Bamboo Shavings is also known as in the Synopsis of the Golden ChamberBamboo SkinIt is the middle layer scraped off after removing the outer skin from the stem of the bamboo plant, belonging to the Poaceae family. In some literature, it is also called Zhuerqing. It has a soft texture and is rolled into a ball for medicinal use. It can be harvested in all four seasons, with winter being the best time. It is often used fresh, dried and used raw, or stir-fried with ginger juice.
I. Efficacy of Bamboo Shavings:
Bamboo Shavings taste sweet and slightly cold. It enters the Lung, Stomach, and Gallbladder meridians. Its functions includeClearing heat and resolving phlegm, relieving restlessness and stopping vomitingEspecially effective in treating stomach heat with vomiting and regurgitation.
Commonly used forphlegm heat cough, gallbladder fire with phlegm, palpitations and restlessness, vexation and insomnia, wind stroke with phlegm clouding, stiff tongue and inability to speak, stomach heat vomiting, pregnancy morning sickness, fetal restlessnessTreatment of conditions such as
Summary of Masterpieces by Renowned Authors
Bie Lu: "It governs vomiting and warm qi, cold and heat, vomiting blood, and flooding and spotting."
"Treatise on Medicinal Properties": "It stops lung atrophy with bloody sputum, nosebleeds, and treats five types of hemorrhoids."
Ben Cao Zheng: "Treats lung atrophy with spitting phlegm, hematuria, women's blood heat causing flooding and strangury, fetal movement, and children's wind-heat epilepsy, phlegm and qi panting cough, and hot and astringent urination."
Ben Cao Feng Yuan: "Clears heat from the stomach, essential for treating deficiency-induced restlessness, excessive thirst, and vomiting due to stomach deficiency."
Changsha Materia Medica: "Bamboo shavings, with their sweet and cold nature, are excellent at clearing stasis and turbidity, relieving vomiting and hiccups, and are particularly skilled at clearing metal and astringing the lungs. Their other main effects include stopping vomiting and nosebleeds, halting uterine bleeding, treating diaphragmatic obstruction, and healing lung atrophy."
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "It opens the stagnation of the stomach earth, clears the dryness of the lung metal, cools the blood and removes heat. It treats upper burner vexation and heat, warm qi alternating chills and fever, diaphragm obstruction and retching, vomiting blood and nosebleed, lung wilting and fright epilepsy, flooding and spotting and fetal stirring."
II. Compatibility and Application of Bamboo Shavings:
1. For cough due to lung heat with yellow and thick sputum. Bamboo shavings have the effect of clearing and transforming heat phlegm. For treating cough due to heat phlegm, it is often combined with herbs such as Scutellaria baicalensis, Trichosanthes kirilowii, and Morus alba root bark.
2. Used for internal disturbance of phlegm-fire and restlessness. Bamboo shavings are particularly effective in clearing heat and relieving restlessness. For symptoms such as chest tightness with excessive phlegm, restlessness and insomnia, palpitations, and anxiety caused by gallbladder fire carrying phlegm, which invades the lungs and disturbs the heart, it is often combined with tangerine peel, pinellia, immature bitter orange, and poria, namelyWen Dan Tang。
3. For vomiting due to stomach heat. Bamboo shavings are effective in clearing stomach heat and stopping vomiting caused by stomach heat, most commonly combined with Coptis chinensis. For treating phlegm-heat intermingling with symptoms of restlessness and retching, it is often combined with Coptis chinensis, tangerine peel, Pinellia ternata, etc., namelyCoptis Chinensis Tangerine Peel Bamboo Shavings Pinellia Decoction。
If treating stomach deficiency with heat and vomiting, it is often combined with tangerine peel, ginger, ginseng, etc., namelyTangerine Peel and Bamboo Shavings Decoction。
If treating deficiency in the breast of women, with vexation and turmoil and counterflow vomiting, it is often combined with Gypsum Fibrosum, Cinnamomi Ramulus, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, namelyBamboo Shavings Major Pill。
Zhang Xichun said, "Bamboo shavings are good at relieving stomach depression, descending the upward rebellious qi in the stomach to make it flow downward, thus they can treat vomiting, stop hematemesis, and epistaxis. Moreover, they are cool in nature and can descend, so they can also clear the lungs and resolve phlegm, promote the flow of the triple burner's water passages downward to the bladder, making them an essential medicine for promoting urination. They share the same efficacy as leaves but are even more potent than leaves."
III. Usage and Dosage of Bamboo Shavings:
Bamboo shavings are mostly used in decoctions and rarely in pills or powders. The usual dosage in decoctions is over ten grams.
For medicinal use, it can be used raw or stir-fried. The raw form is more effective for clearing phlegm-heat, while the ginger juice stir-fried form is more effective for stopping vomiting.
IV. Application Notes for Bamboo Shavings:
Bamboo shavings are cold in nature and clear heat, thusCold phlegm cough, stomach cold vomiting, and spleen deficiency diarrhea should all be avoided。
Ben Cao Hui Yan: "Do not use for any disease unless it is due to stomach heat."
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Practical Notes on Traditional Chinese Medicine 20.8.20 Late Night
