Anemarrhena Health Article

Description

Anemarrhena (Anemarrhena asphodeloides or Zhi Mu) is a rare herb that grows wild in Japan and the northern part of China. It has a 2,000-year history of use, and written records of its use date from 200 A.D. It is an attractive-looking plant that belongs to the lily family. At the top of three-foot spikes, it has small, fragrant, white six-petaled flowers that bloom at night. The medicinal parts are the rhizomes (roots) and the stems. Rhizomes that are large, hard, and round with pale-yellowish color inside are best for medicinal use.

General use

Traditional Chinese medicine classifies this herb as cold (or yin) and bitter. Yin and yang are the two opposite energies that complement one another. Yin conditions are described as cold, damp, and deficient, while yang is characterized by heat, dry, and excess. Anemarrhena is used to treat heat disorders, which are caused by excessive yang or insufficient yin functions. When there is excessive heat, dryness often follows. For example, fever—an excessive internal heat symptom—is followed by thirst, which is a sign of dryness. Traditional Chinese medicine uses bitter and cold herbs such as anemarrhena to clear the internal heat and provide moisture to the lungs and the kidneys.

Because anemarrhena brings moisture and coolness, it will bring relief to excessive internal heat and dryness symptoms such as fever, thirst, irritability, racing pulse, cough, bleeding gums, night sweat, insomnia, and hot flashes. Anemarrhena has been used in herbal combinations such as Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan to relieve symptoms such as coughing, ulcers of the mouth, kidney dysfunction, urinary tract infection, insomnia, restlessness, genital herpes, and sterility.

Chronic bronchitis

Laboratory studies have shown that anemarrhena can effectively eradicate infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterial strain that often causes lung infections. Anemarrhena has been effectively used to treat bronchitis as well as exacerbating symptoms of chronic bronchitis such as chronic coughing.