Medicinals
sāng bái pí / 桑白皮 / 桑白皮 / mulberry bark;
Latin pharmacognostic name: Mori Cortex
Alternate English names: white-mulberry bark
Alternate Chinese names: 桑皮 sāng pí; 桑根白皮 sāng gēn bái pí
Origin: Plant
Use: medicinal
Category: Phlegm-transforming cough-relieving panting-calming agents / Cough-relieving panting-calming agents
Properties: Sweet; cold.
Channel entry: lung channels. (some sources also say bladder channel.)
Indications:
- Clears the lung and calms panting: Lung heat patterns of cough and panting.
- Disinhibits water and disperses swelling: Water swelling; inhibited urination; yáng water swelling repletion patterns.
- Additional uses: Sāng bái pí also stanches bleeding and clears the liver. It may be used to treat nosebleed or expectoration of blood. Recently, it has also been used for hypertension that takes the form of liver yáng hyperactivity or effulgent liver fire.
Dosage & Method:
Oral: 5–15g in decoctions. Use raw to clear the lung and calm panting, to disinhibit water and disperse swelling, and to stanch bleeding and clear the liver. Use the honey-processed form to treat lung vacuity cough.
Warning:
Sāng bái pí is used raw to disinhibit water, clear the lung, and calm panting. It is used mix-fried with honey to treat lung vacuity cough and panting.
Product Description:
This product is the dry root bark with the cork removed. It comes in double quills 20–50 cm long and 1.5–3 mm thick. It has a whitish, fibrous outer surface, and a yellowish-brown fibrous inner surface. It is tough and stringy and tends to rip lengthwise rather than snap. It has a somewhat unpleasant odor similar to that of soybean flour. The decocting pieces are fine slices that are either untreated or mix-fried with honey.
Quality:
Dry, thick and white barks without impurities are the best.
Product Area:
Guǎngdōng.
Etymology:
The name sāng bái pí 桑白皮, ""mulberry white skin,"" so named by the color.