Chinese Medicine Half Monthly Talk | Morus alba bark

· Interesting stories ·

The mulberry tree is full of treasures.

As far as the medicinal use of mulberry is concerned, the people have passed down the saying "pick mulberry branches in spring, eat mulberries in summer, harvest mulberry leaves in autumn, and pick mulberry bark in winter."

The root bark of the mulberry tree is used as medicine. Its official name is mulberry bark, and the ancients also wrote it as mulberry root white bark. The reason why the "white bark" is emphasized in the name of the medicinal material is that the yellow-brown rough skin on the surface of the root bark must be scraped off before it can be used as a medicinal material. Traditional Chinese medicine uses mulberry bark for both internal treatment and external use. Speaking of its external use, it might as well start with the ancient surgical thread.

There are very early records of Chinese medicine surgery performing operations on open wounds. For example, in the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Bian Que and Cang Gong", Bian Que, the founder of Chinese medicine, had the skill of "seeing a wall and a square", and through the mouth of a middle son, he said that the famous doctor Yu Fu in ancient times was able to "cut skin and dissect muscles...wash the intestines and stomach, and rinse the five internal organs".

Interestingly, in the sixth volume of the Yuan Dynasty book “Nancun Chuogenglu” written by Tao Zongyi, a miraculous incident was recorded, which mentioned the specific material used for suturing, which was mulberry bark thread! In the case, Zhu Liangji, a filial and devoted mother, was a “resident of Zhitangli, Changshu, Pingjiang”. His wound was between his ribs. “Yu Haozhai, a local, heard about it and went to his home. He saw that the wound between Liangji’s ribs was about five inches long, with gas coming out and the pain was beyond words. Yu was moved and sutured it with mulberry bark thread. Within a month, he was fine.”

Mulberry bark thread is used for surgical sutures and is applied to abdominal surgeries. Medical books record successful cases as early as the Tang Dynasty. "Compendium of Materia Medica·Wood" quotes: "〔(Su) Song said〕Mulberry bark is used to suture the wound with intestinal bleeding, and hot chicken blood is applied to it. Tang An Jinzang performed a laparotomy and used this method to heal the wound." Wang Qiu of the Northern Song Dynasty also had a successful case in "Shizhai Baiyi Xuanfang": "To treat knife wounds... such as intestinal ulcers, mulberry bark thread is used to suture them and tie them with silk. When Wu Neihan's father was young, he was guarding Nanxiong Prefecture. There was a knife wound with intestinal ulcers. This medicine was used to treat it and saved the lives of two people."

In addition to external use, mulberry bark is also a good medicine for internal treatment. It mainly enters the lung meridian, can relieve lung asthma, promote diuresis and reduce swelling, and can stop bleeding and epistaxis. The medical case of Li Shimao (1936-2015), a master of traditional Chinese medicine, who used mulberry bark to treat stubborn epistaxis, demonstrates the fine tradition of traditional Chinese medicine that attaches importance to inheritance.

Photo: Bu Ruilan

Li Shimao graduated from Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (now Beijing University of Chinese Medicine) in 1962. In 1961, when he was interning at Beijing Tongren Hospital, he met a patient with epistaxis who had been treated many times but had no effect. His instructor at the time was Lu Shiru (1902-1979). Lu Shiru examined the symptoms and prescriptions and thought that "although the prescription is appropriate, it is still a little bit off!" So he added 15 grams of mulberry bark to the decoction. The patient took two doses of the medicine and his nosebleed stopped. Upon inquiry, Teacher Lu told him that his experience came from Kong Bohua, one of the four famous doctors in Beijing. There was once a shopkeeper of a Chinese medicine shop whose nosebleed stopped and started for three or four months. The doctor tried many methods and even used many precious medicinal materials, but the nosebleed was still there. When Kong Bohua diagnosed and treated him, he only reused mulberry bark as a medicine, and the effect was immediate, stopping the shopkeeper's nosebleed. This left a deep impression on Li Shimao. When he encountered patients with the same symptoms of epistaxis, he often used mulberry bark alone, or occasionally added heat-clearing drugs, with good results. Once, a 31-year-old female patient came to see a doctor. She had a dry nose and thirst for more than a month. Suddenly, one day, her nose bleeds and the amount of bleeding is not small. A nasal examination found that the small artery was ruptured. At that time, the method of packing the nostrils with gauze soaked in adrenaline solution was used, which is a very appropriate treatment method in Western medicine. As a result, the patient's nosebleed flowed out through the mouth. Later, local cold compresses and intramuscular injections of hemostatic drugs were used, but the amount of bleeding did not decrease. Li Shimao used a single prescription of Chinese medicine: 30 grams of mulberry bark was quickly decocted and the decoction was taken once every 2 hours. After 5 hours, the bleeding stopped. The next day, the filler was removed and there was no bleeding. Mulberry bark is really a good medicine for both internal and external effects.

· Source of medicinal materials ·

The dried root bark of the mulberry tree of the Moraceae family. The medicinal material standard requires that the root bark be dug from the time when the leaves of the mulberry tree fall in late autumn to before it sprouts in the next spring, and the yellow-brown rough skin be scraped off.

· Nature and flavor ·

Sweet in taste, cold in nature.

It enters the lung meridian.

· Efficacy and indications·

It can relieve the lungs and relieve asthma, promote diuresis and reduce swelling.

It is suitable for lung heat, cough, wheezing, edema, oliguria, and puffy face and skin.

· Usage and Dosage·

For internal use: decoction, 6-12 g.

· Diet therapy recommendation ·

Sansang Hypoglycemic Drink

Ingredients: 10 grams each of mulberry bark, mulberry branches and mulberry leaves.

Preparation: Put 10g each of mulberry bark, mulberry branches and mulberry leaves into 1500ml of water, boil for 10 minutes, and drink it frequently throughout the day instead of tea.

Mulberry bark has a significant hypoglycemic effect. The Compendium of Materia Medica records that mulberry bark "is mainly used to treat thirst and frequent urination". The Famous Doctors' Records states that it "relieves heat and thirst". Mulberry bark can clear lung and stomach heat, mulberry leaves can disperse the stagnant fire in the middle and upper jiao, and mulberry branches can disperse the stagnant fire in the skin and meridians. Mulberry bark combined with mulberry branches and mulberry leaves can be used to treat early stage diabetes symptoms of fullness and internal heat. It can also be consumed by people with dryness and cough in autumn and winter.