Chinese Medicine Half Monthly Talk | Asparagus cochinchinensis (Asparagus cochinchinensis)

· Interesting stories ·

Asparagus has luxuriant branches and vines, and its dense and fine leaves are green and silky, forming an excellent landscape.

Du Fu traveled to Qi and Zhao in the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736) and visited famous mountains and scenic spots for several years. One day in the 29th year of Kaiyuan, he was attracted by the scenery around a thatched cottage, where there were lotus flowers and thorny thorns - "the lotuses on the river swayed white feathers, and the thorny thorns spread out with green silk." In such a quiet and peaceful residence of Si Gong, he wrote the poem titled "Si Shangren Thatched Cottage", in which he praised the thorny thorny thorny vines with green silk. And this thorny thorny thorn is one of the ancient names of Asparagus cochinchinensis.

Zhu Xi, a Neo-Confucianist in the Song Dynasty, also loved the graceful posture of Asparagus cochinchinensis and wrote a poem to praise it. This is one of his Nine Poems on Plants and Trees. The poem says:

"The vines are long and vines are long, the branches are green and silk is hanging down. Rain falls on the west window at night, but no one appreciates her secluded beauty."

Asparagus cochinchinensis is used for medicinal purposes. It is included in the Shennong's Herbal Classic together with Ophiopogon japonicus and is listed as a medium-grade medicine. Today, their medicinal materials have been renamed as the two-character Asparagus cochinchinensis and Ophiopogon japonicus. The description in the Shennong's Herbal Classic that Asparagus cochinchinensis "lightens the body after long-term use, replenishes qi and prolongs life" reflects the experience of ancient people taking it as medicine. Tao Hongjing added its nourishing effects such as "removing cold and heat, nourishing the skin, and replenishing qi and strength" in the Annotated Bencao Jing, which is a continuous deepening of its understanding. There are many fairy stories about Asparagus cochinchinensis. People today can completely strip away the vanity of those fairies and focus on seeking its practical and useful medical use. As such, it was discovered in the herbal that a martial arts master used it to maintain health, and a "prescription for immortality" was recorded.

Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist priest in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, is the founder of the Wudang sect of Taoism. His whereabouts are mysterious and unpredictable. At the beginning of the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di's confidant, the chief of the six departments, Hu Yi (Hu Zhongan), was ordered to look for Zhang Sanfeng in Qin, Long and Shu. Hu Yi's visit was confirmed in the inscriptions and ink on the walls of Longnan, and it is indeed a reliable history. But did Hu Yi actually visit Zhang Sanfeng? The fact that the two of them were put together in the herbal literature and that they used the same method to maintain their health is of extremely important historical value. It is very reasonable for the two of them to meet, and Hu Yi, who was interested in medicine, to exchange health-preserving methods with Zhang Sanfeng. This can also be seen from Li Shizhen's record under the entry of Asparagus cochinchinensis in the Compendium of Materia Medica -

"Raw Rehmannia root and Fritillaria thunbergii are the messengers of Asparagus cochinchinensis, while Rehmannia root and Plantago asiatica are the messengers of Radix Ophiopogonis. If there is a master but no messenger, it is useless to act alone. Therefore, Zhang Sanfeng and Hu Yi, the Shangshu, used three catties of Asparagus cochinchinensis and one catty of Rehmannia root in their recipe for immortality, which means that there is both a master and a messenger."

Photo: Bu Ruilan

It turns out that this means that using three times the amount of Asparagus cochinchinensis as the main medicine and one part of Rehmannia glutinosa as the auxiliary medicine, and decocting the two together to take them, has an excellent nourishing and health-preserving effect. This wonderful method was used by Zhang Sanfeng and Hu Yi, and it was passed down and called the "prescription for immortality." In ancient medical books, the combination of Asparagus cochinchinensis and Rehmannia glutinosa has also been continuously passed down in clinical practice.

Modern Chinese medicine classifies Asparagus cochinchinensis as a yin-tonifying drug. It belongs to the lung and kidney meridians. Its main function is to nourish lung yin and kidney yin. It enters the lungs to treat yin deficiency and dry cough, and enters the kidneys to nourish yin and moisten dryness to promote bowel movements.

Asparagus cochinchinensis is a good medicine for treating dryness, and it is more suitable to be boiled into a paste. For those with mild dry cough, Asparagus cochinchinensis can be boiled into a paste, such as the Asparagus cochinchinensis paste in "Medical Biography". Asparagus cochinchinensis and Ophiopogon japonicus are a common combination of medicines. Boiling them together into a paste and taking them can enhance the efficacy of the medicine, such as the Erdong paste in Zhang Lu's "Zhang's Medical Guide". If the cough is severe, or even blood in the sputum, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Fritillaria thunbergii, donkey-hide gelatin, etc. can be added to enhance the ability to clear the lungs and moisten dryness, stop coughing and stop bleeding.

The combination of asparagus, rehmannia and ginseng can nourish the upper, middle and lower organs, namely the lungs, spleen and kidneys, nourish the lung qi, help the spleen function and nourish the yin and body fluid. Because the names of the three herbs in the formula contain the characters "天", "地" and "人" respectively, it is named "三才汤" after "三才". Sancai Decoction is recorded in Wu Jutong's Treatise on Warm Diseases in the Qing Dynasty. After the soup was changed into an ointment, it still has the function of nourishing. In Feng Chuzhan's book Feng's Secret Records in the Qing Dynasty, the three herbs were boiled into an ointment and named "三才膏", which was used to treat asthenia, bone steaming and hot flashes, and sallow complexion.

Source of medicinal materials

The dried tuberous root of Asparagus cochinchinensis, a plant of the genus Asparagus in the Liliaceae family.

Nature and flavor

It tastes sweet and bitter and is cold in nature.

It enters the lung and kidney meridians .

Nourish yin and moisten dryness, clear the lungs and produce body fluid.

It is suitable for dry cough due to lung dryness, sudden cough with sticky sputum, soreness of waist and knees, bone steaming and hot flashes, internal heat and thirst, damage to body fluid due to febrile disease, dry throat and thirst, and dry intestines and constipation.

Dosage

For internal use: decoct in water, 6-12g. Or boil into paste, make into pills or powder.

Diet therapy recommendation

Asparagus root and pork ribs soup

Ingredients: 20 grams of asparagus, 200 grams of pork ribs, 200 grams of lotus root, 20 grams of mung bean (2-3 servings).

Method: Add water to the asparagus and boil over medium heat. When the water is reduced by half, remove the residue and keep the juice for later use. Blanch the ribs, cut the lotus root into pieces, add water to the pot with the mung beans, and cook over low heat for 1 hour. Then add the asparagus juice. You can add a little salt for seasoning.

Efficacy: This meat soup is suitable for moistening the throat and relieving cough in the dry autumn season. It can be used as a dietary therapy for people with dry mouth, slight sore throat, mild cough and little phlegm.

It is forbidden to take if suffering from cold diarrhea or wind-cold cough.