Houttuynia, Yu Xing Cao 鱼腥草
Yu Xing Cao (“Fish Smelling Herb”, TCM)
Botanical name:
Houttuynia cordata
Parts used:
Herb
Temperature & Taste:
Cool, dry. Pungent
“Slightly Warm” (Ming Yi Bie Lu)
Classification:
Uses:
1. Clears Heat and Toxin, Reduces Swellings:
-Lung heat Cough with thick, yellow Phlegm
-Lung Abscess with expectoration of thick phlegm with pus and blood
-can be used for other Sores and Abscesses from heat and toxin (internally and topically)
2. Clears Damp Heat:
-Damp-Heat Diarrhea
-painful, urination with dribbling urine
3. Clears Heat and Toxin, Resolves Masses:
-Tumors and Cancers (inc. Lung, Colon, Breast, Liver, various Leukemia etc.)
-research has verified effects against various cancer cell lines, showed an anti-tumor effect; various flavonoids, alkaloids and houttuynin have shown cytotoxic and anti-cancer effects.
-the fermented alcohol extract of the herb has a stronger anti-cancer and anti-tumor effect
Dose:
15–30 grams, added in the last 5 minutes of decocting
The fermented alcoholic extract has been used in Cancer therapy.
The fresh leaf and stem is used as a vegetable, especially in Sichuan.
Main Combinations:
1. Lung Heat Cough:
i .Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Mulberry bark (Sang Bai Pi)
ii. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Scutellaria Huang Qin, Platycodon Jie Geng, Licorice
2. Lung Abscess:
i. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Andrographis
ii. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Platycodon Jie Geng, Phragmitis Lu Gen
iii. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Trichosanthes Gua Lou Ren, Platycodon Jie Geng
iv. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Platycodon Jie Geng, Lonicera Jin Yin Hua, Benincasa Dong Gua Zi
3. Lung Cancer (suggested formula):
i. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Black Nightshade, Asparagus root, Comfrey root, Bitter Almond, Licorice
ii. Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Almond (Xing Ren), Astragalus Huang Qi, Scrophularia Xuan Shen
4. Urinary obstruction and pain, Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Plantain seed (Che Qian Zi)
5. Abscess, Boils, Toxic Swellings from Heat and Toxin, Houttuynia Yu Xing Cao with Chrysanthemum Ju Hua, Dandelion (Pu Gong Ying)
6. “Put the drug in a bamboo tube and roast it in hot ash. Then pound it and apply to treat malignant sore and tinea capitis”. (Da Ming)
Cautions:
None noted
“Overdose of the drug causes panting” (Ming Yi Bie Lu)
“Long-term use of the drug makes one weak and debilitated. It consumes the Yang Qi, the Jing (Essence) and Marrow”. (Meng Xian)
Main Preparations used:
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An extract is prepared as an injection to treat Infectious Diseases, Respiratory Tract Infection, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Pneumonia