HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsAsiatic Plantain Seed

Asiatic Plantain Seed

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Plantaginis Semen

Chinese Name

车前子

Category

Fruits and seeds

Asiatic Plantain SeedMore Info

Production Regions

Produced in areas all around China.

Macroscopic Features

Slightly oval or irregular long spherical shape, slightly flat, about 2mm long, 1mm wide. Externally pale brown or brown, slightly rough. With magnification, thin longitudinal wrinkles can be seen; relatively flat side has pale yellow intended spotty hilum in the middle. Hard texture; fractured surface is grayish-white. After placing the seed into water, the outer seed coat becomes mucilaginous. faint odor, sticky when chewed.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material is large, evenly full, brownish-red.

Properties

Sweet, tasteless; slightly cold.

Functions

Clears heat, promotes urination, percolates dampness, stops diarrhea, brightens the eyes, dispels phlegm. Apply to difficulty in micturition, whitish and turbid urine, edema fullness, leukorrhea, conjunctival congestion and eye screens, cough and panting due to heat and phlegm.

Processed Form

Fried Che qian zi: Cleaned Che qian zi use pots to fry with slow fire till swollen, darkened, and explosive sound; take out and cool. Apply to percolates dampness, stops diarrhea, relieves phlegm, stops cough. Wine-processed Che qian zi: cleaned Che qian zi stirs evenly with yellow rice wine, use pot to fry with slow fire till observe slightly color of fire, take out and cool. Every 100kg Che qian zi with yellow rice wine 12.5kg. Corrects its extremity. Salt-processed Che qian zi: cleaned Che qian zi use pots to fry with slow fire till swollen and explosive sound, spray salt water, then fry to dry, till fragrance odor, take out and cool. Every 100kg Che qian zi, with 2kg salt. Apply to tonify kidney, brighten eyes.

Technical Terms

‘Open eyes’: The center of one side of the seed has one slightly raised grayish-white small round spot, which is the hilum.

Origin

The dried mature seed of Plantago asiatica L. or Plantago depressa Willd. (Plantaginaceae).

Asiatic Plantain SeedHerbs in the formula

Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction

Action：Clears and drains excessive fire of the liver and gallbladder, and clears damp-heat in the liver channel.

Indication：1. Flaming up of excessive fire of the liver and gallbladder, which manifests as headache and red eyes, pain in the rib-side, bitter taste in the mouth, deafness, swelling of the ears, a red tongue with a yellow coating, and a forceful wiry, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Yellow-Transforming Decoction

Action：Consolidates the kidney and arrests vaginal discharge, clears heat and dispels dampness.

Indication：Yi Huang Tang is indicated for patients with abnormal vaginal discharge due to damp-heat accumulation. Symptoms include excessive yellow, sticky, thick leucorrhea. The yellow discoloration may have the appearance of dark tea in severe cases. Generally, the tongue body is red and the coating is greasy, yellow.

View Details Astringent formulas

Discharge-Ceasing Decoction

Action：Fortifies the spleen and soothes the liver, removes dampness, and arrests vaginal discharge.

Indication：Wan Dai Tang is designed to treat disorders of vaginal discharge caused by liver constraint and spleen deficiency. This pattern is marked by thin, clear-white vaginal discharge (similar to clear nasal discharge), a pale complexion, general sluggishness, and thin, unformed stool. The tongue is pale with a white coating and the pulse is moderate or soggy and weak.

View Details Tonic formulas

Eight Corrections Powder

Action：Clears heat and subdues fire, promotes urination, and relieves strangury.

Indication：Ba Zheng San is indicated for damp-heat strangury. The symptoms are frequent urgent urination, odynuria, dribbling urination, dark yellow urine, retention of urine in severe cases, cramps and fullness of abdomen, and a dry mouth and throat. The coating is yellow and greasy and the pulse is slippery and rapid.

View Details Dampclearing formulas