Bergenia, Yan Bai Cai 岩白菜

Yan Bai Cai (TCM)
Ga tigs smug po ག་ཏིགས་སྨུག་པོ་ (Tibet)

Bergenia purpurascens
The garden. An illustrated weekly journal of horticulture in all its branches [ed. William Robinson], vol. 20 (1881)

Bergenia stracheyi
Curtis, W., Botanical Magazine (1872)

Bergenia root Yan Bai Cai
(Chengdu Medicine Market, Adam, 2017)

Botanical name:

Bergenia purpurascens (syn. B. delavayi, Saxifraga purpurascens, S. delavayi)
B. purpurascens, B. ciliata, B. pacumbis are used in Tibet (Ga tigs smug po)
B. stracheyi (Ga dur mchog ག་དུར་མཆོག་) of Tibetan Medicine appears to be used similarly.

B. purpurascens is used in both TCM and Tibetan Medicine.
B. ciliata has also been listed as a source in Tibetan Medicine. B. ciliata is used in Ayurveda and is called Pashanbheda. We have separated them as their uses are different. However, B. purpurascens and B. ciliata are probably synonymous, and therefore the medicines Yan Bai Cai (TCM), Ga tigs smug po (Tibet) and Pashanbheda (Ayurveda) are probably also synonymous.

Parts used:

Root; sometimes the whole herb
Fresh herb is used externally

Temperature & Taste:

Cool, dry. Sweet, astringent

Uses:

1. Nourishes Blood, Settles Wind:

-benefits Liver Blood and yin
-Dizziness from deficiency
-Deafness
-Liver Heat and hot nerve disorders (Tibet)

2. Benefits the Lungs, Clears Phlegm, Stops Cough

-Cough, chest pain, shortness of Breath
-Cough, Asthma from deficiency
-Lung heat conditions in Tibet

3. Moves the Blood, Stops Bleeding:

-Coughing or Spitting Blood
-used for Internal Injury

4. Benefits Qi, Clears Damp:

-digestive weakness with fatigue
-Diarrhea (Tibet)
-Strangury
-Leukorrhea

5. Clears Heat, Resists Poison:

-Cold, Flu, Epidemic diseases (Tibet)
-Toxic swellings
-topically for toxic sores and swellings

Dose:

Decoction: 6–12 grams
A suitable amount of the fresh leaf can be applied topically to toxic sores and swellings.

Comment:

B. stracheyi is used in Tibetan Medicine and is classed as Cool and dry. Used for Colds, Epidemic diseases, hot disorders, Lung heat, Liver Heat, Hot nerve disorders, Diarrhea, swelling of the limbs, etc. (Norbu). It is therefore very similar in use.

Substitute:

Bistort (Nepal)

Main Combinations:

1. Cough from deficiency, Bergenia with Licorice, Rhodiola
2. Toxic Swellings, Bergenia with Swertia, Tinospora

Cautions:

Those with Fever from weakness should not use it.

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