Pharmaceutical Name:

Rhizoma Phragmitis

Botanical Name:

Phragmites communis Trin.

Common Name:

Phragmites
Reed root

Source of Earliest Record:

Mingyi Bielu

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The rhizomes are dug at the end of spring, in the beginning of summer or in the autumn.  After the fibrous roots have been removed, the skin is peeled off and cleaned and dried in the sun.

Properties and Taste:

Sweet and cold

Meridian:

Lung and stomach

Functions:

To clear heat and relieve irritability
To promote the production of body fluids and relieve thirst
To stop vomiting

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Febrile diseases manifested as thirst, irritability and fever.
*Use with Gypsum (Shigao), Ophiopogon root (Maidong) and Trichosanthes root (Tianhuafen).

2.      Heat in the stomach with vomiting and belching.
*Use with juice of Fresh ginger (Shengjiang), Bamboo shavings (Zhuru) and Loquat leaf (Pipaye).

3.     Heat in the in the lungs manifested as cough, expectoration of thick, yellow sputum and pulmonary abscess. 
*Use with Honeysuckle flower (Jinyinhua), Houttuynia (Yuxingcao) and Benincasa seed (Dongguaren).

Dosage:

15-30 g

Cautions:

This herb should be used with caution in cases with cold and deficient spleen and stomach.