Witnessed by: TCM
Glehnia (Glehnia littoralis), of the Apiaceae family. Low creeping perennial of coastal dunes; native range: sandy coasts of northern China, Korea, and Japan. Globally recognized as bei sha shen (北沙参) in Chinese. The part used is root. Slender straight ivory root, sweet with a faint bitterness, moist and fleshy when fresh.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
GLEHNIA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- glehnia
- Scientific name
- Glehnia littoralis F.Schmidt ex Miq.
- Family
- Apiaceae
Form
- Part used
- root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · bitter
Temperature
- TCM
- cool (slightly cold)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- nourishes Lung yin and clears Lung heat, generates fluids and nourishes Stomach yin
Cautions
- Contraindications
- avoid in cough from wind-cold or cold-phlegm; one of the eighteen incompatibilities, not combined with black false hellebore (li lu)
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