongue, and a thready, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Summerheat-Clearing Qi-Boosting Decoction

Action：Clears summerheat, boosts qi, nourishes yin, and generates fluids.

Indication：This formula is indicated for patterns of summerheat with damage to both qi and fluids. The symptoms are fever with profuse sweating, thirst and vexation, scanty dark urine, fatigue and weak breathing, listlessness, and a deficient, rapid pulse.

View Details Summer-heat clearing formulas

Stomach-Boosting Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and boosts the stomach.

Indication：Yi Wei Tang is indicated for stomach yin damage. The symptoms include a burning sensation and dull pain in the gastric cavity, hunger with no desire to eat, dry mouth and throat, and dry stool. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thready and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction

Action：Boosts qi, enriches yin, unblocks yang, and restores the pulse.

Indication：1. Zhi Gan Cao Tang is indicated for patterns of yin-blood and yang-qi deficiency with malnutrition of the heart vessel. The symptoms are intermittent or knotted pulse, palpitations, weakness, emaciation, weak breathing, etc. The tongue is peeled with a scanty or dry and thin coating.

View Details Tonic formulas

Convulsion-Settling Pill

Action：Removes phlegm and extinguishes wind.

Indication：Ding Xian Wan is applicable to epilepsy caused by wind-phlegm-heat accumulation. The clinical manifestation include a sudden onset of epilepsy, dizziness, falling to the ground, losing consciousness, anoopsia, vomiting white foam, wheezing sound in the throat, yelling, convulsion of the limbs, a whitish-yellow and greasy tongue coating, and a wiry, slippery, and slightly rapid pulse. It can also be used to treat manic-depressive psychosis.

View Details Phlegm-expelling formulas

Lophatherum and Gypsum Decoction

Action：Clears heat and generates fluids, boosts qi and harmonizes the stomach.

Indication：Cold damage, warm disease, summerheat disease with residual heat, and damage of both qi and fluid. The signs include body fever, profuse sweating, chest distress and restlessness, nausea, dry mouth and polydipsia, low spirits and weak breathing, dry throat and lips, poor appetite, cough and choking, insomnia, a red tongue with little coating, and a weak and rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Lily Bulb Metal-Securing Decoction

Action：Enriches and nourishes the lung and kidney, relieves cough and dissolves phlegm.

Indication：Bai He Gu Jin Tang is indicated for a pattern of lung-kidney yin deficiency with deficiency fire flaming upward. The symptoms are coughing, labored breathing, blood in the sputum, dry and sore throat, dizziness and blurred vision, afternoon tidal fever. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thready and rapid.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Rehmannia Drink

Action：Nourishes kidney yin, supplements kidney yang, opens the orifices, and resolves phlegm.

Indication：Di Huang Yin Zi is indicated for yin fei syndrome (aphasia and apraxia) due to kidney qi deficiency and phlegm invading upward manifested as aphasia due to stiffness of the tongue, apraxia of the legs, thirst without a desire to drink, cold legs, and flushed face. The pulse is deep, thin, and weak.

View Details Tonic formulas

Pulse-Engendering Powder

Action：Boosts qi and promotes fluid production; astringes yin and arrests sweating.

Indication：1. Qi and yin consumption due to warm-heat or summerheat invasion. The clinical manifestations include profuse sweating, mental fatigue, general sluggish sensation, lack of strength, weak breathing, reluctance to speak, dry throat, and thirst. The tongue is red and dry with a scanty coating and the pulse is deficient and rapid.

View Details Tonic formulas

Jade Lady Decoction

Action：Clears stomach heat and nourishes kidney yin.

Indication：This formula is indicated for stomach heat and yin deficiency. The symptoms are toothache, headache, loose teeth, gingival bleeding, vexing heat and thirst, a red tongue with a dry yellow coating, xiao ke, and swift digestion with rapid hungering.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Celestial Emperor Heart-Supplementing Elixir

Action：Enriches yin and clears heat, nourishes blood and calms the mind.

Indication：Deficiency of yin and insufficiency of blood have lead to the disturbance of the mind. Symptoms include palpitations, vexation, insomnia, mental fatigue, forgetfulness, nocturnal emission, feverish feeling in palms and soles, aphtha, a sore mouth and tongue, and dry stool. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thin and rapid.

View Details Sedative and tranquilizing formulas

Major Wind-Stabilizing Pill

Action：Enriches yin and extinguishes wind.

Indication：Da Ding Feng Zhu is indicated for a pattern of stirring of wind due to yin deficiency. The symptoms are clonic convulsions of the extremities, weak physique, lassitude of the spirit, a deep red tongue body with a scanty tongue coating, and a weak pulse; patients have a strong tendency of desertion.

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Effective Integration Decoction

Action：Enriches yin and soothes the liver.

Indication：Yi Guan Jian is appropriate for patterns of liver-kidney yin deficiency with liver qi constraint characterized by pain in the chest, abdomen, and hypochondriac regions, acid regurgitation, bitter taste, dry mouth and throat, a dry, red tongue, and a thready, weak or weak, wiry pulse. This formula is also applied for shan qi (hernia).

View Details Tonic formulas