Asparagus root, Tian Men Dong 天门冬

Chinese Asparagus root: Tian Men Dong
Shweta Musali (A. abscendens, Ayurveda)
Nye Shing  ཉེ་ཤིང༌  (A. abscendens, Tibetan)
Safed Musali, Halyon (Unani)
Ortus Sanitatis, Meydenbach, 1491

Della Materia Medicinale, Andrea Valuassori, 1562
Krauterbuch, Lonitzer, 1578
Flora von Deutschland, Kohler, 1886
Botanical name:
Asparagus officinale; the wild is A. tenuifolia
Three types were recognised in the West:
  1. Garden
  2. Wild
  3. Ferny

All traditions use varieties of Asparagus root, all being synonymous in use to A. officinalis with the exception of A. racemosus (Shatavari) which is similar, but slightly different.
  A. TCM: A. cochinchinensis and others (Tian Men Dong)
  B. Ayurveda uses 2 varieties of Asparagus root:
    1. A. adscendens (White Musali, used as A. officinale);
    2. A. racemosus (Shatavari  (see separate entry)
  C. Tibetan Medicine also uses A. adscendens and A. tibeticus

Parts used:
Root; rarely the seed

Temperature & Taste:
Warm, moist. Sweet (Unani, Tibetan Medicine)
Some, including TCM, regarded it as Cool and Moist.

Classification:
2A APERIENT MEDICINES.   2G. CLEANSING
3G. EMMENAGOGUE.   3H. LACTAGOGUE.   3I. APHRODISIAC.  
3J. INCREASE SEMEN.   3M. ARTHRITIC
4b. OPTHALMICS.   4e. STOMACHIC.   4g. HEPATIC.   4h. NEPHRITIC. 
4j. NERVINE
Chinese Asparagus root Tian Men Dong


Uses:
1. One of the Five Opening Roots:
-promotes Urine; Edema; hot, painful or dribbling Urine

2. Strengthens Kidneys and Liver, Nourishes Yin:
-Kidney and lower back pain

3. Nourishes the Blood, Promotes Circulation:
-scanty Menstruation; used for Menstrual disorders with deficiency

4. Moisten and Strengthen the Lungs, clears Lung Heat:
-chronic cough, cough with Bloody sputum, chronic Bronchitis, Whooping Cough

5. Nourishes Yin, Stops Wind:
-Epilepsy, Hysteria, Apoplexy, Cramps, Numbness, Spasms

6. Used for Cancer:
-Root is beneficial in Cancer therapy
-Recently the spears and roots have been advocated in Cancer treatment

7. Externally:
-root decoction gargled for Toothache and spongy gums
-in hip-baths or baths for all pains of the lower body (Culpeper)
-root is steeped in wine or vinegar for Dislocations (Dioscorides)


NOTE:
1. The root was often decocted in wine in the western tradition
1. TCM uses the root prepared (steamed) with wine which weighs heavier and affects doses.


Main Combinations:
Asparagus and Parsley root
Opening Roots - Five & Two

1. One of the Five Opening Roots: with roots of Celery, Parsley, Broom and Fennel, primarily used to strengthen and open the lower body, promote urine and bowel movements.
2. To Open the Liver, Asparagus root  ... available in PRO version
3. Liver Heat and Inflammation, Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
4. Skin diseases, Acne, Boils, Eczema, Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
5. Nourish the Yin, combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
6. Urinary diseases with Yin deficiency: combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version.
7. Yin deficient Heat: combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
8. Wind associated with Yin deficiency, Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
9. Vertigo, Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
10. Paralysis, combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
11. Chronic Cough, Cough Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
12. Aphrodisiac, combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version
13. Pediatric tonic: combine Asparagus root with  ... available in PRO version

Major Formulas
Syrup of Five Opening Roots
Electuary for Back Pain (Galen)
Hepatic Decoction (Hoffman)
Syrup of Chicory and Rhubarb (Nicholas)
Syrup of Marshmallow (Fernel)
Syrup of Mugwort (Augustana)
Wine for Scrophula (Renodeus)
Tincture for Paralysis

Dhatuvallabha Churna (Ayurveda)

Cautions:
Generally safe. Best not used in Phlegm and Damp conditions.

Main Preparations used:
Distilled Water of the whole fresh; often used as one of the Five Opening Roots.
History
'Asparagus was well known to the Greeks and Romans both wild and in a cultivated state. Hippocrates mentions it in his treatise on diet, and in his treatise on the Diseases of Women he says that the berries taken in wine promote conception. Dioscorides and Pliny describe its medicinal properties, and Cato (De re Rust. c. 161) gives full directions concerning its cultivation. The ancients considered it to be a wholesome vegetable, dispelling flatulency and acting as a mild aperient, diuretic and aphrodisiac. They administered the root in wine for calculous affections and pains in the uterus, and also considered it beneficial in elephantiasis. Ibn Sina calls it haliun and quotes Galen's opinion of its medicinal value.

The Western Arabs call it Isferaj; in Persia it is known as Marchubeh and Margiyeh "snake wort," from its being considered to be an antidote for snake poison. Wild asparagus, the A. tenuifolius of Linnaeus, was known to the Romans as
Corruda, a name still current in the south of France, where the plant is valued for its medicinal properties up to the present time. Broussais considered asparagus to be a sedative in palpitation of the heart, and it is still used in France as a diuretic in cardiac dropsy and chronic gout. The young shoots when eaten as a vegetable are well known to communicate a peculiar and offensive odour to the urine, a syrup for medicinal use is prepared with their juice, 100 parts after clarification being added to 190 parts of sugar.

Some physicians consider asparagus to be useless as a diuretic and even injurious to the bladder, but as far as our experience goes it has no ill-effects when taken daily for a considerable time. Indian Mahometan writers on medicine merely retail what the ancients have said about this plant; they usually prescribe the dried berries which are to be found in the bazars of all large towns'. (Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1893)