HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsRice Paper Plant Pith

Rice Paper Plant Pith

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Tetrapanacis Medulla

Chinese Name

通草

Category

Stems and woods

Rice Paper Plant PithMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Yunnan.

Macroscopic Features

Cylindrical, 20~40cm long, 1~2.5cm diameter. Externally white or pale yellow, with shallow longitudinal grooves. Light in weight, loose texture, slightly flexible, easily broken, fractured surface is flat, silver luster, center has hollow center of 0.3~1.5cm diameter or translucent membranes, cut surface has a ladder-shape arrangement, solid center is rare (only as thin and small pith sections). faint odor, bland taste.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material has thick and strong strip, white color, flexible and hollow center membrane.

Properties

Sweet, tasteless, slightly cold

Functions

Clears heat, promotes dampness, frees mammary; apply to dripping and pain during micturition induced by pyretic stranguria, dysuria, edema, jaundice, damp-warm disease, oliguria with reddish urine, postpartum unsmooth lactation, amenorrhea, vaginal discharge.

Origin

The dried stem pith of Tetrapanax papyriferus (Hook.) K. Koch.(Araliaceae)

Rice Paper Plant PithHerbs in the formula

Chinese Angelica Frigid Extremities Decoction

Action：Warms the channels to expel cold, nourishes the blood and unblocks the channels.

Indication：Counterflow cold of the limbs due to blood deficiency is characterized by counterflow cold of hands and feet, pain in the waist, thighs, lower legs, feet, shoulders, and back, no thirst, a pale tongue body with a white coating, and a deep, thin pulse or thin, impalpable pulse.

View Details Warming interior formulas

Three Kernels Decoction

Action：Disperses and diffuses qi movement, clears and removes damp-heat.

Indication：San Ren Tang is indicated for the pattern of more dampness than heat in the early stage of damp-warmth and summerheat-warmth with dampness. The symptoms are headache, aversion to cold, heavy body, general pain, fatigue, a light yellow complexion, chest distress without hunger, afternoon fever, and no thirst. The tongue coating is white and the pulse is wiry, thin, and soggy.

View Details Dampclearing formulas