White Mustard Seed (Baijiezi)

White Mustard Seed (Baijiezi)

Pharmaceutical Name: Semen Sinapsis seu Brassicae
Botanical Name: Sinapis Alba (L.) Boiss.
Brassica Juncea (L.) Czern. Et Coss
Common Name:Brassica Seed
White Mustard Seed
Source of Earliest Record: Mingyi Bielu
Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: After the white-mustard ripens in summer or autumn, the seeds are gathered and dried in the sun.
Properties and Taste: Pungent and warm
Meridian: Lung
Functions: To warm the lungs and resolve phlegm
To invigorate qi circulation and disperse nodules
To open the channels and stop pain
Indications and Combinations: 1.     Lungs blocked by cold-phlegm manifested as cough with profuse, dilute and white sputum and stifling sensation in the chest.
*Use with Perilla seed (Suzi) and Radish seed (Laifuzi) in the formula Sanzi Yangqing Tang.

2. Retention of phlegm-damp in the chest and diaphragm manifested as distension and pain in the chest and hypochondriac region.
*Use with Kansui root (Gansui) and Peking spurge root (Daji).

3.   Channels and collaterals obstructed by phlegm-damp manifested as joint pain and numbness of the limbs.
*Use with Myrrh (Moyao) and Costus root (Muxiang).

4.     Yin carbuncles and swellings without discoloration of the skin.
*Use with Antler glue (Lujiaojiao), Cinnamon bark (Rougui) and Prepared rehmannia root (Shudihuang) in the formula Yanghe Tang.
Dosage: 3-10 g