Wiseman’s Chinese Medical Database

fēng fáng / 蜂房 / 蜂房 / hornet's nest

Latin pharmacognostic name: Vespae Nidus

Alternate English names:

Alternate Chinese names: 蜂肠 fēng cháng; 大黄蜂窠 dà huáng fēng kē; 革蜂窠 gé fēng kē; 蜂房 fēng fáng; 露蜂房 lù fēng fáng

Origin: Animal

Use: medicinal

Category: External medicine agents / Toxin-attacking, worm-killing, and itch-relieving agents

Properties: Sweet; balanced; toxic. (Some sources list acrid and warm instead.)

Channel entry: stomach channels. (some sources add liver channel.)

Indications:

• Attacks toxin and kills worms: Flat- and welling-abscesses; scrofula; scabies; tinea capitis.
• Dispels wind and relieves pain: Wind-damp impediment (bì) pain; itchy dormant papules (urticaria); toothache.
• Fēng fáng can both dispel wind to relieve pain as well as dispel wind to relieve itching.
• Additional uses: Fēng fáng has recently been used for malignant tumors, often in combination with quán xiē (全蝎 Scorpio , scorpion), jiāng cán (僵蚕 Bombyx Batryticatus , silkworm;), and é zhú (莪朮 Curcumae Rhizoma, curcuma rhizome).

Dosage & Method:

Topical: often used externally as a powder mixed with oil or decocted for use as a wash or a mouthwash. Oral: 6–12g in decoctions.

Warning:

Unsuitable in patterns of qì-blood vacuity. Its Pinyin name is similar to fáng fēng (Saposhnikoviae Radix), and care must be taken not to confuse the two when filling prescriptions.

Quality:

Nests the size of a fists that have flexible papery out crusts and small and that have no plant matter attached are best.

Product Area:

Southern China.