Plantain seed is the mature seed of plantain. The whole plant is the Chinese medicinal herb plantain. This plant often grows on both sides of roads, hence its name, and is also commonly known as wheel track vegetable in folk tradition. It is distributed throughout the country and is usually harvested in summer and autumn, dried, and impurities removed. It is used stir-fried or stir-fried with salt water.
I. Efficacy of Plantago Seed:
Plantain Seed taste sweet, cold. Meridian tropism kidney, liver, lung meridians. Efficacy canPromote urination and relieve strangury, stop diarrhea, improve eyesight, clear lung-heat and resolve phlegmIts characteristic is to promote urination and solidify stool, and it is also known as the essential herb for clearing heat, promoting diuresis, and relieving strangury.
Commonly used forHeat strangury with painful urination, edema and abdominal distension, summerheat-damp diarrhea, red swollen painful eyes, phlegm-heat coughTreatment of conditions such as
Summary of Famous Works by Renowned Authors:
The Classic of Materia Medica: "It governs qi strangury, relieves pain, promotes water passage, facilitates urination, and eliminates damp impediment."
"Treatise on Medicinal Properties": "It can dispel wind toxins, liver wind-heat, toxic wind attacking the eyes, redness, pain, and visual obstructions, brain pain with tearing, and remove vexing heat in the heart and chest."
Compendium of Materia Medica: "It stops summer dampness diarrhea and dysentery."
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Clears wind-heat from the lungs and liver, drains damp-heat from the bladder, promotes urination without dispersing qi, sharing similar effects with Poria. Strengthens yin and replenishes essence, promotes fertility. Treats dampness-induced arthralgia, five types of strangury, summerheat-dampness diarrhea and dysentery, red eyes with visual obstruction, and facilitates childbirth and expulsion of the fetus."
II. Compatibility and Application of Plantago Seed:
1. Used for conditions such as dysuria and heat strangury. Plantago seed is sweet, cold, slippery, and draining, capable of promoting urination and clearing heat, especially effective in treating symptoms of burning and painful urination. For conditions of damp-heat pouring downward, such as frequent urination, urgent urination, and painful urination due to damp-heat in the bladder, it is often combined with heat-clearing and dampness-draining herbs like Akebia stem, gardenia, and talc, namelyEight Corrections Powder。
2. For edema due to kidney deficiency. Plantago seeds have the function of promoting diuresis and reducing edema. For treating kidney deficiency edema, soreness and heaviness in the lower back and knees, difficulty in urination, and phlegm-fluid retention with cough and asthma caused by kidney yang deficiency and internal retention of water-dampness, they are often combined with Achyranthes bidentata in the Kidney Qi Pill to jointly achieve the effects of warming the kidney, promoting qi transformation, promoting diuresis, and reducing edema, namelyJisheng Shenqi Wan。
3. For summer dampness diarrhea. Plantago seeds are effective in promoting diuresis and eliminating dampness, capable of promoting urination to consolidate stool, restoring the small intestine's function of separating the clear from the turbid. They are particularly effective in treating diarrhea due to excessive dampness. They can be ground into powder alone and taken with rice water. They can also be combined with herbs such as Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria cocos, and Alisma orientale. It is said in medical texts that combining them with Atractylodes macrocephala is remarkably effective for treating watery diarrhea, which is worth referencing.
Wang Ang said: "Ouyang Xiu suffered from sudden diarrhea, and the imperial physicians could not cure him. His wife said: There is a medicine in the market, three coins for one dose, very effective. The gentleman refused to take it, so his wife mixed it with other medicine and gave it to him. After one dose, he was cured. When asked about the prescription, it turned out to be plantain seeds ground into powder, taken with rice water in the amount of two qianbi. It is said that this medicine promotes urination without disturbing qi. When the water passage is smooth, the clear and turbid separate, and the intestines naturally stop."
4. For blurred vision, internal eye obstruction, red eyes, and other symptoms. Plantain seed can clear the liver and improve eyesight. To treat red, swollen, and painful eyes due to liver heat, it is often combined with chrysanthemum, gentian, and scutellaria.
If treating blurred vision and decreased visual acuity due to liver and kidney yin deficiency, it is often combined with yin-nourishing herbs such as Shengdi, Maidong, and Gouqizi.
5. For kidney deficiency and essence weakness. Plantain seed can promote urination and secure the essence orifice. It is used to treat symptoms such as impotence, nocturnal emission, premature ejaculation, lower back pain, and dribbling after urination caused by kidney deficiency and essence depletion. It is often combined with wolfberry fruit, dodder seed, raspberry, and schisandra fruit, namelyWuzi Yanzong Wan。
In addition, Plantago seeds also have the effect of clearing the lungs and resolving phlegm, and can be used for conditions such as cough with excessive phlegm due to lung heat, often combined with other herbs.
III. Usage and Dosage of Plantain Seed:
Plantago seed is often used in decoctions and can also be made into pills or powders. The usual dosage in decoctions ranges from a few grams to over ten grams.
Due to its small particle size, it tends to float on the surface of the decoction during boiling. Additionally, its sticky nature can easily make the medicinal liquid turbid, making it difficult to filter and consume. Therefore, it needs to be wrapped when used in decoctions.
Wang Ang said: "Steamed with wine and pounded into cakes, it is used in tonic medicines; stir-fried and ground, it is used in diuretic and diarrhea-relieving medicines."
IV. Application Precautions of Plantago Seed:
Plantago seeds are cold in nature and promote diuresis, thusUse with caution in cases of kidney deficiency with seminal emission and in pregnant women。
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Attached Medicinal MaterialsThe Efficacy and Application of Plantago
Plantain is the whole herb of Plantago asiatica, also known as wheel track vegetable. Its nature, flavor, and efficacy are similar to those of plantain seeds, and it also has the ability to clear heat and detoxify.
In addition to its similar usage to Plantago asiatica seeds, it can also be used to treat heat-toxicity abscesses and swellings. It can be taken orally or applied externally by mashing fresh herbs.
The usual dosage for decoction is more than ten grams; double the dosage for fresh product. For external use, apply an appropriate amount.
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Cool the blood and remove heat, stop vomiting and nosebleeds, dissolve masses and stasis, brighten the eyes and promote urination."
Wang Ang said, "Most diuretic formulas are harmful to the eyes, but this one can clear heat from the liver and small intestine. When damp-heat recedes, the eyes become clear."
