Pharmaceutical Name:

Semen Sterculiae Lychnopherae

Botanical Name:

Sterculia lychnophera Hance

Common Name:

Boat Sterculia seed

Source of Earliest Record:

Bencao Gangmu Shiyi      

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The seeds are collected from April to June after the fruit ripens, and then they are dried in the sun.

Properties and Taste:

Sweet and cold

Meridians:

Lung and large intestine

Functions:

To clear heat in the lungs and promote the dispersing function of Qi in the lungs
To moisten the intestines and move feces

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Failure of lung Qi to disperse, resulting in accumulation of heat in the lungs manifested as sore throat, coarse voice, cough with yellow, thick and sticky sputum, sputum difficult to expectorate.
*Use with Platycodon root (Jiegeng), Cicada slough (Chantui), Mentha (Bohe) and Licorice root (Gancao).  The herb can also be used alone in boiled water as tea.

2.      Constipation due to accumulation of heat.
*Use alone in boiled water as tea, or it combine it with other herbs that move stool.

Dosage:

3-5 g (The dosage for powder form should be halved.)