Stemona Root (Baibu)

Stemona Root (Baibu)

Pharmaceutical Name: Radix Stemonae
Botanical Name: Stemona Sessilifolia Miq.
Stemona japonica (Bl.) Miq.
Stemona tuberosa Lour.
Common Name:Stemona root
Source of Earliest Record: Mingyi Bielu
Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: The roots are dug in spring or autumn. After the fibrous roots have been removed, the roots are cleaned and put into boiling water. Then they are dried in the sun and cut into pieces.
Properties and Taste: Sweet, bitter and neutral
Meridian: Lung
Functions: To moisten the lungs and stop cough
To kill lice and parasites
Indications and Combinations: 1.     Cough in common cold.
*Use with Schizonepeta (Jingjie), Platycodon root (Jiegeng) and Aster root (Ziwan).

2. Whooping cough.
*Use with Glehnia root (Beishashen), Tendrilled fritillary bulb (Chuanbeimu) and Swallowwort rhizome (Baiqian).

3.   Cough due to tuberculosis.
*Use with Ophiopogon root (Maidong) and Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang).

4.     Lice of the head or body.
*The herb is made into a 20% tincture, or a 50% decoction used as an external wash.

5.     Pinworm.
*The 30 ml 100% decoction as an enema before sleep daily for five days.
Dosage: 5-10 g