Ophiopogon Root (Maidong)
| Pharmaceutical Name: | Radix Ophiopogonis |
| Botanical Name: | Ophiopogon japonicus (Thunb.) Ker-Gawl. Liriope spicata |
| Common Name: | Ophiopogon root Lilyturf root |
| Source of Earliest Record: | Shennong Bencao Jing |
| art Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: | The tuberous roots are dug in summer. After the fibrous roots have been removed, the roots are dried in the sun. |
| Properties and Taste: | Sweet, slightly bitter and slightly cold. |
| Meridian: | Lung, heart and stomach |
| Functions: | To nourish the yin and moisten the lungs To strengthen the stomach and promote the production of body fluids To clear heat in the heart and relieve irritability |
| Indications and Combinations: | 1. Dryness and heat in the lungs due to deficiency of yin manifested as cough with scanty and sticky sputum or cough with bloody sputum. *Use with Glehnia root (Shashen), Asparagus root (Tianmendong), Tendrilled fritillary bulb (Chuanbeimu) and Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang). 2. Deficient yin of the stomach manifested as dry tongue and thirst. *Use with Fragrant solomonseal rhizome (Yuzhu), Glehnia root (Shashen) and Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang). 3. Irritability and insomnia: a) Nutritive (yin) system invaded by pathogenic heat. *Use with Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang), Bamboo leaf (Zhuye) and Coptis root (Huanglian) in the formula Qingying Tang. b) Heart yin deficiency with internal heat causing insomnia. *Use with Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang) and Wild jujube seed (Suanzaoren) in the formula Tianwang Buxin Dan. 4. Constipation caused by dryness in the intestines. *Use with Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang) and Scrophularia (Xuanshen) in the formula Zengye Tang. |
| Dosage: | 6-15 g |
| Cautions: | This herb is contraindicated in cases with cough due to wind-cold type of common cold, with presence of phlegm fluid and turbid dampness, with diarrhea due to deficiency, and cold in the spleen and stomach. |